Tag: Blair Community Garden

They’re IN!

Dear Liza,

This week we had our first really warm, sunny day. I took advantage of the almost 60 degree weather and took all those seedlings I have been nurturing in the kitchen window up to their new home.


I loaded them, along with the garden tool bag from Auntie Bridgett’s momma Donna and an onion that had been in the pantry too long, into my red wagon and walked the two blocks up to the Blair Community Garden.

First I pulled out all the fallen camellia blossoms, which are very pretty, even when they are in the way.

I decided where the plants would go weeks ago when I put in the terraces and supports. Now I just needed to do the stooping and digging work to get them in the dirt. Donna’s nice skinny trowel was just the right size!

I put in the seedling lettuces on the east side, where they will get some shade from the camellia bush. The cucumbers are also on that side, but they will climb up the white trellis and get more sun as the season progresses.

The zucchinis are planted under the ladder, so they will have something strong to climb on and keep the zukes off the ground. I will add pumpkins later in the spring.

When everything was planted, I packed up the wagon with the empty pots and droopy camellias and just sat there for a while, enjoying the warm spring sun. I listened to the birds fluttering, people walking by, and far off trains.

I thought about Momma and how much joy her garden gave her. We should all be so lucky as to have something that makes us that happy.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Terracing the Allotment

Dear Liza,

Saturday morning was our last sunny day for a week, and I headed out for a walk around the park to enjoy it. But on the way, I got distracted.

Bill lives right next door to my allotment in the Blair Community Garden and had put out some old cedar fencing to give away. As we chatted, I realized that they were exactly the right size for the terraces I had been thinking about for my garden. With Bill’s blessing, I picked up four and, abandoning the park, set to work.

Fetching a small trowel from the shed to save my hands, I started in.

I knew right where to dig. These terraces will make flat areas within my sloping plot, making it easier to water properly.

I folded up two burlap sacks to use for narrow pathways for when things start getting Big and Green, with the lavender and cat mint sitting pretty to show me where things can fit in between.

The rain started after I got home, and it is supposed to continue for several days. I’m glad I got this piece of hardscaping done. Now, once the rain lets up, I can put seedlings and seeds in and get this growing season really popping!

Love,

Grandma Judy

And the Planting Madness Begins…

Dear Liza,

On Monday, our weather is predicted to get above, and stay above, freezing. That means it’s time to start planting!

First, I watered the peat pots from Portland Nursery and planted zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds. They are sitting in the sunniest window in the house and should be ready to transplant in a few weeks.

I went up to the Blair Community Garden and worked on the soil a bit, breaking up the clumps. This will be an ongoing project as the soil dries out enough to crumble.

Then, using what I learned last summer, I laid out the hardscaping for my vegetable garden. Tomatoes, pumpkin and squash will be on the side that gets the most sun, and the lettuces, radishes and carrots will be in the partly shady bit.

Pumpkins and zucchini will be planted by the ladder for support off the ground, and the cucumbers can use the slanted trellis. Tomatoes will have five cages to climb up.

The next day, I did my ’service’ hours, weeding, then laying burlap and bark mulch down on the pathways. This keeps them from getting muddy and makes everything look fresh.


This is going to be a busy summer… once it starts.

Love,

Grandma Judy

First Day Back in the Garden

Dear Liza,

This past sunny, warm week was so wonderful, I got to get out to the Blair Community Garden.

I pulled up the over-wintering burlap, borrowed the pitchfork from the tool shed, and turned over the heavy, wet soil in my ten by ten foot plot.

I think I heard some earthworms grumbling that it seemed early.

I was happy with my newly-turned soil, and the lavender and catmint seem to have wintered well. I will come back next week and give them a trim.

Once I had woken up my own space, I went to find Ruth, the manager of the garden, and see what I could to to help the rest of the garden. It is a community garden, after all, and all the members of its community help make it the wonderful place it is.

She assigned me the delightful task of ‘waking up’ one of the side beds. This involved light raking (which I do with my hands to avoid breaking tiny new shoots) and pulling off the mulch that has protected the soil and roots during the winter.

