August 27th Tour of Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Garden

LAGC Tour – August 27, 2019

Member News: Long time member Marilyn Gurtner passed away. A $35 donation to the Latodami Nature Center in memory of her was made.

Treasurer’s report: Dianne provided Andrea with the report.

Starting checking account balance was $4,219.22.  Ending Checking account balance of $4,184.22 + petty cash of $61.87 leaves us with a total of $4,246.09.

Calendar:

September 24:LAGC meeting, Northmont Church, speaker Len Lehman, “Hostas: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”  

August Tour Summaryof the Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni garden.  

Alyssa Crawford, garden coordinator for North Hills Community Outreach (NHCO) welcomed everyone on a pleasant August evening.  She gave a brief overview of NHCO, an organization that operates over 20 programs to help those during a difficult period in their lives, including the garden which supplies the 3 food pantries they operate.

The Sirianni family grew up across the street.  Immigrants from Italy, the current garden is where they gardened, fruits and vegetables, including approximately 40 fig trees.  Teresa Amelio (past president) donated the land for use as a garden, with the stipulation that it be named after her mother and used to grow organic food for the food pantry.

2011 was the first growing season for the garden.  In 2018, 5,500 pounds of produce was harvested from the garden for NHCO’s food pantries.  The garden is 2/3 of an acre in size.  Alyssa follows organic gardening practices as much as possible, no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers are used.

Outside the fencing is a bioswale, which was installed with a grant from the 9 Mile Run Watershed Association.  The native and flowering plants filter the water coming off the road, and from storms. It also slows down the water going into the storm drainage system.  Plants are loved by pollinator and beneficial insects.

The vegetables grown in the garden all come from seed donated by seed companies, usually leftovers from the prior year.  There is a small stipend for more unusual varieties.  The year, it is the Red Noodle Bean, an Asian bean, which can grow up to a yard long.

Signing in, 15 members

Alyssa Crawford, director of garden

Jeanne & Debbie

Warm weather varieties such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are started indoors.  Other vegetables are direct seeded into the grown, such as lettuces, carrots, radishes, swiss chard, kale ….  Alyssa coordinates with the food pantry coordinator as to what to grow.  She does try to grow as many of the “standardized” crops as she can, such as lettuce, radishes, beans … based on the season, but does like to try new varieties of vegetables.  Last year was an Asian gourd which grew to over 6 feet in length, and resembled a fat white snake.

Cucamelon, slightly longer than a quarter, very crisp

Ornamental pepper

Toothache plant, blossom has a tingling, numbing effect in mouth

Cover crop of buckwheat with onions in foreground

Alyssa does succession planting to maximize the productivity of the garden.  Cool weather crops will be seeded in the next week.  She uses a garden map for planning purposes, but could do a better job of tracking the varieties planted, she said.

After having a soil test done, coming back as high in organic matter and phosphorus, a fertilizer blend of feather meal (ground up chicken feathers),  azomite clay and kelp meal was added to the garden beds to create a better soil.  More nitrogen is needed so she will be adding more feather meal.

Several years ago, she started planting cover crops over the winter months to beds that would be planted later in the spring.  This has allowed her to use the no till method of gardening.  The crops are cut down and allowed to decompose on the bed. For beds that will be planted in late winter/early spring, straw is used to keep down the weeds.

Row covers are used to protect plants when there is a danger of frost, and also as a pest control.  If squash plants started early in the season aren’t covered, they will get the squash vine borer.  Uncovered eggplants will be attacked by the flea beetle.

The garden also has an apiary which is maintained by volunteer beekeepers.  They put up the hives and perform all maintenance, and the honey is theirs.  The benefit is that the bees buzz around the garden and pollinate all of the vegetables.

The high tunnel on the property is similar to a greenhouse.  Covered by heavy duty plastic, there is a temperature degree difference between outside and inside.  This year, there were 2 Eagle Scout projects, 1 the installation of raised beds that are angled to maximize sunlight, and the installation of rain barrels which collect water from the high tunnels.  A hose system is attached, making it easier to use the water.

An heirloom variety of pole bean is planted along the fence line – Rattlesnake Bean.  Each year, Alyssa allows pods to “go to seed”, so she can harvest the seed for planting the following year.

In addition to the vegetable garden, there is an herb garden, a fruit orchard and a rain garden.  The fruit orchard was planted by the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation.  However, our humid wet weather has made it difficult to get good fruit from the trees.

There are 2 days of drop-in garden hours if you would like to volunteer, Monday and Thursday from 10 – 2. No gardening experience required, and you come and stay for as long as is convenient for you, you don’t need to coordinate with Alyssa.  Harvest always occurs first, followed by planting, watering and weeding.  If you know of a school group, corporate group or church group that would like to volunteer, contact Alyssa to set it up. Her email is aacrawford@nhco.organd phone is 412 607-0069 x3311.