A Garden on the Bay

Carrots!

2016-04-23T13:15:00.004-04:00

The carrots are harvested!!!

Me carrying three bags of carrots, dill and marigolds to the kitchen :)

They grew so beautifully! This year, we have orange, Negovia and Purple carrots. If you are thinking of growing some of your own for next Fall season, just keep in mind that this particular veggie takes at least 72 days to mature from seed to full grown fruit! (But I think it is well worth the wait).

Also in the garden, The Giant Dill and Giant Marigold Flowers are blooming prolifically. Look for both in upcoming dishes from The Club Kitchen :)

Enjoy some pictures below and thank you for supporting Garden on the Bay! <3


Purple Carrots

Negovia Carrot


Marigolds and Dill

Tomatoes & Carrots & Herbs , Oh my!

2016-04-10T19:28:00.000-04:00

Dill Flower

It is officially too hot for all our Lettuce varieties to keep growing, but the Tomatoes are really kicking in and ripening! And the Dill and Rosemary herbs are beautiful.

We have three different kinds of Tomatoes growing this season : Yellow Pear, Cherry, and a yummy Roma variety that are great for sauces.

I picked a bunch of Cherry Tomatoes and Purple Cabbage this morning, so look for them in some yummy dishes from the Club Kitchen this week.

Hopefully, next week, the Carrots will be ready for picking!!! I'm excited about them :)

2016-03-27T14:36:00.001-04:00

Still growing!

It's definitely getting warmer out, but things are still growing in our garden :) We may only have a few more weeks before the heat becomes too strong for our veggies, especially the lettuces, but I will keep everyone updated when the garden growing comes to an end.

Our two different types of tomatoes should be ready to pick soon and we are almost all out of our radishes.

Check out these lovely "Easter Radishes" that I picked this Saturday. They are pink on the inside!

Radishes

Easter Radishes

"Easter Egg radish are petite and round with thin wiry taproots. Colors of their skin range from white to pink to crimson to purple, all in one bunch. Their flesh is bright white and crisp with a mild radish flavor. The Easter Egg radish produces green leaves that grow from the roots above ground, which are also edible. "

They are a good source of Vitamins A, C, potassium, zinc and dietary fiber. -

http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Easter_Egg_Radish_654.php#sthash.gwEWXfPf.dpuf

Recipe:

Radish and Avocado Sandwich

INGREDIENTS

Thinly sliced radishes
Extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
Sliced avocado
Whole-grain bread
Finely grated lemon zest

DIRECTIONS

Toss radishes with oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Repeat with avocado, and mash onto bread. Pile on radish mixture, and sprinkle with lemon zest. Drizzle with oil.

Harvest Day!

2016-03-27T14:20:00.002-04:00

Hi All!

March 5th was our official Harvest Day event. I'm happy to report that it was a success and also a ton of fun!

Thank you so much to those of you who stopped by and helped. You and your children did an amazing job at pulling out the plants that were ready and I delivered all of the delicious vegetables to Chef Tim, in the kitchen, for use during the week.

Check out our pictures below and if you get a chance to stop by and say hi on the weekends, I will be there working (we still have new plants that are growing that will be ready for harvesting soon!).

It is looking to be a longer growing season than expected which just means more tastey veggies to come!

I will keep everyone posted on the gardens progress so keep checking the blog :)

Thank you all for your support!

Sincerely,

Kristy Albury

Coming Up! Post #3

2016-02-12T16:09:00.003-05:00

Good Afternoon fellow garden lovers :)

Our garden is growing in beautifully and a date for Harvesting has been set.

Come out and join us on Saturday, March 5, 2016, to pick our yummy veggies and lovely flowers that have been growing all season long.

Make sure to wear clothes that can get a little dirty, bring hats and sunscreen, and plenty of excitement!

Here are just a few of the things that will be ready to pick on March 5th:

Cherry Tomatoes

Sunflowers

Raddichio


Microgreen Specialty Lettuce

Oakleaf Lettuce


Round and Easter Radishes

1/5/16 Post #2

2016-01-05T21:43:00.000-05:00

It's a new year and with it comes some lovely cool weather and the perfect chance to get outside and garden! Don't worry though, it shouldn't get too cold for our vegetable beauties :)

I was swept up in the holiday craziness with family over and lots to do, but I have definitely been tending our Deering Bay garden every weekend: feeding, trimming, planting, and weeding it.

