Fall begins at Gallucci Garden, 10/2/21

 Today we planted our first bed of garlic. The bed was prepared by weeding and working in nutrients. We used a low nitrogen fertilizer, minerals and lime, then planted the garlic cloves 4 inches apart. Finally, row cover was spread over the bed and held down with staples. We want the garlic to get a good start without interference by our local squirrels, birds, possums, rats or raccoons. 

We have beautiful winter squash this year which we are harvesting to give to local immigrant families. A bed that has hosting perennial flowers for several years will be used for more garlic. We dug the perennials and will divide them to plant throughout the garden next year. The photo shows penstemon, salvia and yarrow. Flowers growing throughout the garden are key to attracting pollinators and increasing harvest.

Tomato Tasting Results: Saturday 9/11/21

We had a good turnout for the Tomato Tasting event.  A huge thanks to the Gallucci stewards for all their work and our fun, engaged guests. We invited our attendees to take home produce and let them cut their own herbs and flowers.

Orange Paruche was hands down favorite cherry tomato, sweet and yummy. 

Sungold also received high marks.

Bloody Butcher, Magic Mountain and Beliy Naliv  for taste as a small red slicer.

Black Krim and Mortgage Lifter for taste and texture from heirloom group.

 

Recipe for Roasted Tomatoes

 

3 pounds of med-large tomatoes, avoid cherry tomatoes for this recipe as you want chunks of roasted tomato.

2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

¼ tsp dried oregano

Kosher salt and pepper

¾ cup good olive oil

Set oven to 425 and spread thick rings of cut tomatoes in roasting pan. Place smashed garlic over tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle over olive oil.

Roast tomatoes at this temperature for 30 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 and continue to roast for 1 hour.

You want to see blistered skins with collapsed rings of tomatoes. Your kitchen should be perfumed with roasting tomato and garlic.

Cool completely, discard garlic and transfer remainder to airtight container.

 

HOW TO USE:

Bruschetta topping with fresh mozzarella

Stirred in pasta salad

Incorporated into bread dough

Add to hot pasta but at room temperature, grate parmesan cheese and enjoy

Tomato Tasting Event Coming Saturday, September 11

 Join the Gallucci Gardeners at 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 11 to taste a range of tomatoes from slicers, heirloom, salad, cherry and paste. The event will be held at the Gallucci Learning Garden on the corner of 14th and G Street in Tacoma. See you there!

Bountiful Harvest Continues - Saturday August 28

 We are beginning our fall harvest with potatoes. The winter squash will stay on the vine a few more weeks, but is looking good and some will be ready for harvest soon.

Bountiful Harvest - Saturday, August 21, 2021

 Today we had a major harvest. Below are vegetable photos to enjoy. Please join us Saturdays at 8 a.m. There is plenty to share!

Cabbages and tomatoes, Saturday 8/11/21

 Today we harvested over 40 pounds of cabbages. We also picked two Old German tomatoes that weighed two pounds together. Old German is a large, yellow slicer with a flavor we really like. We grow our tomatoes on hog wire fencing and trim back the leaves and new growth in early August to promote ripening for the fruit that has already set. In late July we planted collards for the winter, seen in the photo by the sunflower.

Planning for seed saving, August 7, 2021

 Gardeners are planning seed saving this year, especially of the many flower varieties that grow in the garden. We find the large number of flowers support a healthy pollinator population, which has gives our garden a very high yield. Every season the calendula, sunflowers and culinary poppy reseed on their own. Included is a beautiful variety of zinnia, whose seeds are easy to save and plant. 

We enjoyed a hearty snack with bagels, cheese and cucumbers and tomatoes from our own harvest, along with our Goji berries, blueberries and figs.

Nocturne Variety of Blueberries

 Nocturne Blueberry Plants, Saturday, July 31, 2021

We recently purchased Nocturne blueberry plants from Swanson’s Nursery in Seattle. Nocturne is a new release from the USDA with large dark fruit on 5-6 ft tall plants. It is a cold hardy and late variety, highly nutritious, and we find the berries especially delicious! We will grow these plants over the winter and will sell them at our spring plant sale. We will also be propagating starts and plan to have an increasing number of small plants for sale in the future. Above are photos of our new Nocturne plants and our propagation area under the grape arbor. 

Note on Tomato Tasting - We decided to have our annual tomato variety tasting event this year on Saturday, September 11. Check our Facebook page or this blog for more details as we get closer to the event.

 Pollinators in the Garden, Saturday, July 24, 2021

Gallucci Learning Garden is being very productive this summer. We have summer squash, cucumbers, onions, rhubarb and blueberries. There are a few tomatoes, but they are coming on slowly. We believe the success is due to improving our soil, and also to making the garden a welcome place for pollinators, especially bees.

We have homes for Mason and Leafcutter bees, and there is an abundance of bumble bees. These pollinators are crucial to the production of both cucumbers and squash. We planted a variety of flowers to purposefully attract and keep the bees. One thing we are trying this year is to let some of our broccoli flower because we see it covered with bees. We also let our spring collard greens flower to collect seed. There are sunflowers and other annual and perennial varieties of flowers. We also have a large bird bath with a solar sprayer that attracts a wide range of birds, bees and insects.

WE ARE BACK FOR SUMMER 2021!!

 Saturday, July 10

Gallucci Learning Garden is back with a full set of volunteers. Our garden is doing very well this season. Today we harvested beets, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, basil, squash, cucumbers, and blueberries. 

Volunteers are experimenting with some new techniques. One of these is spraying fruit trees with a kaolin clay mixture “after petal fall to repel many types of pests and protect trees from sunburn and high temperatures.” See the Philadelphia Orchard Project website, www.phillyorchards.org. Below are photos of our young Liberty apple and the product we are using.

Another experiment is growing our cucumbers up both sides of a trellis from raised beds, and we are trimming the bottom leaves and vines so there is better air circulation and the blossoms are more accessible to the pollinators. We hope to increase our harvest and prevent the mildew that shortens our season.

    

         Happy Spring 2021!!

April 14, 2021: Gallucci Learning Garden is back for the 2021 season. We are meeting every Saturday morning from 9 until noon and new volunteers are welcome.

Our annual plant sale is coming up. Here is the information:

Saturday and Sunday April 24-25 and May 1-2

Saturday May 8 

Wednesday April 28 and May 5

9 to noon each day at the garden site, 14th and G Street in downtown Tacoma. We try to cover our operating costs through our plant sale, so please come support the garden and buy some fine, organic plant starts. We will have tomatoes and peppers, blueberries and artichokes, flowers, figs and some vegetable starts. Thank you!