Grove West Garden Market:
CANCELLED TODAY

Community Organic Vegetable Garden: From Seed to Need
The Grove West is working with local school children to teach them the benefits of growing an organic vegetable and herb garden. This project, titled “From Seed to Need,” has the students from Rumson Country Day School donating their time to work with nature to help those in need. Under the direction of our Master Gardener the students are gaining hands-on experience in the planting, watering and maintenance of the garden. Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, carrots, celery and beans are just some of the many vegetables have been planted. A sitting area has been added for all members of the community to come and enjoy. 100% of the produce will be donated to local charities. Our goal is to create a colorful, public garden that will benefit the community. Watch our garden grow—check out our daily progress!

Read about us in The Two River Times.

Total Garden Market proceeds raised for charity to date: $2,132.48

Winding down for Winter
Today is our last Garden day. The weather is bringing cold temperatures and little sunlight. Our crops are no longer growing. We can see how much the cold weather damages our crops. We had a wonderful Spring and Summer. We enjoyed working at the garden and learning how to plant, maintain, and harvest crops. Our Garden Markets helped us practice our math and the money raised helped many people. We are looking forward to starting up again in the Spring! Thank you for all your support!

Harvesting & Garden Market to benefit the MCSPCA
Today we had a Garden Market to help benefit the Monmouth County SPCA. We harvested many different crops. We harvested kale, peppers, lettuce, beets and eggplant. We also prepared bunches of flowers and bunches of different types of herbs including basil, parsley, and rosemary. We also cultivated the soil and checked on our growing seeds.

Cleaning and thinning
We spent our day today thinning the beets. We pulled out the weaker and thinner plants to allow room for sunlight to in between the plants. We then removed our other tomato plant that is done for the season. We took out the tomato stakes and removed the plant from the soil. After that, we inspected our cabbage plants for critters because we saw that the leaves of the plants were being eaten. We found a few critters and removed them so they do not harm the plant any longer. Our fall crops are still growing and we hope it does not get too cold too quickly! We are looking forward to our next garden market next Friday, October 30th at 1-3 pm!

Fertilizer & Watering
Today we spent our day adding fertilizer to the soil. All the seeds we planted have germinated and are growing. We also added tin foil on top of the soil around certain plants. We did this because the reflection of the tin foil is an organic way of keeping certain bugs away that may harm our plants. After we carefully added fertilizer to the soil, making sure it didn’t touch the plants and harm them, we watered the entire garden. We also harvested tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers and brought them to Lunch Break.

Planting for the Fall
We began our day by cultivating the soil and adding fertilizer. We planted new Fall crops in the beds.
The new plants included ornamental red bor kale, herbs such as Greek oregano and basil, broccoli,
brussel sprouts, and Kohlrabi. We also planted new seeds for radishes and swiss chard.
We added new herbs to our pretty cans in the corners of the planting beds. We’re hoping for lots
of sun and warm weather to help our garden grow!
 
Thank you Neves Jewelers for sponsoring our snack today!

Harvesting for our 5th Garden Market
Today we harvested crops for our 5th Garden Market to benefit the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.

We harvested peppers, tomatoes, and lettuce. We prepared our flower bunches and our herb bunches, including basil, rosemary, oregano, and parsley. We also checked on the new seeds we planted last week for our Fall crop. The new seeds already germinated and should be ready for harvest in 33 days!

Planting New Seeds
We spent our day clearing more beds to make room for new seeds to grow. First, we removed the plants from the beds. Then we cleaned the soil by removing dead leaves, roots, and other objects. We then added fresh soil to the bed and cultivated the soil. Finally, we planted our new seeds and a little bit of soil to cover them. We then labeled each of the beds with what we planted so we can track its growth. Today we planted green and purple string beans, different varieties of carrots, beets, and lettuce. We also harvested crops that were ready, including tomatoes, a few cucumbers, and string beans. We brought the harvested crops to Lunch Break in Red Bank. We cannot wait for our next Garden Market next Thursday from 12 pm to 2 pm to benefit the Food Bank of Monmouth & Ocean Counties!