It looks like the major harvest for the season this year will be the end of February and March.

Particularly, the Radicchio and the Tomatoes are looking really good. Radicchio looks like a purple cabbage, but it has a mild spicy taste and it will be ready to pick when the center heads are done forming.

We've also now got Arugula, Jericho lettuce, Oakleaf Lettuce, Gourmet Greens Lettuce, two different types of Radishes, and some Cabbages growing, and I will be transplanting the carrot seedlings into larger pots very soon.

I will be working in the garden this coming Saturday morning if anyone wants to stop by and say hi :) And hopefully it won't rain too hard in the morning!

Happy gardening!!!

Weekly Update #1

2015-11-16T22:31:00.003-05:00

The kids painted awesome garden signs during our planting event!

Hi All! It's Kristy :)

I just wanted to give you guys an update on our beautiful garden. (I will do my best to update the blog once a week, so check back often for new information and lots of pictures).

The veggies that the children planted last Sunday, at our Event, all look great! Thank you again to everyone who came out, participated, and helped get our garden growing. Your efforts are appreciated!

This past Sunday, I planted even more seeds.

What was planted this week:

Easter Egg Radishes
Red Meat Radishes
Bunching Onions
Purple Haze Carrots
Swiss Chard
Roma and Cherry Tomatoes
Oakleaf Lettuce
Dill
Sage
Sunflowers
Giant Marigolds

Also, for those who do not yet know, we have three resident hummingbirds that seem to love our Firebush plant (Hamelia patens). Tim and I are working on getting a good picture of them! Here is a picture of the Firebush they often visit.

Firebush (Hamelia patens)

Hummingbirds suck nectar from the tubular shaped flowers

Check back next week for more!

Garden Planting

2015-11-08T16:16:00.000-05:00

Today's Garden planting went well , Thank you everyone for all the help ! Our garden fresh produce should show up on our Salad bar in about 7 weeks. And our annual garden harvest will be in mid February..

Introducing Kristy Albury

2015-11-01T16:05:00.000-05:00

Kristy Albury will be taking over Deering Bays vegetable garden and related events. Chef Tim will remain in the background to help her transition

; Hi there! My name is Kristy Albury. I am a certified Professional Horticulturist, working at Pinecrest Gardens during the week and I am excited to also be a new gardener here at Deering Bay!

I initially studied at the University of Miami, where I received my Bachelors of Science in Communications and Art. I then continued my studies at the Miami Dade College Landscape Professional Program. I love melding together my art and my nature backgrounds, and I plan on having some fun activities for our members and families this season.

We are going to grow some beautiful veggies this year and I hope everyone will enjoy our garden and come out and be a part of the magic. :) Kristy

Closed for the season

2015-04-27T10:57:00.000-04:00

Our growing season has come to an end. Thank you every one for all your help and support

Spring Flowers

2015-03-26T18:40:00.002-04:00

Our Garden season is coming to a close , But our flowers are in full bloom. We normally close the garden in mid April so enjoy the last couple Garden fresh salad bars

Garden Harvest

2015-02-07T23:22:00.001-05:00

This young lady found the purple carrot patch

Our members are starting to arrive around 9:30 am

Harvest time

Tuesdays salad bar should be great

Great turn out this year

Mrs. Kalstone and her grandson found the purple carrots

Tomato Harvest

2015-01-22T22:13:00.000-05:00

We are finally seeing some "fruits of our labor" . We have 10 healthy tomato plants at the garden and they have just started to produce. Varieties include; Gold Nugget, Sun Gold, Yellow Cherry and Black Cherry the plants are producing about 6 pints a week . Make a reservation for lunch and check out the salad bar !

First Harvest

2014-12-26T21:32:00.001-05:00

Looks Good !

Make a reservation for lunch

come early for best selection ;=)

Salad Bar Harvest this Friday

2014-12-21T17:43:00.000-05:00

The Garden fresh section of our Salad bar opens this Friday . Our Garden has benefited from 3 weeks of cool dry weather , only a few tomatoes are ready but lots of other produce is ready to pick .

30 Day's

2014-12-07T18:46:00.000-05:00

30 Day's ago we had our Garden planting event , Today I took pictures and posted a side by side comparison to see how much progress the Garden has made over that 30 day period .. . We have already harvested a few things , and we could see Garden Items on the Salad bar by next week !

