Nubi Cohousing News » garden

pollinator heaven

Noel — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:38:50 +0000

From the perspective of pollinators, bee balm and buckwheat seem to be hot commodities at this time of year. Highly popular. As the bee balm in our yard has been flowering, it’s received near constant attention from hummingbirds, bumblebees, honeybees, and this incredible moth that looks and behaves remarkably like a hummingbird (see photos).

And the beginnings of Nubi’s “pollinator habitat,” planted in spring, consists of a large patch of buckwheat that is currently in full bloom. When I walk by in the morning, it sounds like a beehive, a riot of noise and activity from an amazing variety of pollinators. The photos don’t do justice. Nearly every plant seems to have a different kind of creature on it, busily working its flowers.

garden clean-up

Barbara M — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 14:38:35 +0000

Nothing like a good garden tour to get you to pick up! Thanks everyone for making the perennial patch shine! Upkeep anyone?

plants and insects

Noel — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:43:17 +0000

In our home garden this morning, there was an amazing moth — a hummingbird moth — flitting around our bee balm flowers. I tried some photos — see below — but can’t really capture how much this flying bug really looks (and acts) like a bird.

And this morning in the community “garden” — our CSA farm field — we held a community workday that got lots of hands out there for a productive and social time. We cleared many beds, removed numerous tomato hornworms (which were then fed to the chickens!), weeded and weeded some more, and generally did some impressive sprucing up of the veggie fields.

spring workday thanks

Carol Hamilton — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:41:29 +0000

What a smart, helpful, energetic group of people we have! Thank you to all who were able to come and make our village look so good during our spring cleanup day this past weekend.

Thanks to the cooks, and the “Chica Sand Banditas,” and those who pulled weeds, and moved brush, trimmed trails, and cultivated, and hauled. A special thanks to Lynne, who came from Rhinebeck to help, and to Lisa and Jean, who came from Massachusetts, and assorted kids and grandkids who all pitched in.

As we become more of an agrarian community, there will be lots of seasonal chores tugging at us. So, for those in our community who didn’t get a chance to help on the workday, or those you did but are really chomping for more jobs, we have them. And the farm has some, plus planting perennials. The Common lawn has been aerated, and pretty soon it will be time to spread an inch of compost over it, fertilizer and seed. John Tyler, of Pleasant Pond Landscaping, is our advisor on how to make a lawn a good one, organically.

Here are some photos from the cleanup day…..

Chica Sand Banditas

save the pansies, weed the rest

clearing a new swim site at the river

post-workday refresher (or the Nubi version of Loch Ness monster)

strawberries!

Barbara M — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:51:54 +0000

Thanks to Laura (with help from Carol K and Amy), our new strawberry planting has been settled into a hay mulch for the end of season. Laura has lavished countless hours on getting them well-established.

The first planting of 200 plants is a gift from the garden club to everyone at Nubi. I helped a bit this AM (akin to putting in last piece in jigsaw puzzle) and found two very small berries that I ate for research purposes.

The berries will be fantastic, and the plants are a shining light in a TOUGH gardening season.