A one-of-a-kind tomato appeared in our garden this September. It looks a little like Felonius Gru from the movie ‘Despicable Me’ ! The post Gru the Tomato? appeared first on The Community Garden at Sea Call Farm ..read more

An update from Judy Ryon and Sue Lynch.. Judy emailed that a second bin and leaves were kindly delivered by the Conservation Commission during the winter for our use as mulch. Unfortunately, the leaves were placed in both of our bins. Since one of the bins should be used for leaves/mulch and the other for garden debris, Judy asked for volunteers to make signs for the bins and to also consolidate the leaves and mulch into one bin so that the other bin can be used for garden trash/waste. [There were no signs posted to distinguish them so early gardeners had been dumping weeds and plot waste on t ..read more

Fellow gardener, Bev White, forwarded me a lovely ink and watercolor painting of the Sea Call Farm garden courtesy of Peg Flood who lives near Sea Call and drives by the gardens daily. Per Peg: “I created the ink and watercolor painting because I enjoy the view, and the neat and tidy community gardens.” Peg is a member of the Eastham Painters Guild and displays and sells her prints at the Hidden Gem shop in Orleans. She’ll have a solo art exhibit at the Brewster Library in February entitled ‘My Favorite Places’. You can check out some her other pieces on Instagram @PegatCape. Thanks Peg! Image ..read more

A message from Rick Francolini and Ginia Pati. Hello Sea Call Growers,   Thanks to the very generous support of Judy Scanlon from Lake Farm Gardens, Sea Call has been gifted hundreds of mature vegetable plants, ready for planting,  This donation has been provided to support Sea Call’s “Growing for Giving” initiative which provides fresh produce to a non-profit group that prepares healthy meals to local community members in need.  Our non-profit partner is “LOCAL” – which is the Lower Cape ecumenical food program – and meals are prepared and distributed from St. Joan o ..read more

“Your Overall Quality Score is 80, which is in the Very High range.” That’s what a recent report from the Soil Health Laboratory at Cornell University’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences concluded. This is the first year that we’ve had Cornell do the soil testing here at Sea Call Farm. The report provides a baseline to follow for the future as we continue our switch over to a no-till approach for preparing our garden plots for the next Spring’s growing season. Our previous nutrient testing was performed by UMass Amherst. A structural analysis was done in 2020 by the USDA, but this is the fi ..read more

A recent note from fellow gardeners Judy Ryon and Ginia Pati. Re-posting here for all to view. Good morning Sea Call Gardeners, As you all know, we will be continuing to donate our garden produce to others this year. Here is an update from Ginia: The gardeners of Plot #22 (First Light Sangha: a local Buddhist meditation group) are once again growing and giving all of their fresh vegetable produce to a nonprofit group that provides fresh, healthy meals to our local community members in need: “LOCAL” is the Lower Cape ecumenical food program prepared and distributed from St Joan of Arc church. I ..read more

Gardens are really shaping up and looking good at Sea Call Farm. The cover crops have been trimmed and are now being utilized as mulch, row dividers and water retention material for individual plots. From a beautiful sea of crimson clover, sweet peas and oats that covered Sea Call Farm over the winter and spring, you’ll now see 10’ x 20’ and 20’ x 20’ plots that feature a wide array of wonderful veggies and flowers, some just starting to grow and many well underway. Gardeners have been busy at work sowing seeds and planting seedlings and starter plants, weeding and watering, and helping others ..read more

June 6 through 12 is “National Garden Week” sponsored by National Garden Clubs. National Garden Clubs is an organization that sponsors youth programs and contests such as a high school distinguished service award, essay and poetry contests, grants such as the Youth Pollinator Gardens Grant and the Wildflower Education Grant, and college scholarships, all to encourage a sense of stewardship and a love of gardening, conservation and sustainability. Participation in programs is encouraged at local, state and national levels. Sustainable gardening is a focus of Garden Clubs, and the National Garde ..read more

Here’s a Quick overview of what I feel would be a great solution. Slice, drop, crimp, plant. As we watch the crimson clover and peas move into their bloom cycle, within the next two weeks (May 12-30) they must be cut and dropped so as to allow the greens to dry and become a beautiful mulch through which you can then plant your summer seedlings. The bees are currently loving the early morning bloom, but we want to cut before that bloom becomes seed. Here are the steps I followed on Deb’s plot. See before and after photos below. In an athletic, low-crouch position, slice through the crown at th ..read more

“What the heck are you growing there?” This was the question I got from gardeners I knew and those I didn’t. A monster plant had taken over my garden plot. Its huge leaves blocked the sun from reaching my shorter crops and its vines grew two feet per day strangling my tomatoes and other squashes. Summer 2019 was my third season ever growing vegetables. It was the hottest summer on record at the time. I got a late start buying sets and couldn’t find zucchini anywhere. Frustrated, I purchased the very last two zucchini sets at Agway without reading the labels in detail. After all, isn’t a zucchi ..read more