This was the best part of the day. Feeling the damp, chilly soil between my fingers and discovering the new plants there was absolutely life-affirming. I felt like Mary Lennox in the Secret Garden, healing the earth as I healed myself. And when I got to repair the edging of the bed with Ruth’s nifty battery powered drill, that was the icing in the cake.

Of course, the next day I woke up, with a sore back, to rain. But the world keeps turning and I have plenty of aspirin, and spring will come.

Looking forward to more garden adventures!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Garden Journals for Spring

Dear Liza,

We are coming up on spring, and I am making my garden journal for this year. At the end of this month I will be pulling the burlap off my garden plot in the Blair Community Garden, and I want to be ready to write it all down!

Besides the usual encouragement from Ruth Inman and Bridgett Spicer, I am using “Making Books by Hand” by Mary McCarthy and Philip Manna as a guide.

First, I used the heavy backing of sketch pads for my covers, and layered some thinner tagboard with Mod Podge to make the spine. I glued these down to a nice canvas fabric, put a pile of books on them, and went for a walk. The canvas allows the heavy covers to bend properly.


When the spine was dry I covered the cover with some pretty paper, mitering the corners and folding them inside.



While these dried, I cut the paper for the pages. Each signature, or group of pages, takes four sheets of paper, folded in half. I gave them a nice sharp crease with the edge of my metal ruler.

I used a trick from Ruthie to make my measuring device for where to put the stitches in the signatures. A strip of paper as long as my pages are high, folded in half, then each end folded to the center, makes a perfect guide for three holes without nit-picky measuring.

Poking the holes through all the pages with a steel artist’s tack before you sew makes everything easier. Sew the four sheets of each signature together with a strong thread.

I made five signatures because the spine of my book was wide enough to accommodate them. This will be my thickest book yet!

Again, use the steel tack to poke holes for each sewing point. Then sew each signature into the spine with a heavy thread. I used embroidery floss. This is a bit fiddly, but you will get better with practice.

The trickiest bit is making the knot tight. This is easier if you have a friend put their finger on the knot for you while you pull it tight. Trim the ends of the thread short.

Once the signatures are sewn in, apply glue thinly to each of the inside covers and lay the first and last pages against them, pressing the air bubbles out so they are smooth. This will stabilize the book and hold everything together. Put weights on these and wait a few hours.


The last step is to cover the inside covers with pretty paper. Press these flat and let everything dry overnight.

And there it is, my Garden Journal for this year! C’mon, Spring!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Inside and Outside 2021, Part 1

Dear Liza,

Looking back on 2021, I’ve decided to have a look inside the house and outin the world each month.

January 2021 saw us celebrating by making hats from salvaged Christmas wrapping paper.


Outside, we visited Cannon Beach and felt the sea breeze on our faces.



February found me adding a few bridges and neighborhoods to my Portland map.


Outside, snowfall made our front patio a magical place.


In March, I made my very first mince tarts.

Outside, the ground was warm enough to start working in the garden!




April saw all the Grandkids on a Zoom call for Liza’s 8th birthday. Filters are fun!

And outside, the first seedlings of my radishes came up!


May saw flowers exploding all over Portland, like this iris in a local bioswale.

Looking back, I can’t find a single photo taken inside in May. But here’s a nice picture of my favorite people at Edgefield for Grandpa Nelson’s birthday.


In June, the weather was warm, but the Covid was still with us. Home activities included my learning a new quilting style, Kawandi.

While outside, I spent my Momma’s birthday at The Grotto, which she would have loved.

And tomorrow we will finish the year and get ready to look forward.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Putting the Garden to Bed

Dear Liza,

After a whirlwind summer of watering and harvesting, the garden is suddenly, sadly, done.

Our shorter days and colder nights have put an end to further ripening. These tomatoes and tiny pumpkin are the last of the bunch. My garden neighbors are hauling their plants out as well, not wanting to be caught with ”slime”. Apparently, once the plant dies and the rain hits, things get ugly quickly.

