https://www.lasemillafoodcenter.org/
​

Our water diversion plan worked ^_^

  • We dug a pathway for the water according to our land gradient observations and it worked!
  • The mound of soil that separates the garden plot from the water that falls off the roof of the shade structure is also perfectly effective. 
  • Plants can suffocate if they sit in a pond but our efforts kept them safe.
  • If we dig toward that hole we can route the water into the ditch and reduce the flooding in the courtyard.
  • Thank you all for your amazing teamwork and skills!

We just need to dig a bit further out;
there is a hole in the wall of the water routing ditch behind that tree stump:

When flowers are done doing their thing,
​you can cut them off so new buds will have more energy to bloom

we have many more plants in a glorious state of emergence

  • Thank you everyone who is helping with the planting and care of the seedlings.
  • We are growing cool weather crops: peas, lettuce, squash, spinach, cucumber, beans.
  • Plants that are cold tolerant and do not like the sun as much.
  • The seedlings have been going outside during the day to get used to the desert weather since they started off in a cold lab and a sudden change in temperature or light exposure can be traumatic and lead to shock and death. 
    • The seedlings that were transplanted this week are doing very well; they went through a week of gradual exposure to the elements. 
    • They still needed to be sprayed with water in the afternoon to overcome the temperature shift. 
    • Looks like they are going to make it.
  • We will have hoops around the garden plot with "plant blankets" in the winter.
  • The plants do not have to be separated by species in the garden, they actually so very well in a diverse community.
  • Some plants are skilled in nitrogen fixation and can help they neighbors have more access to ammonia, small amounts of this chemical help as a fertilizer
  • Beans and squash are good friends, beans are legumes, legumes help with nitrogen fixation
  • Squash, cucumber, and pumpkins look like trailing vines with big leaves, they require more nutrients than other plants and the produce big fruit, I say fruit even though some people call them vegetables because of the seed inside
  • Carrots are roots
  • Lettuce is the plant itself, before it blooms
  • https://www.almanac.com/content/three-sisters-corn-bean-and-squash 

All the water soaked in overnight