Just a reminder: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Blog has moved! You can now find us at: LewisGinter.org/blog
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Community Kitchen Garden: First Harvest!
by Janine Butler, garden volunteer
The volunteers and staff continue to work hard in the vegetable garden; weeding, mulching, feeding, watering and what not, and finally we are starting to reap the rewards!
Last week the first harvest was picked and delivered to Central Virginia Foodbank/ FeedMore, the recipients of all the food we’re growing here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. A bounty of 182 pounds of yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant and cucumbers were hand delivered by Karen Clowers, Horticulture Department Coordinator at Lewis Ginter.
A fridge full of goodies
This week we continued to harvest, and should have at least double the amount we delievered last week. Some of the zucchini got huge in just less than one week!
Super zucchini!
We may have to harvest more frequently; we would prefer the zucchini to be a little smaller than these whoppers as they will taste and cook better.
Included in the first delivery was a whole bunch of cucumbers (what’s the collective term for lots of cucumbers? How about a ‘cool of cucumbers’… ) We didn’t grow the cucumbers onsite at Lewis Ginter. Instead another regular garden volunteer donated them. We love this! In fact, anyone who is growing vegetables at home and has a bumper crop can donate their extra veggies. Drop them off at the visitor center here at Lewis Ginter and we will take them to the foodbank along with our contributions. We would prefer donations to be dropped off on Saturday or Monday mornings, 9am-12pm, as we will be making deliveries to the foodbank later in the afternoon. Scheduled bulk deliveries help the chefs’ plan out meals and use the vegetables more efficiently. However, if it is more convenient you can take your donations directly to the foodbank on any day and the chefs will utilize them in the salad or vegetable dish of the day.
More pictures:
Volunteers harvest squash
Volunteers put in stakes to help support tomatoes
Peppers almost ready for harvest
Posted in Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter | Tagged Central Virginia Foodbank, Community Kitchen Garden, cucumbers, Feedmore, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, squash, vegetable garden, zucchini | 2 Comments »
Please note that Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Blog has moved! You can now find us at: LewisGinter.org/blog
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Community Kitchen Garden: United We Serve
By Janine Butler, garden volunteer
We are getting close to our first harvest! According to Tom Brinda, Assistant Executive Director of Horticulture here at Lewis Ginter, the first of the summer squash are almost ready! They are quite small, but apparently they taste better when they are smaller. In some circles serving baby squash with the flowers still intact is even quite trendy. Not only is the Central Virginia Foodbank reaping the benefits of this harvest, they can now call themselves gourmet!
This week we also gave most of the plants a healthy dose of liquid feed to help them along a bit, so hopefully we shall see a growth spurt in the next few days! And for those readers following the mystery eggplant bug story, the bugs have gone. We eliminated most of them last week, and they haven’t reappeared. Yeah!
We had about 8 new volunteers who came and worked in the Community Kitchen Garden this week. The majority of the group work for the Department of Social Services here in Richmond and got involved through the Hands on Greater Richmond program. Kimberly Brown, who works for the Dept of Social Services in the Office of Volunteering and Community Service, even brought her two young nephews. She told me that this opportunity combined her personal interest of gardening with serving her community and was excited to volunteer. As a bonus, her nephews also really enjoyed themselves and she hopes to be able to bring them back for more fun in the garden! We also had a representative from the Governor’s Office, Andrea Gaines. It’s exciting to see that local government is getting involved and encouraging it’s workforce to volunteer.
It’s all part of a bigger program called United We Serve. Recently the White House announced a new initiative asking people everywhere to volunteer to serve in their own communities during the summer. It’s a worthwhile effort, and everyone benefits. Personally, I am thoroughly enjoying this volunteer opportunity at Lewis Ginter. I feel active and involved at the same time as learning something new, and would recommend everyone to look for something that they can get involved with, either through one of the established volunteer programs or by pursuing a personal interest.
Thanks to all the new volunteers, and another big thanks to all the regular volunteers!
