Last Saturday was a fantastic weather day for gardening. And by fantastic I mean "killer sunburn". Because that's what happened. I'm new to this altitude, 4,500 feet, and even though it was overcast or partly cloudy, it was still 68 degrees and by the end of the day I had lobster-colored arms.
It was worth it though. I am pleased to report that I have planted out a line of root vegetables including beets, carrots, radish (including a number of Asian varieties), rutabaga, salsify, and turnips. Meanwhile, all the greens I planted have sprouted!
This is my little plot at Cannon Greens. I now have both long borders entirely planted out. I have about 17 square feet left in the middle to fill, and about 50 tomato seedlings at home that will need space. Oh dear.
We had our community garden orientation last week and it seems that about 2/3 of the gardeners this year are new to community gardening and maybe even new to gardening period. We were told that our plots had to be weeded by May 1, and planted out by May 15 or they would be forfeited back to the community. Gosh. I did mine the last weekend of March.
There are a few plots that have been carried over from last year, the ones with the garlic in them! (I have garlic envy). This is an interesting space because there are all these garden plots on one corner property, a back area that leads to another property that is also owned by the community garden, and it all wraps around some guys house. (Two friendly dogs live there). The part of the garden furthest from the pre-existing plots has a bunch of long skinny raised beds in boxes, but the plan is to rip out the wood frames and create keyhole plots that will amount to double the square footage of the current plots. I am hoping to get one, but it will take some work.
If this space has not been spoken for, I will claim it. Given the volume of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and potatoes I want to plant, I will need more space! I think my order of operations will be to: knock out the frames (I'll bring my drill; they are all screwed in); dig up the whole thing and get rid of all plant matter; dig in the composted horse manure on site, top dress with compost, and then plant it out. Given that my other bed took me about four hours, I think I'll need to stretch this project out into a few days.
The nice thing about this community garden is that, because we are in the desert and water is scarce, they will be installing irrigation lines. This will prevent over watering but make sure that plants get enough water. It hasn't been hooked up yet so I have had to water by hand.
I seldom see anyone on site when I'm there. I am hoping that as the season progresses I will get more acquainted with other gardeners and make some new friends!
It was worth it though. I am pleased to report that I have planted out a line of root vegetables including beets, carrots, radish (including a number of Asian varieties), rutabaga, salsify, and turnips. Meanwhile, all the greens I planted have sprouted!
This is my little plot at Cannon Greens. I now have both long borders entirely planted out. I have about 17 square feet left in the middle to fill, and about 50 tomato seedlings at home that will need space. Oh dear.
We had our community garden orientation last week and it seems that about 2/3 of the gardeners this year are new to community gardening and maybe even new to gardening period. We were told that our plots had to be weeded by May 1, and planted out by May 15 or they would be forfeited back to the community. Gosh. I did mine the last weekend of March.
There are a few plots that have been carried over from last year, the ones with the garlic in them! (I have garlic envy). This is an interesting space because there are all these garden plots on one corner property, a back area that leads to another property that is also owned by the community garden, and it all wraps around some guys house. (Two friendly dogs live there). The part of the garden furthest from the pre-existing plots has a bunch of long skinny raised beds in boxes, but the plan is to rip out the wood frames and create keyhole plots that will amount to double the square footage of the current plots. I am hoping to get one, but it will take some work.
If this space has not been spoken for, I will claim it. Given the volume of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and potatoes I want to plant, I will need more space! I think my order of operations will be to: knock out the frames (I'll bring my drill; they are all screwed in); dig up the whole thing and get rid of all plant matter; dig in the composted horse manure on site, top dress with compost, and then plant it out. Given that my other bed took me about four hours, I think I'll need to stretch this project out into a few days.
The nice thing about this community garden is that, because we are in the desert and water is scarce, they will be installing irrigation lines. This will prevent over watering but make sure that plants get enough water. It hasn't been hooked up yet so I have had to water by hand.
I seldom see anyone on site when I'm there. I am hoping that as the season progresses I will get more acquainted with other gardeners and make some new friends!
