~ Zechariah 10:1 ~

Ask the Lord for
rain in the springtime;
it is the Lord who
makes the
storm clouds.
He gives showers of
rain to men,
and plants of the
field to everyone.

2011 Garden

click here for 2009 garden

click here for 2010 garden

to volunteer, contact

beth[at]reachteachserve.org

located on south lawn of Cicero Christian Church
at 1715 Stringtown Pike in Cicero, Indiana

Our mission is to reach, teach and serve our community with free fresh garden produce

Our garden is maintained through volunteer labor and donations and is a simple act of kindness to show God's love.

Yes, something for nothing! You don't have to help to pick from the produce. Pick what you will eat fresh.

2011 Garden Details

October, 2011

The garden has been cleaned up and is ready to be tilled under.

But it won't be long before we'll launch the garden for 2012! We will order seed in January and start our indoor greenhouse in February and lots of help will be needed.

June 28, 2011

The plants in the garden are starting to take off!

Our experiment with newspaper covered with mulch is working. The thicker the layer of newspaper, the better. A few spots are weedy where the paper was too thin, but so far we are pleased with the results.

Peas did not produce for the third year in a row. They did come up, but very few pods. You know what they say: Three strikes and you're out! No peas in 2012!

Flooding recently increased the level of our pond and covered our pump motor. When the pump is replaced, the water will be operational again at the spigots.

Due to a very rainy spring, most plants were in the ground a full month later than in 2011.

How can you help?

Pull weeds as needed in strips
Recover "muddy" spots where paper isn't covering with mulch from small pile
Finish the twine on the cucumber trellis (twine in red bucket in greenhouse)
Water plants as needed
Lead climbing plants up trellis (melons, winter squash, cucumber, lima bean, green bean)
Adjust tomato plants in wire frames as they grow
Remove pea fence and stakes and place in green storage shed
Place black signs in proper locations (in storage shed)
Fertilize! Lots of miracle gro available in the greenhouse

Click here for an updated list of growing plants.

May 20, 2011

The garden was tilled on May 12, 2011, and we are working toward completion of the following tasks:

cover the garden with a weed barrier of newspapers and mulch
set up all the trelliss
plant starts, which have been moved to the greenhouse
plant seed

The sweet corn was planted May 20, 2011

COMMUNITY WORK TIMES:

Saturday, May 21 from 1-4pm
Monday, May 23 from 4-7pm
Thursday, May 26 from 4-7pm

If you have time other than these scheduled times (and a partner until the ground cover is complete), call Beth Roberts (508-1009) and she will give you a task to fit your timeframe and ability

All planting needs to follow the specific planting plan. Beth can explain how it works if it doesn't make sense to you. Click on the link above and to the right for the plan.

April 15, 2011....When the weather breaks...

The garden, including the sweet corn plot and new area for pumpkins, will be tilled by Jan Hoch and several others with the right equipment
Short expansions in the length of strips N5, S1
Two new strips will be tilled up to the west (strip N6 and S6)
Tom Ping will hook up the irrigation system for free water from our pond
fertilize as needed
clean out outdoor greenhouse
repotting of plants into larger containers as needed
move indoor greenhouse to outdoor greenhouse to harden plants
Newspaper and feed sacks will be placed on the strips (where indicated on the planting plan) and plastic covering (where indicated) for weed barrier.
The mulch will be pulled from the flower beds around the building, transferred to the garden and placed on top of the newspaper and feed sacks to hold down the weed barrier
The trellis' will be installed (wooden A-frames, fence wire, bamboo tee-pees...)
Hoses and hose holders will be installed
Seed will be planted
Plants will be transplanted
weeding by hand and application of weed preventer in asparagus, strawberries, blueberries...
install signage
assess current supplies and obtain what is needed (heavy-duty hose, fertilizer, hose holders, tomato cages, additional trellis supports)
disassemble and store indoor greenhouse

Indoor Greenhouse Task List - April 1-10, 2011

About 1,100 individual plants are growing in room 206!

THANK YOU!!!! The majority of this list is complete

A complete list is posted in the greenhouse, room 206, that needs to be completed the first week of April. Come on in at your leisure and do some indoor gardening. Plants need to be watered at least 4 times while our coordinators are all on spring break vacations.

Tasks include watering, replanting seeds where some didn't germinate, thinning and repotting some plants.

click here to see the detailed list of tasks to complete

Outdoor Planting

Also the first week of April, we want to get peas in the ground, even if it is too wet to till, we want to get these started. Contact Beth Roberts to help.

Preparing the soil

The strips were tilled and fertilized October 30, 2010 in preparation for the winter. A storage container has been placed for the exclusive use of the garden near the compost bin.

We'll begin planning layout and ordering seed in January, 2011 and will setup our inside greenhouse and start germinating seeds in February.