Posted in Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter | Tagged Central Virginia Foodbank, Community Kitchen Garden, Feedmore, Hands on Greater Richmond, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, squash, United We Serve | 1 Comment »
Community Kitchen Garden: Tomato Suckers and More!
By Janine Butler, garden volunteer
Do you know what I love about this volunteer gig? Every time I go to the garden I learn something new – this week was all about tomatoes (and yes, I say tom-ah-toe, not tom-ate-er).
Tom Brinda, Assistant Executive Director of Horticulture at Lewis Ginter asked the volunteers to ‘sucker’ some of the tomato plants, which means removing all the smaller shoots (or suckers) from the plant and leaving just the main stem. The sucker grows in the axis between the stem and a branch. It was scary at first removing all the suckers as it felt like we were ravaging the plants that had worked so hard to grow. But under the watchful eye of Jody, a master gardener and Lewis Ginter volunteer, we all got the hang of it fairly quickly. Removing the suckers will allow the plant to direct all its energy into the main stem; this will produce less fruit, however the fruit should be much bigger in size. The plants that don’t get suckered will produce more fruit overall, but the size of the fruit will be smaller. This hopefully allows us to get the best of both worlds – quantity and quality!
The first photo is a ‘before’ shot of a tomato plant, and the second is after we have thinned it out:
Tomato Before thinning
Tomato after thinning
We had about ten volunteers this week, which was great, and we managed to get quite a lot done in a short amount of time. As well as the ‘tomato suckering’, we also did some weeding and of course, we put down some more mulch! Regular readers of this blog will know that we have shoveled tons of mulch! We move a pile of it, and then the following week there is another pile that has been delivered, ready to be moved again!
We also planted more zucchini seeds, in the same manner that we planted the squash seeds last month – by making rows of small hills of compost, cover with soil, then roll over the black plastic barrier, cut X holes in the plastic and put in about 4-6 seeds. These seeds should germinate in about 10-15 days. We are also starting to see some veggies growing – an eggplant, green pepper and tomatoes. There’s not too many of them right now, but hopefully soon we will have enough to harvest and then we can take it down to the Central Virgina Foodbank where it will be put to good use.
The beginnings of an eggplant!
Last week I also mentioned the mystery bug that is attacking some of the eggplants. One reader helpfully suggested that it might be a flea beetle, but I’m not sure (although I am definitely no expert). I managed to get a photo so hopefully someone out there can confirm what it is!
Mystery bugs
I would like to thank all the volunteers this week for their hard work, and again invite anyone to come by and help out. We work in the garden on Saturday and Monday 9am-12pm; it’s great fun and we would love to see you!
Posted in Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter | Tagged Central Virginia Foodbank, Community Kitchen Garden, Feedmore, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, Master Gardener Association, mulch, tomato sucker, tomatoes, vegetable garden, zucchini | 5 Comments »
by Janine Butler, garden volunteer
In last week’s blog, I commented on how well all the plants had been growing over the last couple of weeks. Well guess what else has been growing? Yep, WEEDS! I spent a good hour or so on Saturday using a cool tool called a scuffle hoe – you move it back and forth as if you were sweeping the floor, except instead of collecting dirt it wacks the top of the weeds off! It works pretty well for the broadleaf weeds, but we also have some pesky wiry, grassy weed, which is a bit harder to get rid of. We might have to find something else for those guys.
Also this week, we continued to put down lots and lots of mulch. I am hoping that if we lay it down thick enough then we can squash the weeds! I have to admit I am getting pretty good at mulching; it must be all the practice I am getting! And something else I learned this week – mulch needs nitrogen to break it down, and tomatoes need nitrogen to grow. Some of the mulch we have is a little ‘green’ and new, so we had to make sure that it doesn’t get too close to the plants, especially tomatoes. You don’t really want the plants to work so hard to get the nitrogen from the soil so you should make sure that the mulch is about 12 inches from the plants. In an ideal world you would have older mulch, but we need so much mulch that we have to take what we can get.
