HOSPITALITY GARDEN

Ironically (or not) the Garden Club has been invigorated w/ a shot of new energy from newly elected President Shellita Orie.  A busy nursing student, Shellita has been caring for the garden this last 12 months. Along with fellow officers Matt Fass & Erica Press, she has been signing up new members, picking flowers, and representing the garden at the Club Fair. And Dah Wai C. gets the ‘Golden Tomato Award’ for sustained effort amidst overwhelming homework and sprawling tomato plants!

It is a mixed basket of produce and people at the Garden this month. As the days dwindle down to a prescious few, we have been picking great bunches of flowers for the dining room at City Tech along with tomatoes, collards, chard, herbs & tiny hot peppers. Get over there and take a final look at the whole spread because in a few weeks it will be coming down.

The search continues for a new garden site. Some of the ideas are a roof top on Flatbush near Juniors, a shady corner on City Tech campus and some public park space nearby. Send your ideas to mhellermann@citytech.cuny.edu  (we don’t have time for any waiting game)

Hard work by many students is beginning to pay off. Those tomato, pepper, and basil seeds that were so carefully planted in school last spring, have really come in to their own–Country Taste and Black Brandywine are most prolific in the tomato department. Black Hungarian peppers are popping out too. (Unfortunately, there has been a bit of pilfering in that row as well as in the cucumber, eggplant, and melon sections).

Speaking of charentais melon,  6 or 7 small sweet fruits have been enjoyed by various students and gathered faculty; the vines are now at the end of their days. Romano polebean vines on the other hand, are all over the Russian sunflowers, and Japanese soybeans, (aka edemame)  are leaning on the rosemary — a truely international arrangement.

On the other side of the balance sheet, we have to note that the dreaded ‘downy mildew’ has infected zucchini plants. It is happening at many gardens, including Brooklyn Grange where serious pruning is the solution of choice. Or as Clint Greenjeans would say, “go ahead, make my garden..”

The amazing Barry Mitchell, producer at CUNY TV  has made a fine piece about the Hospitality Garden on the show “Learn from the Best”.  An easy way to watch it is on Youtube.  The garden segment is towards the end, at minute 17:07.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocinYZX8GBE                       Go to 17:07

And stop by the Dekalb Market in the cool of the evening, to look at the amazing job our students are doing to keep things going in this unprecedented heat.  New pics in the Gallery pages here, too.

We always knew that the HospitalityGarden had a temporary arrangement with the owner of the land. But it is sad to find out that  Acadia Realty plans to begin building on the site this fall.   The Dekalb Market will have to find a new place to set up shop and the Garden Club is looking for a sunny plot of land to cultivate.  We have until the end of October before the ‘dozers move in.    More details on the changes here

 http://therealdeal.com/blog/2012/06/21/dekalb-market-gets-boot-paving-way-for-citypoint-construction/

and here     http://gothamist.com/2012/06/21/dekalb_market_has_to_move.php

An opportunity presents itself: make use of the garden we have until October. Embrace the challenge of finding another site.

On the other hand, this is pretty small potaotes compared to the global warming induced weather we are facing in the US.  For more on this, read Elizabeth Kolbert’s recent commentary in the New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/07/23/120723taco_talk_kolbert 

and equally depressing news in the Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/us/rise-in-weather-extremes-threatens-infrastructure.html?_r=1 

As Axle Rose said, “Where do we go now, where do we go”

Mid summer update

Melons, zukes, peppers, herbs, shiso and flowers are thriving in the heat, the sporadic rain and the watering care provided by Dah Wei, Shelita and Joslyn. Pole  beans are being trained toward the nearby sunflowers

High heat has driven the tomatoes to new heights. But last week’s humidity has brought on what appears to be ‘blossom end rot’ in the “Country Taste” variety, so many of the fruits needed to be discarded. Other varieties—Yellow Pear, Cosmonaut Volkov*; Grandeur;  Black Brandy wine— have not caught the bug so as with many pursuits, it has proven beneficial to diversify. 

Last week we broadcast some lettuce, arugula and kale seeds for early fall salads, for the beginning of classes, and the arrival of early fall students. Hope springs eternal. 