This year the garden will expanded to twelve 5'x50' strip beds (3,000 square feet), half an acre of sweet corn, 13 fruit trees and a pumpkin patch.

Click here for the List of Plants in the Garden

Click here to see the details on Varieties and Quantities.

Plant List & Location updated 6/28/2011

Strip	Section	Plants & Comments
north or south section with 6 strips each	direction indicates distance from strip spigot	BS = plant bulb sets DS = plant seed directly into soil GS = germinate seed inside P = existing perennial
NORTH STRIPS (listed from East to West)
N1	N 24-0	herbs - P - (cilantro, lime basil, genovese basil, sweet basil, flat parsley, curley parsley, sweetleaf, bronze fennel, French tarragon, tarragon, dill, oregano, rosemary, sage, sage, thyme, mint, chive, marjoram...)
N1	S 1-3	garlic - BS
N1	S 4-14	carrots - DS
N1	S 15-29	sweet onions - BS - top row: red; middle row: yellow; bottom row: white
N2	N 22-21	hot pepper - GS – hot/very (Cayenne 30,000-50,000)
N2	N 20-17	hot pepper - GS – hot/medium (Thai Banana 5,000-15,000)
N2	N 16-13	hot pepper - GS – hot/medium (Jalepeno 2,500-8,000)
N2	N 12-9	hot pepper - GS – hot/moderate (Garden Salsa 1,500-4,000)
N2	N 8-5	hot pepper - GS – hot/mild (Mariachi 500-2,500)
N2	N 3-1	pepper - GS – sweet/green - California - turns to red
N2	S 1-5	pepper - GS – sweet/green - Flavorburst - turns to yellow
N2	S 5-11	tomato -GS - rutgers (slicing)
N2	S 12-17	lettuce - GS - romaine "jericho"
N2	S 18-23	tomato - GS - rutgers (slicing)
N2	S 24-28	lettuce - GS - head "summertime"
N3	N 22-15	cabbage- GS - early green
N3	N 14-7	cabbage- GS - red
N3	N 6-1	cabbage - GS – chinese / pak choi
N3	S 1-5	kohlrabi - GS
N3	S 6-28	broccoli - GS
N4	N 24-17	peas - DS - edible pod - sugar/snow – staggered planting inside trellis first, outside two weeks later
N4	N 16-9	peas - DS - edible pod - snap - staggered planting inside trellis first, outside two weeks later
N4	N 8-1	peas - DS - non-edible pod - shell - staggered planting inside trellis first, outside two weeks later
N4	S 1-17	Bean – DS – bush (purple)
N4	S 18-23	bean – DS – bush (yellow wax)
N5	N 24-17	bean - DS – pole (green "bluelake")
N5	N 16-9	bean – DS –pole (green "kentucky blue")
N5	N 8-1	bean – DS –pole (filet "fortex")
N5	S 1-9	lima bean - DS - pole
N5	S 10-16	brussel Sprout - GS
N5	S 17-23	eggplant - GS – Italian / Purple/Black
N6	N 24-15	melon - GS – Canteloupe (orange) - vining/climbing
N6	N 14-4	melon - GS – Honeydew (green) - vining/climbing
N6	N 3-0, S 1-6	melon -GS – Watermelon - vining/climbing
N6	S 7-21	bean – DS – bush (green stringless "baritone")
N6	S 22-26	okra - GS
SOUTH STRIPS
S1	N 1-12	asparagus - P
S1	N 11-1, S 1-5	bean – DS – bush (green french "trofeo")
S1	S 9-17	squash - GS - winter – spaghetti vining/climbing - 2 trellis
S1	S 18-23	squash - GS - winter – butternut vining/climbing - 2 trellis
S1	S 25-28	squash - GS - winter – acorn vining/climbing - 1 trellis
S2	N 1-23	berry- P – Strawberries
S2	S 0-5	weed pile
S2	S 6-26	berry - P – Blueberries – (no harvest until 2012) - early, mid, and late varieties (2 bushes each)
S3	N 24-13	squash - GS - summer – zucchini bush
S3	N 12-1	squash - GS - summer – yellow bush
S3	S 1-4	bean - DS - bush (fava)
S3	S 5-20	cucumber - GS – slicing Burpless - 7 trellis
S3	S 18-32	cucumber - GS – pickling - 3 trellis
S4	N to S	tomato - sauce (Roma, Viva Italia); slicing (Brandywine); cherry (Chadwick, Maskota)
S5	N to S	tomato - slicing (Tie Dye, Brandywine, Black Krim, Rutgers)
S6	N to S	tomato - GS - slicing (Beefsteak, Brandywine, Rutgers, Early Girl)
Fruit Trees – semi dwarf - 4 pear, 4 peach, 4 apple, 1 cherry
Sweet Corn – ½ acre to the south of the strip garden - two varieties

www.cicerochristianchurch.org