greenonmclean

Happy Mother’s Day

3500mclean — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:57:32 +0000

Although I don’t believe a work day was planned, a bunch of us decided to get together on Mother’s Day. The weather has been so nice that I think we were all anxious to start gardening. We prepared some beds; planted a few cool weather things; and weeded. Our next big workday is planned for Sunday, May 19 starting at 3 PM.

Check out the rain barrel system! We were able to raise enough money last summer to purchase rain barrels and pay Ron Cowgill to configure the down spouts on the house next to the garden so they drain directly into the rain barrels.

Rain barrels

September 30 work day

3500mclean — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:04:46 +0000

A short work day this Sunday – watering, picking up trash, pulling up some dead plants. Sadly we found that the windows in the little free library had been busted out. But, as an older gentleman said that was walking by, we have to repair the damage and move on. Getting angry and seeking revenge are what they want. He’s right although I think if any of us caught the perpetrator in the act . . . . Kathleen glued the two side windows and Ernie will replace the front window that was actually broken.

Here’s what we discussed going forward:

1. Planting day next Sunday, October 7. We will plant all the perennials that Olga picked up at the plant swap.

2. A Halloween party at the garden on October 31. We might still have some grape tomatoes to had out as “treats”.

Libby

Our library is on the map!

3500mclean — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:04:49 +0000

Check it out – we’re officially on the map. Go to http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/ and click on the link to find a little free library on the world map.

Fall Planting

3500mclean — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:35:31 +0000

Sunday, September 16, we met to do some fall cleanup and fall planting. We planted some lettuce, kale and beets with lots of assistance from the kids across the alley. But the highlight was our encounter with the tomato hornworm – look at that beast!

tomato hornworm

great workday Sunday (September 9)

3500mclean — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 03:40:13 +0000

What a beautiful day to work in the garden. We weeded, harvested, trimmed dead branches from the tomatoes and planted a bunch of perennials that we got for free. Unfortunately, the perennials were not marked so we don’t know what a few of them are, but I guess we’ll find out eventually.

Next Sunday (September 16) we are planning to do some fall planting. Please join us!

check out our library

3500mclean — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:17:19 +0000

We have a Little Free Lending Library; beautifully decorated by the neighborhood kids. The concept is – leave a book; take a book. So far it seems to be working. I’m in the process of getting our library registered so that we are on the map http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/.

Check out the library.

It’s a pumpkin!

3500mclean — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 03:11:32 +0000

We finally have some pumpkins growing (see picture to the left) and will have saved ourselves from the embarrassment of having to cross pollinate the male and female blossoms.

Many thanks to Ernie who brought twine to tie up the tomatoes and edging for the flower garden against the west fence.

We also have some watermelons growing. (see picture to the right).

Thank you to the waterers!

3500mclean — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 17:32:24 +0000

Today, the morning after a decent rain, seems like a good time to thank the people who have been keeping the garden alive during the driest June since 1988. Thank you, Libby, Sande, Beth, Olga, Kyle and Matt. You have been troopers, and the garden shows the results of your dedication and hard work. The vegetables are beautiful, instead of crispy, as they are in many fields and gardens right now.

Thank you, thank you. And by the way, Rick DiMaio says it’s going to rain again on Wednesday. (After two days of mid-to-high 90s, but what the heck . . .)

Otro gran día de trabajo

3500mclean — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:24:02 +0000

¡Tuvimos otro gran día de trabajo el domingo e hicimos mucho! Ampliamos más espacios para vegetales. Tuvimos algunos nuevos trabajadores: Giselle, Doris, Vanessa. Edwin, Candy (también conocida como Dulce,) y Jonathan trabajaron duro levantando la basura. Luego cortaron el pasto en la zona del jardín, incluyendo el detalle de las orillas y desenterrando o reduciendo las malas hierbas que la podadora no puede hacer automáticamente.

We had another great work day on Sunday and got a lot done. We had some new workers. Giselle, Doris, Vanessa. Edwin, Candy (also known as Dulce,) and Jonathan all worked hard cleaning up the trash. Then they edged the garden area, digging up or cutting down the weeds that the mower couldn’t take care of.

