A wonderful June

June has been a wonderful month for our garden.  We are so excited to see the result of the hard work that was put into planting all of the crops.  The vegetables are doing better than we could have expected and we have learned many things already that will only help us next year

Our banana peppers are starting to ripen.  We also will have Serrano and Jalapeno peppers soon.

 We have a lot of people stop by our stand everyday and ask us when the tomatoes will be ready.  I wish I had an answer for them, instead I just ask for patience.  Our tomato plants have a lot of green tomatoes, but none have started to ripen yet.  But when they do, we will have a bumper crop!

The size of our zucchini is crazy!  These little suckers grow like crazy overnight.  Just when we think we have picked all that there are, we find more.  I am mystified everyday by the amount we are picking everyday.  

 A huge garden THANK YOU to Jim McDonnell for donating a wagon to the garden.  It has made hauling the vegetables and water much more enjoyable, if hauling buckets of water can be enjoyable.  All of us at the garden are extremely thankful to Jim for this addition.

 Who says vegetables are pretty???

Our little cabbage.  

We currently have zucchini, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, garlic, corn and cantaloupe for sale.  We will soon be adding tomatoes and watermelon!

The first harvest

The veggies are in!!!  We had a wonderful spring which put our vegetable garden ahead of schedule.  So far we have harvested zucchini, cucumbers, radishes, shallots, and garlic.  We sold those and some zucchini bread at the Melting pot last weekend.  The bread was a huge hit so we will be making more for next time.

Please stop by and pick up some vegetable.  We should be getting Relleke corn in next week.  Keep checking back for updates!

A little help from family

The Old Six Mile Community Garden is very blessed with all the help that we receive.  Not only has our family gotten involved by also neighbors and friends.  It has also helped people connect to their childhood.  Recently a father of one of our Jr. Gardeners came over and started talking to Jim.  He said as a child he would come over to the very spot his son has a garden plot and help garden with Mr. Whipple, the owner of the home that we turned into a museum.  He donated some wood which Jim turned into some raised beds for watermelon.  He also explained that their used to be chicken coops on the property, which explains why the land is so fertile.

At the beginning of spring the museums lawn mower broke.  We were asking people for donations when my Aunt Colleen donated her parents, who recently passed away, lawnmower to the garden.  This donation came at a perfect time for us and we greatly appreciate them doing this for us.

One of my favorite things about having this garden is the way it has brought my family closer together.  Our entire family works in the garden, but nobody works harder than my nephew Brady.  He rides his bike over first thing in the morning, sometimes beating Jim and Pete, and starts working.  He has learned, much to his grandmothers dismay, how to drive the lawnmower/tractor.  I won't lie, I laugh every time I see him drive the mower all around the yard just to get a shovel from the garage.  Brady is probably one of the hardest working kids I have ever seen.  Today when I was there he was laying down burlap bags between the rows of plants.  By watching him you can see that he really enjoys being out there.  And I know Jim loves having him there.  These are memories Brady will never forget.  And we have the garden to thank for this.

 Brady explaining to me what is planted and where.  He knows where everything is and exactly what to do when he arrives.

 The Jr. Garden clubs lettuce is coming in great. I was pretty nervous when I watched those kids place the seeds in the ground.  I know they will be excited to see how well their plants have grown.

 The radishes are ready to be picked!  One of the girls from the club already come over to take some from her plot.  

 The zucchini is starting to bloom.  Won't be long till we will be making some fresh zucchini bread.

Our new cherry tree

Adopt a Plant Day

Once again the 4th grade students from Worthen Elementary school came over and helped us plant.  Each student was given their own tomato plant and after they planted it they put their name on it so they knew it was theirs. This way, next fall when they come back they will be able to find their plant and see how well it did over the summer.

 Getting ready to be planted

 Mrs. Dioneda's class was the first to come over.

 They all lined up and started planting!

Dennis Nobbe took time out of his busy day to help.

 My nephew Ben's class.  He was both excited and embarrassed to be here.  Excited because he got to show off  the fact that he works in the garden all the time, embarrassed because, well that's what I try to do to him  : )

 Miss Hadley was all excited to see Ben there!

 Gotta love teamwork

 Mr. Andrews also spent the morning helping.

The kids had a great time and many said they can't wait until they can join the garden club next year!

High School Garden

Granite City Community Gardens has recently planted a garden at the High School.  Austin Gaines was instrumental in getting this started.  Right now he has help from the Science Club and many of the faculty.

 The students worked really hard moving the dirt and putting everything together.

 There are four raised beds that have a variety of plants in them.

 The city was kind enough to donate the dirt for the beds.  We needed two trucks to bring all the dirt in.

 This is an important project for the gardens.  Many schools are expressing interest in having a garden on their property so we are waiting to see how this one turns out before we get more schools involved.

So far everything is looking great!