Hope we can find another garden spot for next year.

* Seeds from this tasty variety came from Pinetree Gardens a long time ago and is named after Aleksander Volkov, commander of 2 Soyuz missions of the late ’80’s. Why a tomato in his honor? Send in the answer and get the first tomato off the vine.

We are approaching the longest day of the year. All this daylight allows for time consuming projects to get started and finished.   In that spirit, CUNY television channel 75 is planning (again) to do some filming at the garden on Wed 6/20 at 10 am

Also, we need to make compost tumblers and that is happening Monday June 25 if we can get a group of people there to help out. 

See the EVENTS page for details on both of these light demanding chores.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.  Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:  the moment one commits oneself, then providence moves too. -Goethe

Except for the calendula, which powered out a mass of blooms last month, most plants look frighteningly healthy. Some of this has to do with the uninfected, un-chewed new growth we always see early in the year, (and nutrient rich compost), but it’s also due to relentless, (ruthless?) pruning and thinning that has taken place. That’s not always easy.  Feeling an affinity for what we started, some of us have been hesitant to pull up plants that are past their prime or young ones that are crowding the bed:

   All the extra melon seeds came up and they needed to be thinned to only 4 per hill. It was difficult to decide which would be saved, which sacrificed.  After failing with ‘eenie- meenie -miney- moe’ someone played Roman emperor and the deed was done.  The payoff will hopefully be many ripe sweet Charentais melons in September.  

Next it’s a haircut for the calendula. 

Check events page for building projects, film shoot, and planting dates

          ‘Hot fun in the summertime’.  –S.  Stone

The un official rain gauge in central Brooklyn reads 2.27 inches between  6:00 am & 7:00 pm today. While it has wrecked inconvenience on baseball infields and royal icing decorations, the spinach & chard greens are inhaling this down pour like hungry school kids. Stop by the garden, & you’ll see that many plants have gone from adolescence to maturity.  They will soon be tough -stemmed and headed for the compost pile as we make room for summer crops.

Which means we need to gauge what needs to be planted to meet the needs of students returning in late summer / early fall.  Some things will get planted this Thursday; others closer to the solstice.  A rough garden plan for our 4 raised beds can be viewed on the Links page of this website.  It’s open for discussion. We’ll gauge the response

They came, they saw, they harvested;  they prepped, they schlepped, they set up and cooked. And it was a good time.

Joslyn made scrumptious sushi w/ roasted veg and garden greens.  Joseph & Michelle sauteed and served up hundreds of spring green bruschetta. And as a result, conference attendees enjoyed the fruits of their vegetable labours.  Without the assistance of Diandra, Shelita, Evelyn, Sephira,  Mohamed, Krystle, Jaquay, Vivian, Dah Wei,  Anthony,  Jelani, and a drop by from Bryan, ….. well, it would not have been nearly as much fun as it was, loose wheels and all. 

These Garden Club students went above and beyond, yeomen and yeowomen.  Awaitng pics from Carlos & Ms D.  

NEXT UP: Picking in the garden Thursday 5/17 at 10 am.

The Brooklyn Food Conference is happening this Saturday and with 5000 people expected, there will be loads of opportunities to link up with people who are involved in urban gardens, cooking, food justice, sustainablity, composting politics and so much more. it’s at Brooklyn Tech High School just a stone’s throw from the garden;  9 am – 6 pm

Members of the Hospitality Garden club are doing two cooking demos using produce from the garden:  Joslyn Taylor is making her Garden Sushi in room 6W18 from 10:45 -11:30am. It will be spicy. (as will the sushi)       And as part of the Youth Summit, Joseph Gordon will be serving up chard, spinach and young collards on a bruschetta w/ goat cheese. As local as it gets.   That’s in the 8th floor gym at 12:30.

There are still opportunites for City Tech students to get involved in this event by helping with set up or the info table Saturday, or harvesting and food prep on Friday.  See the events page or email  mellermann@citytech.cuny.edu  for detals.

NY City College of Technology is a proud sponsor of the Brooklyn Food Conference