Well, it’s finally happened, we are starting to harvest veg from our community garden plots. I visited the Peterson Community Garden with my friend Megan this past Friday and the amount of produce that is now available through out the garden is impressive. Megan said some of the plants seem to be doing fine and some don’t seem to be doing that great but they are keeping an eye on things.
This little beauty is a major win in my mind. It’s a cantaloupe! Being born and raised in the NW I’ve never seen a cantaloupe on the vine nor have I ever dreamed a home gardener could grow them on their own. Such funny perspectives we can adopt sometimes… But here we stand looking at a lovely vine with about 10 or so little melons getting ready to go.
This little guy is already starting to get the cantaloupe “fuzz” although it be still pretty small.
When I first wrote about the Peterson garden everything was so neat and organized with clearly defined raised beds. Fast forward just about a month and a half and you have a veritable garden jungle! It’s just amazing to me!
As Megan and I watered their plot we talked about their tomatoes and I wondered what they will do with the bounty (there are lots of little green guys just waiting to ripen up). She said they were going to take a class about preserving the produce and then they were hoping to save the extras using what they learn at the class. I wondered about supplies and she said they only needed to bring the jars and produce and the class would provide the rest. This is so encouraging to me as I can get overwhelmed by the preceived monetary outlay of a canning project. When we moved we (perhaps foolishly) sold all of our canning supplies. I’m kind of dying a little over it now thinking about how much use we could get out of it now. Knowing you can “complete the cycle” by preserving your produce via canning with the community garden makes me feel better about it. It’s a great reason to come out of my own little bubble and be involved in what’s happening in my own neighborhood.
Come back later this week for a look at our tomatoes over at Albany Park…
