Category Archives: Garden Work Day

In spite of  rain in the forecast, nine hard working volunteers showed up  for the April 11th Garden workday. George and Gary had tilled several untended beds and the group got busy pulling the remaining weeds and grass. Judy, George, Ellie, Fred, Mike, Ana, Jane, David and Nathan labored during the cool morning, glad that summer was not here yet. We were able to plant bed #4 with carrots, sunflower seeds, and mesclun (a lettuce mixture). The goal is to use the unadopted beds for  growing vegetables and also flowers to attract butterflies. Next we will plant beans to eat and to improve the soil when they are turned under. George has planted pumpkin, watermelon, cucumber, squash, beets, tomatoes, and Swiss chard in the production beds. It is going to require a lot of help to tend these beds and pick these crops, but it will be rewarding to donate the harvest to our neighbors in the community.

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Our Saturday workday started off chilly but bright. Twelve stalwart gardeners: George, Gary, Fran, Nathan, Jill, Emily, Allan, Christopher, Rowlan, Jane, David, and Elaine turned out to begin preparing the garden for spring planting. Most of the effort went to digging and pulling the pesky grass found on three badly overgrown beds. Gary and Allan were heroes of the day by turning over the soil in several beds. One crew meticulously pulled weeds from around the dewberry and grape vines and then finished off with spreading mulch to prevent its return. George installed new boards on two beds, killed fire ants and hauled off the old rotted boards to the dumpster. There’s a lot more to be done. The next workday will be Saturday, March 14th, 8:30 – 12:30. Volunteers are needed to work with George and Nathan to prepare two production beds, once or twice a month. These beds will be used to grow vegetables for ICM and Bay Area Turning Point and help fulfill our outreach goals to the community.

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This week George and I made a list of tasks to be completed at the workday and George got a head start on weeding. We removed an invasive tomato plant from a production bed that must have weighed a half a ton. We also got a head start on removing limbs and trash from the compost bins. I will mow between the beds next week and George will pick up lumber for replacement of rotted boards. I hope to upload some photos of the garden from January 2015 so we can see what the beds looked like before the workday. Please come out and show some LOVE for our garden on Feb. 14th!

Nathan

Thanks to over 40 volunteers, our garden workday on February 1st was a great success.  We were able to install 5 new garden beds, extend the water line to the second section of the garden, weed all of the donation beds and more!  We made seed bombs for naturalizing the garden area and started on the plot markers.

We’ll have more work to do in the coming weeks, but this was a great way to begin the season.  Thank you to everyone who participated.

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Several more beds were planted earlier this week, so I took a few photos on Wednesday evening.  It’s all coming along nicely.  Great work gardeners!

Three varieties of muscadine grapes and two types of blackberries have been planted.  Does this mean we’re technically a garden now?  T – 15 months until blackberry cobbler.

The deep beds were also finished this week.  They need to be topped off with leaves and compacted before adding soil.