Extending the Season for Summer Squash

 September 26, 2020

After a week of rain, the Gallucci Garden was looking quite soggy. However, summer squash was still growing and producing. The Lemon summer globe squash was particularly vigorous. We decided to extend the season by trimming away mildewed leaves and opening the plants to light and air circulation. The squash is planted above a south facing wall and is growing into the plaza. This exposure gives plenty of sun and the masonry also holds the heat, both advantages. All mildewed leaves were trimmed away as were extra leaves along the stalks with only the growing end leaves remaining. 

The collards this year have been wonderful. They did not mind the hot summer days or the rain and cool temperatures. They did not appear to be stressed with limited water. To harvest collards just break off leaves along the stalk, keeping the top growth to continue. Collards can be cooked in soups and stews, used instead of cabbage to bake for cabbage rolls, or even eaten fresh as rollups. They are still going strong at Gallucci.

Squeaky Squirrel Sneaks Sunflower Seeds

 September 19, 2020

Stewards gathered to continue fall harvest, relieved the smoke has finally cleared and Tacoma has had rain. There were still many tomatoes, but this may be the last weekend for harvest. One of our favorites is Indigo Rose, a purple cherry tomato with a red bottom. We are still getting summer squash and will cut back mildewy leaves to try to extend the season. We will leave our winter squash on the vines until the weather turns colder. This gives them a stronger outer skin for better storage. One of the stewards harvested a basket of hops that he wants to try for brewing.

Our resident squirrel enjoyed sunflower seed harvest from an upside down position. We call him Squeaky Squirrel, and he appears as one of the characters in our children’s book, “Winona and Walter Worm Explore the Community Garden.” Come to our children’s garden in spring of 2021 to see Squeaky! All families with children will receive a free copy of the book.

Smoky fall harvest, sharing Pink Banana Squash, coffee and conversation

 Stewards joined together on this smoky Saturday to do a quick harvest, share vegetables, catch up with each other and return home before the wildfire smoke that has drifted into the Puget Sound became too bad. As always, we had a fresh pot of coffee for all to enjoy. 

We broke open our first Pink Banana Winter Squash and cut into pieces so all could try it. Notice the orange chunks on the table. The freshly opened squash smelled delicious. The seeds are large and beautiful so we decided to harvest and dry them to plant next year.

Our collards greens have been consistent performers adapting well to hot and dry or cool and wet conditions. We have started another batch of collard plants to grow in the off-site hoop house for our wintering gardening project. The tomatoes continue to ripen and stewards have taken large quantities home for salsa and pasta sauce. Eggplants are producing well. We are preparing a bed in the Gallucci garden for growing winter onions.

Fall 2020 Project for High School Volunteers

 Once we have harvested our potatoes and winter squash, we would like our high school volunteers to ready the area to the west of the plaza for new beds. To do this we need to: 1) move the cement blocks to the plaza and stack them, 2) move the wire arch to the plaza, 3) clear out the weeds back to the first terrace, 4) clean out plastic and other trash and pile in the plaza for taking to the dump. After the area is clean we will work together to make new beds for our squash arch and other plantings.

Late summer garden challenge: Powdery Mildew

As we move into cooler nights, we notice the leaves of our squash and cucumbers are beginning to be covered with powdery mildew, especially those close to the ground. One of the gardeners has addressed this problem in her own garden by trimming away older leaves, trimming away overlapping leaves, and growing the plant up a support. All this improves air circulation. We will explore this and other methods in our garden next season. Our hope is to extend the growing season for these crops. Although one strategy is to spray, we do not use chemicals at Gallucci.

Here is a link to the WSU Hortsense page on this problem: http://hortsense.cahnrs.wsu.edu/Search/MainMenuWithFactSheet.aspx?CategoryId=5&PlantDefId=55&ProblemId=219

Saturday, August 29, 2020: Tomato Tasting Event

This year the Gallucci Garden stewards planted over 20 varieties of tomatoes that included slicers, paste, and cherry types. We have been keeping notes on which varieties grow well and produce abundantly in our Puget Sound climate. On Saturday we held a tomato tasting event to decide which ones taste the best!

 Our winners for this year are:

Best taste: 

    Black Krim (slicer)

    Beliy Naliv (slicer)

    Bumble Bee Sunrise (cherry)

    Chocolate Cherry (cherry)

    Hungarian Heart (big slicer)

    Indigo Rose (purple cherry)

    Mexican Midget (currant type)

    Old German (slicer)

    Sungold (cherry)

Most vigorous:

    Fourth of July (very early and productive)

    Little Napoli (determinant paste type)

    Slava, Stupice, and Butcher (European cold climate varieties)

We will have all of these varieties available during our 2021 spring plant sale.