Thanks to our dedicated core team of volunteers we’ve been able to make progress on developing the new garden site and continue some planting.
What they’ve done so far: Planted spring crops of lettuce, peas, kale, and a few radishes, all successfully harvested for the Food Pantry. Lettuce has been replanted a couple of times, so we should continue to have some for the Food Pantry. We have one bed of tomatoes planted, and some tomatillo plants in the large pots.
We’ve built two new beds this spring (tomatoes in one). With the soil saved and protected with cover crops over last winter, we have had enough soil for the four beds now built, and possibly one more. Bed #4 was just completed and filled with soil, we should be able to plant it in early July, possibly with bush beans and peppers. We also gave away about 40 tomato seedlings to Food Pantry clients. Our efforts will continue through ththe challenging times of reopening business and social opportunities.
Here's an update of our activities from Darien.
Last week we harvested kale, lettuce, and the last of the peas. In bed #2 we planted peppers on the west, and three butterbush squash on the east, replacing lettuce and radishes that have been harvested.
More soil and compost was added to bed #4, then peppers planted down the center, cilantro seeds on east and west ends, and bush green bean seeds on the south side.
There’s been a great deal of research undertaken on the benefits of this form of collective gardening: community gardens attract people from the entire social economic spectrum, regardless of race, gender, religion or age. In short, a community garden is where people come together to grow food and flowers, they share all the work and they share the produce.
Here's an article from Greenside Up listing five good "what's-in-it-for-me" reasons to join a community garden: http://greensideup.ie/5-reasons-join-community-gardens-are-good-for-us/
If you've ever driven or walked by a lush green garden sitting in the middle of a park or neighborhood (and looked in awe at its fresh tomatoes and lettuce), it's probably one of many community gardens around the area. ...See this article in Huffington Post
In September at the garden we begin thinking about winding down for winter even as we're all busy bringing in the produce. We have our usual hands-on activities, plus a workshop on cover crops, compost and clean-up.