Chappaqua Library “Volunteens” read, relax and garden, too!
August 26, 2011
by Laurel Kastner
My sister, friends and I headed out to the Chappaqua Community Garden. We are part of a group of kids from the New Castle Recreation and Parks’ Teen Alliance, and the Chappaqua Library Volunteens who, along with Zahra Baird (“Z”), the Head of Teen Services at the Library, have tended our first garden.
Believe me, it has been quite an experience! As Chloe says, “The library is a place of many opportunities. We get to read, relax and …even garden!” We planted onions, peppers, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, beans, peppers, squash and tomatoes. We used a technique called “straw-bale gardening” to plant peppers, squash and tomatoes. This gardening method entails planting seeds and seedlings in bales of straw with a little fertilizer. The bales of straw work as soil as they decompose and give the plants the nutrients they need. This is especially helpful for people who have a rocky backyard or a lack of fertile ground.
It’s hard to believe we started with a plot of grass and rocks in the side yard of the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps. We had to rip the grass out of the soil, add organic fertilizer and compost, and till the soil. Everything seemed to be going great until late May, when there was a bit of a mishap with the seed bags. Amidst the frenzy, the bags fell and seeds went flying everywhere. We decided that even though this mistake may lead to disaster, some of the seeds grew haphazardly and next year we will know to handle the bags with more care.
July 30th, 2011When we went back to the garden today, it was hard to believe our eyes, it looked like we had grown a miniature jungle! Some of the plants were growing rapidly, hiding the soil and squeezing the life out of the other plants. We couldn’t even tell which plants were which, until we consulted the blueprint on Z’s iPhone! (Note to self, next-time, use markers to note what is planted where and space the plants out). Cucumbers were the size of small footballs and their vines were wrapped around weeds. Bean pods dotted the ground and Mexican bean beetles had invaded, leaving their yellow larvae resting on our bean plants, while they were eating away at the leaves. Crabgrass grew in a gnarled mess. The leaves of our radishes were budding high, stretching their tentacles towards the sun.
We needed help and our garden expert Suzi Novak came to our rescue. Suzi works with “InterGenerate,” a local initiative for environmental and social sustainability. During the garden Q & A session, which takes place every other Saturday, she took us through the steps of how to weed and how to get control of our beetle problem. Suzi showed us that we will know a cucumber is ready to pick by the size, the color, and the firmness of the cucumber. Picking a ripe cucumber is very easy, just snap it off the vine. Carrots can be hard to judge. Suzi told us to look at the tops of the carrots—when they show at the soil line we can gauge when the diameter looks right. But pulling one is the only way of being certain that they are ready. And most importantly, she told us what we needed to do in the future to avoid overcrowding.
“I think is it so important that young people understand what is involved in growing food. They need to know that vegetables we grow ourselves don’t have the chemicals that industrial agriculture uses, and they don’t travel thousands of miles (which uses a lot of gas) to get to us, either,” said Suzi, our gardening guru.
After the garden was weeded and the beetles were taken care of, we could see the ground and the ground could see the sky. Our little box was looking happy. We now know how to garden and got to take home lots of yummy vegetables from our small jungle.
August 23rd, 2011
The heat of summer is affecting people and plants. Our tomato and pepper plants are really growing well. The cucumbers are climbing the fence that we added to our raised garden bed. Later on this week, when some of our volunteens return from vacation we will be planting chrysanthemums and fall-blooming crocus. We decided to plant a small patch of herbs as well including basil, dill, parsley, rosemary, sage, and lavender. This gardening experience has taught us patience, teamwork, how to constructively cope with frustration, and that hard work pays off!
For a photo album of the Teen Zone Garden, click HERE.
Laurel Kastner is a seventh grader who loves nature, animals, music and can usually be found reading a book at the most random times in the most unusual places.
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