Harvesting for our 4th Garden Market
We spent the morning harvesting our vegetables for our 4th Garden Market to benefit the Crop Walk for Hunger. We harvested carrots, beets, green peppers, tomatoes, swiss chard, eggplant, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, and herbs such as parsley and basil. The flower bunches were put together after cutting the flowers from around the garden. We also cleared out the second carrot bed to make room for new seeds. The soil was cultivated and fresh soil was added. Our gourds should be ready for harvest in 63 days!

Thank you Pottery Barn Kids for sponsoring our snack this week!

Clearing the Beds for New Crops
Today we spent our morning clearing out one of the beds. We cleared the current crop – carrots, and cultivated the soil. We will be planting new seeds in this bed next week. We also harvested some vegetables today – carrots, tomatoes, eggplant and beets. We brought these fresh vegetables to Lunch Break in Red Bank. Our gourds are doing well – we have 70 days left until they can be harvested. We can’t wait for our Garden Market next Thursday from 12-2 pm to benefit the Crop Walk for Hunger!

Thank you J. Crew for sponsoring our snack today!

Harvesting for our 3rd Garden Market
We moved our Garden Market to Friday because of the rainy day on Thursday. We began our morning with preparing for our 3rd Garden Market to benefit the Monmouth County SPCA. We then harvested a variety of fruits and vegetables today including carrots, eggplant, green peppers, string beans, potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes and herbs – basil, rosemary, parsley and dill seeds. We also prepared our beautiful flower bunches. We checked on our gourds and they are growing beautifully – we have 77 days left!

Thank you Brooks Brothers for sponsoring our snack today!

Cleaning & Fertilizing
We spent the morning cleaning our garden. We removed dead leaves from the soil because we had to add fertilizer. After we removed the leaves, we cultivated the soil. We then added our fertilizer being very careful that it did not touch the actual plants or it could harm them. We then cultivated the soil again so the fertilizer would go into the soil. We also harvested some of our vegetables, including tomatoes and cucmbers, or they would become bitter and spoiled. We brought the vegetables to Lunch-Break so they can have a fresh meal. We are looking forward to our Garden Market next week to benefit the MCSPCA!

Thank you Pottery Barn for sponsoring our snack today!

Harvesting for our 2nd Garden Market
We spent most of our morning harvesting vegetables for our 2nd Garden Market to support 180 Turning Lives Around. We had a larger variety of vegetables today including eggplant, cucumbers, squash, carrots, green peppers, strawberries, potatoes and string beans. In addition, we prepared basil & parsley bunches and our beautiful flower bunches.  We then transplanted some of our vegetables to different areas of the garden where there is more room for them to grow.

Thank you The Papery for sponsoring our snack this week!

New Seeds and Maintenance
Today we planted new seeds in the beds we harvested vegetables from last week. First we cultivated the soil in the beds. Then we added new soil. After that we planted lettuce and beets. We then covered the seeds with soil and watered everything. We added mulch in the corners of the garden. We ended the day adding organic fertilizer to the soil making sure it did not touch the plants or it could hurt them. We are counting the days for the Garden Market next week!

Thank you Starbucks for sponsoring our snack this week!

Harvesting for our Garden Market!
We spent the morning harvesting our vegetables for our first Garden Market, which benefits Lunch Break today. Everything has grown so much since last week. We harvested green peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, beets, carrots, string beans, and lettuce. We prepared herb bunches – including basil and parsley. We also prepared beautiful flower bunches. We checked on the gourds that we planted two weeks ago. Gourds take 120 days and we have 106 days left – just in time for Halloween!

Thank you Tula for sponsoring our snack this week!

The sun finally came out this week!
Everything is growing big and fast. We will be harvesting many vegetables next week for our Garden Market such as carrots, peppers, radishes, beets, swiss chard, and lettuce. We planted gourds, squash and cucumbers last week and everything is germinating. We added organic fertilizer to these crops and then cultivated the soil. We also lifted any cucumber vines off the ground to keep them from rotting and attached them to the A-Frames. We also tied the eggplant to stakes so they have support as they are growing. We cannot wait to see what our vegetables will look like next week!

Thank you Starbucks for sponsoring our snack this week!

