A successful day always begins with planning and supplies. On Monday, the City Forestry Department
dropped off a giant load of wood chips for our main activity on Opening
Day. (We then mysteriously received
another truck load later in the week). I picked up six free garden rakes and six shovels
from Rebuilding Together’s tool library on Thursday. While there I met the garden manager for
City Farm who was dropping off and/or picking up supplies. On Friday, I then picked up free water, a cardboard
recycling container and trash bags, and borrowed litter grabbers, neon vests and work
gloves from Keep Columbus Beautiful (courtesy of a grant from Keep America Beautiful).
Near the end of the day, I learned that 30 OSU
students would be coming to help. I was
a bit panicked because I had only expected 5 to 20 and hadn’t planned on
feeding that many folks. So, I ran to
pick up extra refreshments courtesy of the East Main Kroger’s store. Then, even later in the day, I learned that our
rototiller was not working and began a mad dash to obtain a replacement while
the ground was still dry and tillable. (The tool library was closed until the
next morning). The president of the
Franklin Park Civic Association tried to help and I made a few calls and sent
some emails, but Saturday morning came without a replacement. In the meantime, I sawed down some cedar
boards to improve our compost bins, baked brownies, brewed some iced tea and made a few dozen chocolate
no-bake cookies. Finally, I packed up first-aid and other supplies into my car.
I was not the first to arrive at the Garden on
Saturday. Rayna and new gardener Sabrina
were already there. We unloaded my car,
rounded up a few wheelbarrows and started spreading chips on the paths. Gardeners began straggling in, including new
gardeners Cassie, Neal and Chelsea. Brenda then delighted us by coming to help,
too. Charlie helped us out a lot by
strapping my wheelbarrow to the roof of his car and bringing it over to help
us. Mari came and dug up volunteer raspberry
bushes, which we then transplanted along the new fence at the end of the day.
A large van of OSU students arrived. The OSU students went to work on a few
projects. One group repaired a
vandalized compost bin, then flipped the compost we had started last Fall and consolidated
the compost into two (from three) bins.
Another group picked up litter around the Garden, another in the alley
intersection near the Garden and another picked up litter in the Block Watch
lot across the street (including cutting out some old wire fence with my bolt
cutters). One student took some Indiana
limestone triangles donated to us last year by GreenScapes Landscaping Company
and built a half-moon and full-moon inlay in the front Garden paths. (I’ll have to post a picture later). One group helped us to move the raised beds
we built last year from the annex to the northwest corner of the Garden. The rest of the group helped us to shovel wood
chips and to spread them in the new raised bed plot, along the paths, along the
fence line and in the space between the alley/Cherry Street and the Garden. They also helped to dig up compost left from
last year’s compost bins and transport it to the relocated raised beds. A police officer even stopped by to express appreciation and encouragement for all of their hard work.
Frank and Barb came with another wheelbarrow, more litter grabbers and our ill tiller. One of our new gardeners is married to a
mechanic, who valiently tried to repair our tiller without success. I had called the Tool Library first thing in
the morning and it had a tiller on hand, but it was first come, first
served. We tried to call at this point,
but kept getting voice mail. Frank drove
over to the library and returned with a giant tiller. Success!
Then, Charlie, Frank and our new mechanic took turns tilling the Garden. We have such great soil.
Neal ran over to Bexley to pick up four pizzas generously donated
by Bexley Pizza Plus. We gobbled
silently because we were all pretty tired and sore by this point. One of the neighborhood girls wandered in to
help shovel chips. Then, some folks from the Growing Hearts and Hands Community
Garden stopped by on their way home from their annual meeting (which had been
held at Central Community House). They
admired our hard work and progress that morning and hoped to return to share in
our bountiful supply of seeds. They also
generously offered to share Alvis House volunteers with us to help get our soil
amendment donations (from Scotts Miracle-Gro) delivered later this month.
Most of the first group of OSU students left and were
replaced around 1 by a second group.
Part of this group focused on picking up litter along Stoddart
Avenue. It was very surprising how much litter
had gathered since our last work day in the Fall. Another group focused on spreading wood chips
along the fence and moving soil into the raised beds. Some of the ladies helped me to improve the
compost bins (by leveling one, adding slats and improving the gate). They enjoyed learning to work with a
drill. Another group of us detatched
the fence from the Annex and moved the posts and fence back to their original
positions with a sledge hammer. Then,
some of the students helped to replant and transplant raspberry bushes. We
moved and then put back our twirling compost bin. After realizing that not all three of our
raised garden beds would fit in the northwest plot, we moved the last one to
the northeast corner of the Garden. Then,
this group of OSU students had to leave.
At 3, I pulled bags and bags of last year’s Botanical
Interest seeds donated to us so that the volunteers and gardeners could help
themselves. Marge from the St. Vincent
De Paul Community Garden then stopped by to share in our good fortune. We kibitzed a bit about grants, weather,
volunteers, etc.
Barb packed up the shed and I packed up my car. Kenaya and her brother Antoine then helped
Barb and I measure and mark out the plots for the gardeners. The kids desperately wanted to use the sledge
hammer and carried it around the garden like it was a teddy bear. A few neighborhood fellows then stopped by
to share in our refreshments.
Most of us were very tired and sore by the end of the
day. One by one, the adult gardeners
begged off. The kids, however, were
anxious to start planting. Maybe
tomorrow:-) I still had to unpack my
car when I returned home and will return borrowed tools on Monday.
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