Visit Koinonia

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Celebrate Earth Day at the garden on April 22


Garden Orientation on Earth Day, April 22 at 10 am

Everyone is invited to come to the garden to celebrate with us. We will share a bit about what we do, and how. This is for everyone, whether you're curious, experinced, or anyone who might be considering joining the garden, and wants to learn more. Come out and see what we're doing. No experience necessary. All ages welcome.

The garden is located at Evergreen United Methodist Church, 11098 Hwy 15-501, Chapel Hill, NC 27516


  

Monday, December 19, 2022

Excited about Cauliflower

Fall is a good time in our area for greens such as kale and collards, as well as other related members of the Brassica family such as broccoli, turnips, radishes and arugula. Over the past several years we have also been attempting to raise cauliflower with varying degrees of success. The first time we planted it way too late, and finally harvested some in February. Last season was a disaster due to the drought and the lack of a killing frost until nearly Decemeber. Aphids were extremely destructed and damaged most of our crops severely except for some turnips and collards that managed to hang on. 

This year was the charm as I started the cauliflower, broccoli and kale at the end of July and we transplanted them after Labor Day. Also a first was the use of shade netting for about six weeks which really seemed to help them grow. So everything has been much better, and we harvested the cauliflower in mid December before the onset of the extreme cold.
 

Friday, September 30, 2022

Getting Started with Asclepius Tuberosa


 As a community garden, our main mission has been to garden responsibly as a community while serving our neighbors with donations to the food pantry. We hope to manage our garden in a sustainable manner to preserve and improve the soil conditions. 

Many of our crops require pollination, and while we have never noticed a shortage of pollinators at work amoung our plants, we also want to provide attraction to pollinating insects such as wasps, bees and butterflies. As more and more land is gobbled up by developors, more of wild flowers that they depend on become more scarce.

Several years ago we purchased one Asclepius Tuberosa because it had been designated as a "pollinator of the year." Now that plant has reproduced itself through the seeds it formed, and we have learned how to save and replant the seeds successfully so that we now have about ten or so of them.

An advantage of Asclepius Tuberosa over the swamp milkweed is that it has a tuberous root and so it is easy to keep it where you want it, wheras the other variety puts out many runners and can be difficult to contain. As a wildflower, it is somewhat drought tolerant and is not easily overwhelmed by nearby weeds.


Friday, August 5, 2022

Summer storm

A recent storm took down a large limb from the tall sweet gum tree at the garden, dropping it on the top bar of our swing. Though we enjoyed the swing, which sadly may not be repairable, we were grateful the limb didn't land on our shed, rain barrels for deer fence, which would have been a worse outcome for the garden.
 

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Broccoli Challenges


Growing broccoli has been a challenge. We've grown it with varying degrees of success. It can do well as a fall and winter crop, but wither season presents its own problems. 
Planted as a spring crop, broccoli has yielded mixed results. The soil in the early spring is too cold, and transplants grow slowly with unpredictable rainfall in early spring. Our plantlys have been damaged by spring frosts even when grown under row cover. Sudden the weather turns, only to be blasted with intense sunlight and too much heat just as they are starting to make heads. Some times broccoli has been a lot of work and little to show for it.
This year we had more success when we tried a variety that is less bothered by heat. We received a donation pkt of Pakman broccoli seed which, which gave us much better results. The plants grew very uniform, and most produced nice heads at the same time. We have been very please with Pakman and will definitely grow it again next spring and leave the Green Magic for fall-winter


Saturday, May 14, 2022

Tomato planting time

We had a wild morning at the garden today, prepping bed and setting out tomato transplants.

After broadforking, weeding and fertilizing two beds, we had almost planted twelve plants into the first when when a downpour interrupted out efforts and sent us dashing to the shed for shelter. When it turned into a thunderstorm with lightening we partially closed the door for a few minutes. After 15 minutes or so, it let up and we planting the first bed. But since the soil was now too wet for working we will have to wait a few days to plant the rest of the plants.

The rain is encouraging after the very dry spring conditions a year ago, so we are grateful.

 

Monday, April 25, 2022

Spring Thoughts

 At this time our spring planting is well under way, and some of our crops are making progress.  With some good rains recently the garden is beginning to recover from the devastating effects of prolonged drought from last fall an into the winter. It goes without saying that much depends upon weather. Many of our fall plants were severely damaged by long lasting aphid attacks due to the prolonged warm season and no frost to kill them. 

So far this spring our snow peas, spinach, and potatoes are doing well. Our fall planted onions are showing stress from drought over the winter. Two plantings of carrots failed, due to a hard frost, and the replanted seed didn't come up. While the rain barrels help, rain is still the best. We are grateful for the recent rains, which have helped considerably.