Greetings fellow gardeners, well we go from 99 degrees 100% humidity to the 50s in a week, wow does this feel good. The garden is still chugging along. This past week our Roma tomatoes hit full stride and I was picking by wheel barrow full each time out.  Some of our round tomatoes have reached the end of the season but a few will hang on until fall. Peppers have slowed down and we pulled our summer string bean plants just too many bugs they really did a number on the plants this year. I was too late in treating them. This week was SALSA week. WOO HOO last Sunday a hardy group cleaned and cut up tomatoes, green and hot peppers, onions and a little garlic. Monday morning the batch was delivered to Bauman's in Sassamansville. I picked up the jars Tuesday and we will let the volunteers decide Saturday how hot or mild it is.  Thank you to Lory Blank, Donna and Steve Barndt for their help with the prep work and delivery. 

This Sunday we have a special event planned and you are all invited. 

The Salford Mennonite/Advent Lutheran Garden will host on Sunday, August 25, 2024. Around 11:30, garden volunteers and other congregation members from both congregations will enjoy each other's company in the Gathering room at Salford for a picnic lunch (bring your own) and presentation. 

The presentation will be led by Rev. Dr. Matt Lenahan. He is an ELCA pastor in Lancaster as well as director of the Wittel Farm (Elizabethtown). He has advocated for connecting with Christian stewardship of God's creation to the call to feed the hungry. His research includes understanding agricultural science and business practices. 

​The event will include a presentation and picnic lunch (brought by each attendee), with beverages and dessert supplied. We will also try and include a tour of the garden. (Check out the new shed) If you want to attend, please get back to me, Jean Godsall Myers or Brad Alderfer so we know how much to prepare and set up for. Thank you, Steve 215-872-6616 [email protected]

Greetings fellow gardeners, this week was peak time for tomatoes. Including todays harvest we picked over 1,400 lbs. of toms this week. That's a lotta BLTs! But with 3 3/4 inches of rain last Thursday/Friday, the tomatoes started to split and with the damp weather they are more susceptible to diseases. String beans are on their last hurrah, but our fall planting is flying right along! The cucumber beetles have finally done in the Zucchini. Our summer plants are slowly fading into the Summer sunset. I do have a few cucumber plants that I hope will produce in September. Hot and Green peppers continue to be plentiful. The tropical storm that moved through last week had some high winds that knocked over our wedding trellis.  I have Bird house gourds planted there this year. They have grown so big and heavy we had to retie the trellis to posts and brace the sides with wooden boards. There are quite a few gourds on the vines. Our fall plants are looking good, but a few insect pests have found their way into that part of the garden, but a little TLC took care of that problem. Summer is slowly winding down; fall will be here before you know it. Think about it we are only 60 days away from our average first frost date. My how time fly's. Thank you to everyone who worked in the garden so far this season, this year we have had a fair amount of rookie volunteers. GREAT to see! always enjoy a new face. Steve 215-872-6616 [email protected]

Greetings fellow gardeners last Saturday was a hot and humid morning in the garden. That did not stop our volunteers from finishing one last big project. After we harvested all our potatoes and onions, we had 2 - 230-foot rows of weeds. I roto-tilled as much as I could but the bulk of the weeds had to be raked up and hauled out by the wheelbarrow full.  After the weeds were removed I roto-tiled the 2 rows one more time, raked them smooth and planted 2 rows of string beans. What a surprise this Wednesday as I discovered almost all the beans had spouted or were pushing up dirt trying to get some sun. WOO HOO. We also planted turnips and red beets. Both are looking good. The biggest story of the week be sides over 600 lbs. of tomatoes harvested, is our new shed arrived Thursday morning. After many years of planning the garden has its own place to store its equipment and supplies. There are a lot of people to thank for this. First all of the garden lovers who donated a record amount of funds at our annual fund raiser this year. That overwhelming response put us in position to start the process. Thank you to Salford Church Board for approving the remaining funds needed for purchase. Gene Kropf gets a big thank you for his patience in obtaining our work permit from the Township. Our new shed sits on a gravel pad that was installed by an outside company who specializes in this type of work. When I ordered the shed the price for the pad was added into the final cost. When the pad installer surveyed the site where the shed would go, they discovered the area had a small slope and that would increase the cost of installation. Money, I had not planned on spending. But to my surprise and with great gratitude I was told a donor, who shall remain anonymous, paid the extra cost. No questions asked. WOW! It will take a few weeks to sort out all our stuff maybe install some shelving.  Thank you to everyone who had a hand in making our new garden shed a reality. There are housewarming parties maybe we should have a garden shed warming party. Steve 215-872-6616 [email protected]

Greetings fellow gardeners, last Saturday we planted our fall plants. Cabbage, Cauliflower and Broccoli. Then this week it turned into a scorcher again. Young seedlings are very susceptible to heat. I have been watering as much as I can to keep the young plants from frying in the high heat. So far out of 630 plants we may have lost 3 so far. I will continue to water as much as I can until we get a little rain.  The planting was a big job along with harvesting. We dug up the last of our potatoes, over 160 lbs. And they are really nice. We trimmed the onions and somehow fit all that into our small cooler shed.  The onions got a little wet and we have been losing a few to spoilage. I will have to come up with better solution to dry them next year. Tomatoes are looking really nice. I have not watered them in a couple of weeks and along with no rain the splitting has all but stopped. I will eventually have to run the water at least to give their roots a wash.  Even with a good group of volunteers we were unable to finish all of what I wanted done. Just too much work to go around. We did not plant our red beets, turnips or fall string beans. I am hoping to get that done this week. The summer string beans are in full flower again, hopefully that will lead to a second harvest from these plants. Eggplant, Lima beans, Green peppers and Zucchini round out the harvest menu. You may have noticed our new pad next to the garden. This is where our new shed will be placed next week. 

Thank you to everyone who worked in the heat and humidity to get our fall planting done. August can be a hot one too, I am very thankful for the volunteers who are willing to put in the time when the heat is on!  Steve 215-872-6616 [email protected]