OMG! I am so far behind!
There are so many wonderful photos to share thanks to Cheryl, Jill, Darlette and Sharon. We'll start with Sharon's. Do any of you remember this weird stuff growing underneath the apple espalier?
Seems it is a fungus called "Stinkhorn." According to Wikipedia, "The spore mass typically smells of carrion or dung, and attracts flies and other insects to help disperse the spores."
The Stinkhorn patch is now long gone as is most of the Swiss Chard and all of the radishes and peas. The naked posts setup for the Scarlet Runner Bean arbor are covered with blossoms. Many of you have asked about them. They take about 80 days to grow to maturity. Used by native Americans, their large, beautiful, vigorous vines grow over 10’. The flowers are very ornamental, in clusters of the brightest scarlet and associated hues. Good for snap (when very young), shell or dry beans. The huge seeds are very colorful, violet-purple mottled in black. These beans like fairly cool weather. We will leave the beans to grow to maximum size and save the seeds for planting next year.
The green bush beans and red dragon tongue beans are still growing! The dragon tongues are yummy to chew on as you harvest. Here is more info on them:
Dragon Tongue beans, AKA Dragon Langerie, are a Dutch wax type bush bean. The Dragon Tongue bean is a dual purpose bean, qualifying as a fresh pod bean as well as a dried legume. When harvested fresh, the entire bean, shell and "seeds" are edible. The pods are crisp and succulent and bear four to six plump bone white seeds with pink to purple stripes that turn tan with age. The fresh seeds are firm, slightly starchy, nutty and sweet. The entire bean can be eaten raw or cooked. When cooked, the bean looses its variegated colors.The tender pod of this bean is entirely edible. No shelling required. Best raw, Dragon Tongue beans are also excellent steamed, but the color fades during cooking. Perfect for pickling with spices, adds its naturally good flavor to bean salads and stir-fries. Serve simply as a delicious side dish. Its unique color makes this bean an attractive edible garnish and an interesting conversation piece when served to curious guests. To store, wrap in plastic; refrigerate. Use beans within one week for optimum flavor and texture.
Dragon Tongue beans are an open pollinated heirloom variety originally cultivated in the 18th Century in the Netherlands. The original cultivar has never been manipulated and maintains its heirloom status a plant whose original seed has been passed down for generations. Dragon Tongue beans are a great bean variety for home gardeners, known for their productive high yields and incredible flavor versus other fresh bean varieties.
- See more at: http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Dragon_Tongue_Beans_604.php#sthash.zoheUsBN.dpuf
The squash arbor is overflowing with various pumpkin flowers. The deer continue to eat any new strawberries on the top of the strawberry towers, but the dahlias are huge and the tomatoes are ripening quickly. As of Monday, 8/11/2014, we had donated 197 pounds of fresh produce to Fishline.
The 11th was the last children's program for 2014. Though I helped out, all of them were organized by Cheryl and Jill. None of the gatherings could have taken place without the support of our volunteers. We know that each new group of Master Gardener "rookies" will bring those of you who need the volunteer hours to complete your certificate, but Raab Youth Garden is lucky to have many Master Gardeners who attend the children's programs year after year because they like to be there. A huge THANK YOU to both groups.
Photos and descriptions of the last 5 Children's Programs follow:
July 14th was Unbelievable Planter day. Choosing planters and putting plants in them is very serious business. So is counting the snails and slugs found in the garden!
July 21st involved Plants and How We Use Them. This included hammering flowers on muslin to make flower prints, using raspberries to make dye and printing with it, making mini-batiks with raspberry dye (Thank you Nancy for all of the wax imprints!), creating lavender sachets and bundles, and tasting mint tea and rosemary shortbread (Super Yummy recipe is below!).
Cheryl Bosley's Rosemary Shortbread
Ingredients
| 1⅓ | cups butter |
| ½ | cup powdered sugar |
| 2 | T sugar |
| ¼ | salt |
| 2⅓ | cups flour |
| ⅔ | cup cornstarch |
| 2 | T finely chopped rosemary or culinary lavender optional |
Directions
Preheat oven to 300 With electric mixer beat the first four ingredients until light and fluffy gradually add the flour then turn out and lightly knead press the dough into a pan or roll out to desired thickness about 1/8- 1/4 and bake on a parchment lined baking dish bake for 45- 50 min depends on how thick they are...watch for browning makes about 100 1inch squares, cut while warm.
Garden Wildlife was the subject of the July 28th program. Children received a wildlife detective badge and looked for signs that described the wildlife in the garden. Then they created birdfeeders from pine cones and sunflowers from hand prints. The warm summer weather helped the harvesting for Poulsbo's Fishline to begin this week. It also encouraged some huge blooms! Or maybe it was because of all the extra watering that the kids did.
August 3rd brought more sun and fun with Pacific Northwest Native Plants. Julia Bennett-Gladstone and her assistants from the Suquamish Tribe told the stories and facts about native roses and helped the children make rosehip jelly. Jill organized the raspberry juice banners and Cheryl and Pam helped the children make "nature necklaces." We harvested more veggies and generally had a wonderful time!
The last children's program was the Amazing Messy Art Day! August 11th found us harvesting again, but also creating works of art including garden wands, garden hats, garden banners, and garden critters. 
Work Parties continued amidst the children's programs.
Our garden Work Parties have occurred about every other Thursday and 3 Saturdays this summer. The Saturday gatherings were poorly attended, so we will probably return to just Thursdays next year.Our last weed, trim and harvest meeting was on August 14th. Gerald, a sophomore at North Kitsap High, clipped and pulled out a lot of the dried perennials. MJ, gingerbread muffin baker extraordinaire, was the lead doing a lot of weeding. Sally harvested beans and more beans and I covered the first bed with black plastic for winter. The radishes are done for the year.
The next Work Party is scheduled for August 28th (Betsi is lead) and the last one on the Doodle Calendar is September 11th (Judy is lead).
Leadership Team Meetings will deal with Fall Planning, etc.
Monday, August 22nd is our Leadership Team meeting for this month. Join us at the garden from 1pm until about 2:30!September 15th will be our next leadership planning day.
If you've read this far you deserve something REALLY COOL!
Click on the link below and choose to open the site. It was filmed by John Aitchesen's flying robotic camera. Though definitely taken before the last rain, since the unplanted ground is so dry, it is a pretty amazing overhead view of our Youth Garden and the P-Patch. You may have already received this from Colleen.http://www.kitsap.biz/aerial/raab_park/p-patch/8112014/raab_park_p-patch_8-11-14.mp4
Thanks again for all of your time and energy. It's finding other crazies like me through programs like this that makes life fun and fulfilling.
Betsi
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