Tom Brinda, Assistant Executive Director, at Lewis Ginter updated me on some of the other things that they have been doing. Basil seeds had been planted, and they were starting to sprout. Soon we will have to thin them out a bit to make room and help them grow bigger. The staff have also been feeding all the plants, because just like you and me they also need good food to help them grow! Apparently you should feed every couple of weeks; we will do that in two ways 1) by using liquid food to “water” the plants, and 2) by side-feeding, where the plant food is sprinkled on the ground a few inches away from the plants to encourage good root growth.
We also had some mystery guests this week and they seem pretty fond of the eggplants and peppers. We are still working to find out what these insects are. These bugs are quite round in shape, and a brownish color. I will try to take a photo of them the next time I am out there – if anyone has any ideas what they could be then let us know! We had a new volunteer this week, a teenager and Tom put him on bug removal duty. I will stick to mulching thank you very much!
After bug duty the teenage finished planting zucchini seeds. I was really impressed by his enthusiasm — it’s great to see teenagers taking an interest in planting and growing stuff.
I have also been impressed lately by tales from my friends and neighbors who are growing their own veggies. My neighbor Susan has already got a spicy green chili pepper (just one, but more should be on the way) and a couple of peas. My friend’s husband Dan has a fantastic garden going on in his backyard – I am trying to rope him into volunteering here!
I hope that you too are all having success in your own gardens! And if you’d like to join the fun, remember we are here working on the Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter every Monday and Saturday from 9 am to noon, so stop by and give us some help, if you have a green thumb.
Posted in Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter | Tagged Central Virginia Foodbank, Community Kitchen Garden, Feedmore, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, mulch, scuffle hoe | 2 Comments »
Community Kitchen Garden: Look What’s Growing! by Janine Butler, garden volunteer What a difference a couple of weeks can make! Look at these pictures that were taken this morning:
Look how the squash seeds have grown!
The squash seeds that we planted a couple of weeks ago are doing great. I can’t believe that they could grow so big in such a short time! The seed package did say that germination would occur in 10 -15 days, but as I have never grown squash before I didn’t quite believe it. Well, seeing is believing! The rest of the plants are also doing very well. It is so exciting! Everything is growing!
Cabbages planted by children from New Directions Daycare
I am especially pleased with the cabbages – if you remember back to the Planting Day Celebration, the children from New Directions Daycare played an important part in planting those rows of cabbages. It’s great to see that they have taken root so well and I hope the kids get a chance to come back and see how the plants are growing – I’m sure they would get a big kick from knowing that what they planted is actually thriving.
Rows and rows of tomatoes!
Lots more plants and seeds have been also been planted in the last week by the volunteers and staff at Lewis Ginter and, in fact, the majority of the site has been planted. However, the sheer scale of the garden is a huge task. This is where you can play a part: Lewis Ginter needs you! We are calling out to anyone who would like to volunteer to work in the veggie garden. Work will be taking place on Saturday and Monday mornings, 9:00am – 12:00pm, and anyone and everyone is welcome to come and play in the dirt! Come once, or come all the time! No experience is needed however the work may be hard at times, involving shoveling mulch and digging, but believe it or not it is lots of fun! You can contact the volunteer department for more information, or just show up onsite on Saturday and/or Monday at 9am. If you have a pair of gloves, sunscreen, and a full water bottle then you may wish to bring those along. If you can’t volunteer, we would still love for you to come and visit the garden at anytime. Southern States has kindly donated packets of seeds to be given out to visitors, including watermelon, radish, pumpkin, cucumber and lettuce. Yummy, sounds like the makings of some great salads to me! I hope that you are all having much success in your own gardens at home!
Posted in Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter | Tagged cabbages, Central Virginia Foodbank, Community Kitchen Garden, Feedmore, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, squash, tomatoes, vegetable garden | Leave a Comment »
Did you see Sunday’s Times-Dispatch? Not only did they feature Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden for how well we are using social media — but they also featured the butterflies (plus a slideshow)! I’m so happy to be in such good company! And so honored to have made it to the front page.
