Help from the Office of Sustainability and other news at the garden

Hello! Michael here as I just finished up my third week as an intern at Morven Kitchen Garden (MKG). It has been an enjoyable few weeks. I have adjusted to working at the garden and have been learning a lot about agriculture and growing vegetables.

MKG is divided into three plots: plots A, B, and C, each consisting of multiple beds where different crops are grown. One of our main accomplishments this past week was preparing plot C for fall vegetables that we are planning to start seeding next week. We have begun growing various vegetables in the greenhouse to get them growing in a controlled environment before planting them outside. This helps them get over the first hump of germinating and leads to a higher survival rate. In order to prepare plot C for seeding we had to move a black tarp that was covering a part of it to the side and then till the land below it.

We then used twine to separate the plot into beds and walkways (see picture below). Lastly, we placed straw in the walkways to help inhibit weed growth and put compost in the beds so we can begin planting new crops in them.On Wednesday, we were lucky enough to have interns from the Office of Sustainability at UVA come to the garden and help us place compost in the beds in plot C as well as straw in the walkways of plots B and C. It was a lot of fun to have them join us and we definitely got a lot of work done in a short amount of time with their help, so a special thanks to them for coming out! Check out the pictures below of all of us! Other than prepping plot C for seeding, we have been doing lots of weeding and harvesting as per usual. Our grape tomatoes have started flourishing so we are expecting to get a lot of them in the coming weeks. We have also continued to get a plethora of squash and basil.I hope everyone stays cool in the blistering heat and has a great weekend! Thanks for tuning in, until next time!