Super Scoopers

  We did fertilizer calculations with three 45-foot rows and a bed spacing of three feet. This means we need 5.4 pounds of fertilizer over the season, or three fertilizations of 1.8 pounds. We used 10-2-8 fertilizer and spread it mainly over the growing areas and focused on transplants. Even though we use plenty of amendments, this will provide the main essential nutrients. We also planted some seeds of carrots and other root vegetables in between some of the open space we had to try and utilize as much space as possible. This is a flea beetle on one of our sunflower plants. It may cause damage, but we applied pesticides last week and will continue for the rest of the season. There are multiple buds on all of our sunflowers, which is something I have never seen before. Hopefully we will get to harvest and enjoy some sunflower seeds! Our summer squash is recovering very well from the white flies that they had gotten. We have been spraying an organic pesticide that is sesame seed oil...

  Last week in the plot we noticed most of our corn starti ng to tassel. This is unusual being that the corn in only a foot tall at best (pictured when they first started to our tallest now). Dr. Zhao suggested we start fertilizing with a high nitrogen fertilizer frequently to help it grow more and have the ability to support many ears of corn.  We have unfortunately run into a white fly problem. Here, Sierra is spraying some of our bush beans with pesticides to help mitigate them. The brassicas and cucurbits were heavily drenched since the problem seems to be worse there. We will most likely be treating these weekly until there are no more signs of white fly. Our helper Isaac said it could take up to 5 treatments to be sure we don't loose too much of our hard work. Our broccoli seems to be really enjoying the cooler fall weather. Out of the several heads we planted, almost all of them are bushy and healthy. Hopefully they will continue to thrive and we will be able to harvest...

  We were pleasantly welcomed by cool temperatures last Monday morning. With the official start of fall, we went ahead and finished off our plot with purple cabbage, collard greens, and other cool weather leafy greens. We will most likely re-plant some snow peas as the warmer weather may have stifled their germination.   Emmylou applied some biostimulants around the base of plants. We used TerraGrow, which is a group of beneficial bacteria that colonizes the roots. It will help to break down fertilizer for easier plant uptake. She made small holes right next to the root zone to prevent leaching and to keep the biostimulant focused on the roots. We only applied it to half of our plants to see the difference in effects.   One week after planting, all of our buckwheat has germinated. We are using buckwheat as a cover crop and weed barrier at both ends of the plot. We also had major growth in our ryegrass cover crop over the one-week time period. The ryegrass is pla...

  Do not fear, the Super Scoopers are here! Group picture of us all after a hard days work of laying hay and fertilizer down. We transplanted even more now and have almost our entire plot full. This type of work is gratifying because you can see such a difference in the field before and after all the tending. Sometimes transplants need extra love and tending to. Here are the Super Troopers checking out the new plants and making sure they don't need any special care before planting them into the plot! The marigolds we plants should attract more pollinators to our plot and help our squash and cucumbers fruit. The peppers will last a few more weeks and hopefully we will a few to harvest before the cold. The purple cabbage in the back should keep thriving as we are coming into its season. Garrett helping the transport and laying of the hay barrier we put down for weed control. This hay barrier also helps us as we tend to the vegetables and pick weeds from the area. The wheel barrel mad...

  Welcome to the Super Scoopers CSA Garden Blog Our group consists of members: Jack M, Emmylou C, Sierra I, and Garrett M.                   Here is our garden group picture scooping compost onto our newly planted seedlings.   Objectives for our CSA garden: 1. Using Marigolds, Sunflowers, and other plants to attract beneficial insects while using buckwheat to control weeds and repel pests.  2. To optimize yield through the use of intercropping and fertilization.  3. To lessen our own footprint by supplementing our personal food supply with crops from our CSA garden.  List of Crops planted so far in our garden (as of 9-13-20): Marigolds, Sour gherkin, Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, Bell Pepper, Cucumber, Sunflowers (3 varieties), Eggplant, Sugar snap peas and Bush Beans.  Some pictures of our garden after transplanting our first crops on 9-9-20: