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September Stirrings

9/20/2015

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Ahwatukee Community Garden Fall Happenings

The African Blue and Purple Basils are buzzing with bees and producing delicious flavored leaves and flower bouquets for our tables.  The Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar is enjoying our Blue Passion Flower Vine, but the vine is so big and robust it should be fine, and we should see an orange butterfly in a couple months.  We bought several healthy vining plants from Singh Farms for $8 each. Singh Farms is a wonderful organic garden in South Scottsdale open on Saturdays to the public.
Eggplants, peppers, squash, and melons are producing. The Jamaican Hibiscus is waist high, full of tart leaves that taste good in salads or green drinks. Soon they will be producing their shiny red fruit which makes "Red Zinger" tea.  The "three sisters" are growing--corn, beans, and squash we planted in July.  We are planting flower seeds as it cools down in September.
Late September is perfect for planting greens, greens, greens!!  Malabar Spinach will grow from a sprig off our bushes--red or green varieties. Delicious, succulent spinach to steam or eat in salads. My personal favorite!  A close second is the Swiss Chard, which has been producing in my garden for 11 months now, along with beet greens.  The other lettuces cannot weather the scorching summers. See Planting Guides for info on what to plant now in your garden!  Join us on Sundays to learn, chat, and help out in the garden: Sunday Get Togethers.  
Hope to see you soon!
Kelly Athena, and all the garden regulars
Gulf Fritillary caterpillar on our new Blue Passion Flower Vine. Will become a beautiful orange butterfly.
African Blue Basil smells so good
Purple Basil smells spicy
More vines Linda got yesterday at Singh Farms In N. Mesa for $8 each. They will adorn the arched entrances to the E and W gardens that the Boy Scouts built.
Melons and squash are put in cloth bags while growing to keep them free of predators--bugs, rabbits, and humans!
A white bean flowering among the hibiscus it has used as a trellis. Jamaican Hibiscus will soon produce the flowers for "red zinger" tea. Meanwhile the leaves are great in smoothies.
Young eggplant
Peppers
Fertilizing our young stressed apple tree. it more nutrients.
Lobelia flower seeds are tinier than grains of sand
Tiny lobelia seeds in my palm. I planted some in a corner of my garden area, just pressed them into the ground. Take 3 weeks to germinate.
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Summer in the Garden

9/19/2015

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From left: Bob, Kelly, Linda R. Garden Leader, Linda T., Bill, and Carol
Malabar spinach loves the heat
Red Malabar Spinach twines around and around
The Three Sisters: Squash, Beans, and Corn on August 9th
We make sure the pollen gets from squash blossom to blossom with a paint brush. This is a female blossom with the bulging fruit at the base.
This is a male squash blossom with just a stem at the base--no fruit. It is luck whether the plant has mostly female blossoms for lots of produce or mostly male for no harvest.
Bob, our Compost King
Basil plant--we let some blossoms remain to attract pollinators like bees.
Beautiful symmetry in this spiraling tendril
Basil plant
The east section of the Ahwatukee Community Garden on Aug. 23, 2015.
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    Ahwatukee Community Garden Beauty

    I started coming to the Sunday gardening group in the fall of 2013. I've learned a lot and have forged new friendships with other earth lovers.  Master Gardeners Linda and Bob have so much knowledge they freely give the rest of us! Bill and I became Master Gardeners as well in 2014 ~ Kelly Athena
    Website and photos by Kelly Athena ("Cactus Kelly")

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