Channel 6 Garden in early June seen from south end
This year as a master gardener volunteer, I have been part of a team that meets on Thursday mornings to plant, weed and do general upkeep on the various food crops and perennial beds in the Channel 6 garden. This location is a project of the UW-Extension Southeast Wisconsin Master Gardeners and our group is lead by Sharon Morrisey, a Consumer Horticulture Agent. Our space is used to demonstrate tips on gardening that are filmed in segments and aired Monday mornings on Channel 6 in the Milwaukee area.
We work for approximately 2 hours each Thursday tending the garden and we often learn interesting new techniques during these efforts. While the Channel 6 garden functions as a teaching tool, it also produces a surprising amount of food. Each week the vegetables and fruits harvested are weighed and the produce amounts are recorded before being donated to a local group facility that is home to 20 adults. Last year the Channel 6 garden produced over 250 pounds of fresh organic food, so it feels like we are really making a difference!
Since we had a cool wet spring in Milwaukee, our garden got off to a good start. So far our harvest has included gooseberries, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, beets, carrots, chard, cucumbers, lettuce and spinach, mustard greens, peas, peppers, turnips and zucchini. We still have a lot of vegetables maturing in the raised beds and the apples, plums and grapes are not quite ready to be picked. It has has been a great year in the garden so far and quite a learning experience for me!
Image shows cucumbers, tomatoes and sweet potatoes growing in raised beds
Really interesting!