So, I took the wagon over to the plot and pulled my gigantic zucchini plant out by the roots. I had to cut it into smaller bits to fit into the buckets! I lay down some burlap coffee sacks to slow the weeds and erosion during the winter.

Then, with all the hardware stacked on the top of the burlap and just the catnip and lavender sticking up, it was time to say Goodbye to the Garden until March of 2022, when I’ll give it a nice dose of compost and we get to play again.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Helping Out at Blair Community Garden

Dear Liza,

Our garden plot at the Blair Community Garden has been such a joy this year. It has given me fresh vegetables, new friends, and a place to get out of the house and play in the mud.

We have enjoyed many pounds of fresh zucchini, lettuces, and cherry tomatoes, and some less successful radishes and carrots.

I have met neighbors from our own building that I wouldn’t have otherwise, and enjoyed conversations about pumpkin reproduction, teaching philosophies, and life in general.

And I have had the chance to contribute to the greater good by helping with the maintenance of the garden itself. This week I am earning my ‘service hours’ by weeding the parkway strip outside the gate. It is home to an asian pear tree, several rosemary bushes….. and lots of weedy grass!

That’s where I came in. With my trusty buckets and wagon, I pulled and hauled away the grassy nuisances, laying some burlap coffee sacks down to discourage weeds.

On the right side is the ’before’, on the left is ’after’.

I love weeding. It is physically demanding and mentally relaxing, and it leaves the garden neater and all tucked in for winter. And this time, it gave me a delightful surprise!

Someone, at sometime, created this ancient-looking miniature pottery piece. They then tucked it WAY under the rosemary bush, only to be found by a very thorough weeder (like me).

What a joy, to find someone’s hidden treasure! I took a few pictures, marveled at the imagination, and put it back where it was, to wait for the next weeder to find.

I’m glad to be a part of such a wonderful garden.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Just a (Wet) Walk in the Park

Dear Liza,

This week we saw some real rain, which was a relief after our too- hot summer. I wanted to properly appreciate it, so out I went!

I didn’t have far to go to find beauty. Auntie Bridgett’s angel and spider plants were much improved by the weather. The gnomes were lurking about, as usual.

Raindrops hitting the puddles remind me why I love concentric circles.

I stopped by our plot at the Blair Community Garden. Only three new tomatoes were ripe, but Morgan and Abby’s corn was shiny and tall.


My late blooming pumpkin, Leo, seems to be coloring up a bit.

I continued on to Laurelhurst Park, which was mostly deserted. A few diehard dogs and their owners were at the off leash area, and the puddles grew all along the base of the hills. This young lady found a good spot to enjoy a conversation with a loved one.

I am a firm believer that rain makes everything prettier, and this rain drop-enhanced rose proved me right.

By the time I got home I was pretty soaked, but so much richer for all the beauty. Now to get dry and have a snack!

Love,

Grandma Judy

First Autumn Chore

Dear Liza,

It is two weeks until the Fall equinox. We can see the end of summer from here.

In my garden, white powdery mildew has started taking a toll on my pumpkin plant, and because I didn’t recognize it early enough, it has spread to the zucchini. I have learned that watering too late in the day is a main cause of this, and will NOT be doing that again next year.


I did a big trimming the other day to try and minimize the damage.

I wore the rubberized gardening gloves your Mommy Olga gave me from her last visit to Russia, because they protect me from the zucchini plants, whose long, hollow stems have tiny hairs that give me an itchy rash.

I cut off leaves that had any mildew in them, so it wouldn’t continue to spread. Unfortunately, this meant cutting just about all the leaves off the pumpkin! I hope there are enough leaves to make food for the plant to let my second pumpkin finish growing!

The tub of leaves was so heavy I just barely got it home. I know there will be lots more to haul over the next few months, and I’m glad I have my trusty red wagon.

Meanwhile, I found this lovely handmade doll by a telephone pole in the neighborhood. I rescued her and perched her on my watering can, and she will be a protective spirit for my garden. I have named her Mlezi, which is the Swahili word for Guardian.

Love,

Grandma Judy