November 8

December 7

November 8

December 7

November 8

Garden Planting

2014-11-08T20:52:00.000-05:00

We had a great turn out and great weather for today's Garden planting . Our Membership Dept. organizes Family events every other Saturday. This week we had about 14 family's and plenty of helping hands . The kids planted; lettuce, cabbage, Broccoli raab, Bok Choy, green onions, all types of salad greens , lots of kale, and 5 varieties of radishes and much more . The vegetables and herb's produced are used in our kitchen and featured on our salad bar. The kids will return in February for our Garden Harvest .. Thanks' for all the helping hands !

Progress Report 10-27

2014-10-27T13:44:00.000-04:00

We had an interesting weather week at the Club, last Monday we had a down pour of 3.25 inches of rain .. The rest of the week was light persistent rain clearing up just in time for our annual Fall Festival.. This morning at 6 am the temp's were in the low 60's and low humidity !! One of my favorite things is recycling the bales of hay from Fall Fest , the hay is used to mulch the garden area it helps to conserve moisture and is great for weed control .. All the plants are growing at a normal rate . And I have all the supplies for Planting November 8 ..

Progress Report 10-13

2014-10-13T15:37:00.000-04:00

All the plants are doing well ,the multi colored carrots have sprouted and seedlings have doubled in size. I also sensed a slight change in the weather, Autumn is in the air . The days are getting shorter and the heat and humidity are moderate . We planted 50 flower pot's for our members to take home on Sunshine Saturday .

Flower pots

Our membership loves the watermelon radishes on the salad bar

Close up view of Daikon radish

Seedling for November planting

Progress Report 9-30

2014-09-30T17:44:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to report the vegetable garden is back ! Over the past 36 hours we framed the garden ,transported 25 cu yards of potting soil, got the irrigation system running, put up the peacock fence and planted 1 row . Big thank you to Raphael , Alberto and Robert and the entire greens keeping dept. And thanks to Marcos and the engineering dept. . Last but not least ;Thanks Carmen from Accounting who gets us the checks so our project can keep moving.

Thank you Greens keeping dept.

Great start , next week the tomato plants go in, but most of the planting will be done by our membership on Sunshine Saturday November 8

As I was leaving we had round 3 of rain. good news if you have just planted

12 seed trays, we should have hundreds of plants for the garden planting Saturday November 8

Season 5

2014-09-22T14:49:00.001-04:00

Our Membership might be wondering " when does the Garden start up again?"

We have begun working on Season 5 of Our "Garden on the Bay" over the next few weeks we will be transporting soil , fencing and planting . Our Official Garden planting day is ; Sunshine Saturday November 8th , Hope to see everyone there !

End of the Season

2014-04-27T14:25:00.003-04:00

Our growing season has come to and end. Thank you every one for all your help and support !

Sunshine Saturday Garden Harvest

2014-02-08T23:24:00.000-05:00

We had a nice turn out for our Garden Harvest . About 40 people picked Tomatoes, cabbage, radishes, lettuce, Asian greens, carrots , flowers and much more ! The kids had an opportunity to pick and eat vegetables right out of the garden . In addition we saw wild life of all types including ; Raccoon's, Egrets, Ibis, Crocodiles, lizards all types of butterflies and the hummingbird even stopped by .. Thanks Kids it was great fun !

Daniella Tosta from our membership dept. was in the garden helping with the Harvest

Heirloom Tomatoes

2013-12-27T23:33:00.000-05:00

The first time I saw Heirloom tomatoes was 1991. Bradley Ogden, a California Chef was promoting a new book, "Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner" . I would never get too excited about visiting Chef's but this guy brought 2 cases of assorted heirloom tomatoes . The exotic colors, shapes, and flavors changed my life . 2 years later I had a small farm in Kendall and was growing and selling them by the case .

My all time favorite , the "Green Zebra"

check out our garden fresh salad bar today

First Harvest

2013-12-17T22:30:00.000-05:00

Today was the first harvest of the new growing season , All vegetables were grown with out pesticides, and served less that 3 hours after being picked ...., Look for the Garden Fresh section every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday .

Server Alyssa Miro holds a tray of Heirloom tomatoes, ( Evergreen, Cherokee purple, Green zebra and Valencia)