Plantamos más flores en los parterres. Kathleen plantó algunas semillas de girasol, también. ¡Hurra! Giselle, Doris, Adrián, José, Vanessa. Padre de Edwin, Candy (también conocida como Dulce,) y el papá de Adrián y José: Roberto, todos plantaron los contenedores con la salvia, caléndula, “ageratum”, y celosía.

We planted more flowers in the flower beds. Kathleen planted some sunflower seeds, too. Hooray! Giselle, Doris, Adrian, Jose, Vanessa. Edwin, Candy (also known as Dulce,) and Adrian and Jose’s father, Roberto, all planted the containers with salvia, marigolds, ageratum, and celosia.

Adrian, Roberto, Jose, Doris, Jocelyn, Edwin (and, of course, Libby and Beth)

One of Adrian and Jose’s containers.

¡Dulce, Edwin, Doris, Giselle, Vanessa, y Jocelyn hicieron maravillosos letreros para que sepamos lo que está creciendo, donde!

Dulce, Edwin, Doris, Giselle, Vanessa, and Jocelyn made wonderful signs so we know what is growing where!

A Sign!

Dan cortó la mayoría del pasto. Matt y Chandler desenterraron plantas de ajo, trasplantaron Eneldo (Dill), y transportaron tierra. También ayudaron a estabilizar la cerca de atrás.

Dan mowed much of the grass. Matt and Chandler dug up garlic mustard, transplanted dill, and transported soil. They helped steady the back fence, too.

Matt and Dan at the fence

Chandler with dirt

Esto es lo que hemos sembrado hasta el momento: calabazas, papas, brócoli, lechuga, col, ajo, cebolla, fresas, zanahorias, espinacas, acelga, sandía, guisantes o chícharos, remolacha, rábanos, chiles picantes (¡Tenemos una cama entera sólo para los chiles!) y unos pocos tomates (más serán plantados, por supuesto). También plantamos caléndulas y capuchinas como plantas de compañía en los lechos vegetales.

This is what we have planted so far: pumpkins, potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, kale, garlic, onion, strawberries, carrots, spinach, swiss chard, watermelon, sugar snap peas, beets, radishes, hot peppers (we have an entire bed that is just hot peppers!), and a few tomatoes (more will go in, of course). We also planted marigolds and nasturtiums as companion plants in the vegetable beds.

Mike … just Mike

Mike y Kathleen recibieron plantas de dos tiendas de jardinería, así que tuvimos una gran cantidad de plantas para poner en la tierra. ¡Gracias a Pesche y a Lurvey por las plantas y a Lake Street Landscape Supply por la tierra!!

Mike and Kathleen were given plants by two garden stores so we had a lot of plants to put in the ground. Thank you Pesche’s and Lurvey’s for the plants and Lake Street Landscape Supply for the soil!!

Desenterramos el Eneldo de la cama de vegetales al sureste y ahora está en macetas a un lado del jardín. Mike nos dijo que las misteriosas plantas en la cama al sureste tienen una flor muy bonita, así que también las rescatamos y están en macetas.

We dug up the dill from the southeast bed and it is now in pots off to the side of the garden. Mike told us that the mystery plants coming up in the southeast bed were a very pretty flower, so we saved those too and they are also in pots.

Mac on the Lake Street Landscape soil.

¡Un buen día en Green on McLean!

A good day at Green on McLean

Second Yard Sale / Bake Sale

3500mclean — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:01:13 +0000

Hello everyone!

Well despite being rained out by 1pm the second yard sale/bale sale went really well.

Many neighbors stopped by. Lots of clothes, jewelry, books, and videos were sold. Damarion proved himself to be an excellent bargainer!

The bakes goods were a HUGE hit. Libby’s cookies and oat cakes were as fabulous as last time. The workers were also treated to Libby’s bran muffins, which give bran muffins a very good name! Also this time Olga’s kids baked amazing cupcakes. YUM. Really big sellers. And I added brownies to the list.

At around 1pm or so, the skies opened up. Brian, Libby, Kathleen, Beth, Carrie, and Mac raced around in the pouring rain gathering up all of the remaining goods and shoving them in the back of Beth and Libby’s cars to get delivered to a deserving thrift store. All in all a damp but very good day.

Here are some pictures of the sale in action.