Kudos to Bill Lohmann, the reporter, who lead with how nuns in Richmond use social media. Once again, we are in very good company!
Of all the places you might expect to find Sister Vicki, a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia, one of the last might be here on YouTube, the often-irreverent, post-your-own-video free-for-all that’s representative of today’s social media landscape.
What’s a nice nun doing in a place like this?
“The biggest part of my job . . . is visibility,” said Sister Vicki, whose job is to work with women who believe they are called to religious life. “My job is to make sure the ones who should find us do.”
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The flurry of activity around Butterflies LIVE! and the Garden has been incredible these past few days. What an incredible way to kick off the summer!
I’d just like to take a few minutes to thank and round up some of the blog posts of Richmonders who decided it would be a good idea to come see our Butterflies LIVE! exhibit for themselves and give the rest of Richmond and Central Virginia a preview. The really cool thing is that they all decided to do this on thier own. From movies, to photos, to blog posts, each was inspired by the Garden or the butterflies. So cool!
Plus we’ve gotten some great local media coverage as well. And Elevation just finished our 15 second TV spot that will be airing starting June 1st — so if you have 15 seconds, take a peak!
In fact, the response in the blogging world has been so tremendous, I’ve decided to host a blogger tour of Butterflies LIVE! If you are interested in participating, just email me at jonahh [at] lewisginter [dot] org and I’ll add you to the list! Hopefully, we’ll have some live Tweeting from this event as well. The date is still to be decided.
So here goes:
- Scott Dickens over at RocketPop Media made a short HD film and put it on YouTube and Facebook! Awesome stuff!
- Our new Twitter friend, @Brent_H, shot a ton of awesome photos of the butterflies and flowers at Lewis Ginter this weekend and put them on Flickr.
- Another new Twitter friend, @RichmondEditor, aka David Hylton, posted some amazing photos (for a non photographer) on his blog today. If you think Google Ads are funny and have a sense of humor, make sure you check out the Google ads on the right!
- Karmic-Dragonfly posted even more great photos (I love the double tiger butterfly shot)
- Photographer @Patty Hankins featured our pink peonies on her photo blog.
- Twitter friend Sylvia @Peacewogs has been sending up some beautiful Twitpics to Twitter like crazy!
A blue morpho feeding on fruit at Butterflies LIVE!
Plus, RVAnews.com featured one of my blue morpho photos as their photo of the day. And Style Weekly had a cute write up on how everyone loves butterflies because they remind us of our ability to transform ourselves. (Very true!) Plus you can always see some of our latest and greatest photos on Richmond.com. They featured the butterflies in an article a few weeks ago.
I’m sure I’m missing someone, so if you’ve seen a blog post or media coverage on Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden recently, or you’ve written something yourself, please feel free to leave a comment so we can link to it.
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Blue Morphos feeding on cantaloupe
The Rose Garden at Lewis Ginter
Wow, there is some really exciting stuff going on at the Garden! The Rose Garden is in full bloom, just in time for a packed house for tonight’s Groovin’ in the Garden concert. Old Crow Medicine Show may be the first show of the season to sell out, and this gorgeous weather is certainly helping! There are lots of wonderful plants in bloom as we wind up the last few weeks of A Million Blooms. Some of my favorite are the iris and pitcher plants in the West Island garden and the hardy water lily outside the Conservatory.
Tomorrow, is another big day for the Garden: opening day of Butterflies LIVE! featuring hundreds of exotic tropical butterflies in the North Wing of the Conservatory as part of a metamorphosis-themed 25th anniversary celebration, funded with generous support from the Robins Foundation.
Here are some photos for you of some of the 24 species that will be featured. Also, check out some of our butterfly videos on YouTube!
We have lots of other fun information on butterflies and Butterflies LIVE! on our website, including ID cards, FAQs and more. Plus, don’t forget, our Butterflies LIVE! Facebook Widget and our “Which Butterflies LIVE! butterfly are you?” quiz, also on Facebook.
Chrysalides
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Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
25th Anniversary
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