What a busy day we had today!
We began with measuring the soil temperature – 68 degrees, which is very cool for summer time.
The soil is cool because of all the rain we are having. We counted how many days until harvest for our vegetables and some are a little behind because of the weather. We need lots of sunlight! We then sowed new seeds for fall crops including gourds, squash, and cucumbers. We picked some strawberries, beans, green peppers, basil and parsley. We then sprinkled our garden with ladybugs which help keep the bad bugs away.

Thank you Elegant Lighting for sponsoring our snack this week!

Everything is blooming and growing!
There are green peppers, lettuce, strawberries, fruit and more. Today we planted new herbs like lemongrass and orange mint in the cans that we painted. We also planted beautiful flowers and added fertilizer to everything we planted. We are adding more soil to our potatoes as they grow. We harvested some of the radishes that were big and red and cut some wonderfully smelling basil. Bamboo A-Frames were also constructed today. The A-Frames will help support the plants that grow larger and heavier vegetables like cucumbers and eggplant.

*We have had a lot of rain so far but now we need lot of sunlight to help everything grow more!

Thank you Starbucks for sponsoring our snack this week!

Harvest Time!
1.)   The soil temperature was measured at 65 degrees
2.)   First Set of Crops
a.     Lettuce - ready to harvest!
b.     Carrots – 28 days until harvest
c.     Beets – 18 days until harvest
d.    Beans – 8 days until harvest (these may not be ready because the weather has not been very warm and sunny)
e.     Swiss Chard – 12 days over date of harvest (because the weather has been very cool)
f.      Radishes – have been harvested! We are adding them to add our salads! Yummy!
3.)   Second set of crops
a.     Lettuce
         i.     Takes 25 – 30 days
         ii.     23 days left until harvest
b.     Carrots
         i.     Takes 65 – 70 days
         ii.     68 days left until harvest
c.     Beets
         i.     Take 58 days
         ii.     51 days left until harvest
d.    Swiss Chard
        i.     Takes 20-30 days
        ii.     23 days until harvest
e.     Radishes
         i.     Take 25- 30 days
         ii.     23 days left until harvest

*soil temperature needs to be warm in order for them to be ready on time

4.)   The Fruit Trees are bearing fruit!

*Everything is little behind schedule because the soil temperature is too cool.

Seeds, Worms, & Planting
Here is the description of what the kids did at the Grove West Garden on 5/8
1.)   Planted potatoes in buckets and as the potatoes grow, we will fill the buckets more and more with soil
2.)   Planted Eggplant, Strawberries, Sage, Cilantro, Chocolate mint, Peppers and Cucumbers
3.)   Soil Temperature was 65 degrees (uncovered)
4.)   Lettuce – should have been ready to be harvested already but because of the little sunlight we had last week due to it raining so many days in a row, it was not ready
5.)   Beans are doing well because they like a lot of water
6.)   Counter
a.     Swiss chard – 55-60 days until harvest
b.     Beans – 60 days until harvest
c.     Beets – 60 days until harvest
d.    Carrots – 60-70 days until harvest
e.     Lettuce (planted new seeds) – 50-70 days until harvest

Turning Soil, Adding Fertilizer, and Planting
· Soil Temperature was measured at 45 degrees (uncovered) and 59 degrees covered
· Everything is cropping up!
· The students planted Marigolds and Chives which keep the bugs away
· Turned the soil and added fertilizer
· Checked on the worms and they are doing ok which means the soil is doing ok

Seeds, Worms, & Planting
The day began with measuring the soil temperature. The soil that was covered with a frost blanket had a temperature of 50 degrees and the soil that was uncovered had a temperature of 49 degrees. The soil temperature dropped from last week because of the cold and rainy weather we had.
· The students then calculated how many days are left for each vegetable
· The lettuce, swiss chard and radish are coming up!
· They released earthworms which are important for aerating the soil.
· They ended the day with planting dill, lavender, violas, gladiolas, and chamomile.

The students sowed seeds including beets, beans, lettuce, carrots and swiss chard. They also planted flower bulbs. The students released earthworms for aerating the soil. The lettuce, swiss chard and radishes are coming up! They planted dill, lavender, violas, gladiolas and chamomile.