What Kind of Omen is Snow on Opening Day?

 You may have noticed that it snowed this morning.  Actually, there was about a half inch on the ground before I went to sleep last night and I hoped (vainly it turns out) that it would melt before the morning.   This morning, the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden broke ground for our 10^th growing season.    I would have postponed the opening until next week (when the temperatures are supposed to almost hit the 70’s), but I had already recruited two volunteer groups to help us back in February when the average temperatures were 5 degrees above normal.  This month, the temperatures have been 5 degrees below normal.    The last time we had snow on Opening Day was in 2015 when we were scheduled to open near the end of March, but the snow caused us to postpone and a few of us ended up attending the funeral for Desiree Stewart (our long-time neighbor who suddenly died earlier in March not long after I had distributed the neighborhood newsletters).   Although our daffodils have been in bloom for a few weeks, none of our tulips are in bloom and that is very strange.   Anyway, a group of sturdy and extremely good natured Ohio State University students from the Pay-It-Forward Program came to help us despite the weather.  To keep them warm, I had them turn and distribute compost from our bins.  Then, they wanted  to weed.  I think it’s a first for the SACG to have a group of volunteers who asked to be assigned weeding chores.

Today is either April 7 or the 97th day of January.  You decide. 

I started off last night packing up my car and making chocolate no bake cookies.  This morning, I made a half gallon of hot chocolate and a quart of coffee.   I arrived at the SACG around 9:20, unlocked a few things and took some photos of the snow-covered Garden before too many footprints messed it up.  I tried to turn on the big rain cistern, but the switch was frozen in place.   The OSU ladies arrived and I gave them a quick tour and then gave them gloves and shovels and put them to work.    I tried to pick up litter, but it was covered with snow and difficult to find until the snow melted.   Instead, I transplanted the two clematis flowers that Betty Weaver had planted in her plot back in 2009.  They get overtaken now with the raspberries, so I put one next to our arbor gate and one next to the shed.  (I’ll have to bring over one of my trellises so that it has somewhere to grow.  

Two of the students helped me to put up our sign.  I had repainted the back, but it hasn’t been warm enough yet to varnish the front (which must be done every year to retard its fading and chipping).  We’ll take it down again next weekend or the following weekend to do that.

I then put them on digging out all of the flowers and weeds growing in the eastern plots along the fence line.   Then I asked them to pull out as much gooseweed as they could.  Then, they turned to weeding the area between the Garden and the blueberry bushes.  While doing that, they dug up volunteer brambles and put them in pots so that we could sell them during our Second Annual Black Raspberry/Tart Cherry festival in June.  I managed to pick up some litter and then Mari came and picked up the rest.  Whew.  

Sabrina had to go home and get me some wool socks because my toes were killing me from the cold this morning.   She also dug out two of the overgrown bunches of oregano in our herb garden and a bunch of the volunteer daisies that had turned up in one of last year’s food pantry plots and weeded the interior flower bed.   She then helped me weed and edge the front flower beds.   I then turned to the strawberry patch.  I thought it was looking great but realized as I worked that most of the green plants in the patch were weeds, not berries.  Mari said that she might return over the week and weed it.  We have volunteer berries showing up outside the bed, so we can transplant them back into the bed.

I could not have been more pleased with my OSU volunteers this year.  They dressed weather appropriate and already knew how to properly weed without me having to tell them.  They dug weed out by the roots instead of just pulling what they saw above ground.   Thrilled I am. 

The second volunteer group apparently went to the wrong garden.  I tried calling them, but I only had their office phone and they tried calling me, but only had my office phone.  Curses.    They will return next Saturday.   I had wanted them to mow all of our lawns, but I forgot to refill the gas can and there was an inch of snow on the lawn until almost noon.  It eventually melted, but I suspect that the grass was probably still too wet to mow when I left around 2:30.   

Cathy again loaned us her wheelbarrow (and her husband pumped up its tires last night).  She was also going to bake the pizza I had picked up for our other volunteer group, but I just retrieved it from her instead to use another time. 

As the OSU students worked to straighten up our curb, and to pull gooseweed, they kept coming up on hibernating garten snakes.  Students in the past squealed,  but not this group.   One snake stayed put until they replaced the brick.  However, one snake decided to slither under the next stone instead of waiting to find out what she had in mind for it.

I also had the opportunity to show them where our praying mantises lay their eggs.   After they left, I was able to finally turn on the big tank.  However, I’m a little worried that the spicket may not be tightly attached. 

New gardeners Hillary and Jake stopped by to say hello.  I gave them a tour, but was way too tired to stick around another few hours for them to put in their work equity.  I could barely speak in complete sentences by that point.

Despite our freezing and wet hands and cold toes, it wasn't all frigid.  One neighbor and one of the neighborhood landlords stopped by to tell us how much they appreciated our work (and, frankly, to laugh at us for gardening in the snow).   

This upcoming week, Sabrina and I are going to be making an extra effort to sell raffle tickets for our sweet Schwinn bike.   The drawing is Saturday, April 14 and the tickets are only $1 each.   Cathy and I also will be picking up a peach and plum tree to add to our “orchard” next Saturday.  Then, on Saturday, this is what we have planned:

1)      Picking up litter in the neighborhood (at least the litter that we get too before the Urban Connections volunteer group finds it).

2)      Weeding gooseweed, dandelions, and ragweed.

3)      Weeding the strawberry patch

4)      Digging holes and planting a peach and plum tree (and maybe some elderberry and service berry)

5)      Connecting the western rain cisterns

6)      Transplanting volunteer daisies to gardeners own plots or to send home with volunteers.

7)      Mowing the lawns

8)      Varnishing the signs (or next week or the week after)

9)      Sanding and repainting the rain barrel (if it is warm enough)

10)   Transplanting volunteer raspberries and potting the rest so that we can sell them in June at the Berry Festival

11)   Bagging sticks and stem that are everywhere

12)   Tidying the curb along the alley

13)   Finishing up weeding the outside of the fence and along the alley

14)   Measuring and marking plots.

15)   Starting digging out and composting the wood chip paths so that we can level out the paths with the plots.

16)   For those of us who put in 3 hours of work equity, we can start cleaning out our plots and even start planting.  I picked up seed potatoes and onions at this month’s GCGC meeting. 

 

This is also when we will be celebrating Earth Day and I would tell you what rewards are in stake for our volunteers, but I have not yet heard from Earth Day Columbus about when we are supposed to pick up our supplies.  Cathy was worried because Urban Connections had not heard anything yet either and they have 28 folks coming to help them on Saturday.   But I know that all of you want to come and participate in the raffle for this great bike!  Many hands make light work:-)   One way or another, we will have fun rewards for our volunteers next week and I don't just mean my cookies and donuts.