On Your Mark, Get Set, . . . .

We have gone straight from winter into summer at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden.   This week, we were all very busy getting our plots ready to start planting summer crops next weekend.    We may have one evening dip into the 40’s this week, but after that we will probably start planting squash, then peppers, and then tomatoes and then eggplants, etc.  We are close to finishing getting the Garden prepared, with a lot of mulching, weeding and spreading of wood chips this week.

On Monday, Cathy and Amy helped me to haul a dozen or so lawn waste bags to the curb.  They were very heavy (because some were too full of soil).  Two of the bags broke and had to be re-filled.  Sigh.  Hillary had also topped off a number of the over-stuffed bags with stones from her plot.  I removed them and put them back in her plot.  Grr. (The City bans rocks from the lawn waste bags, which I think would be self-evident, but obviously not).   On Wednesday, Amy and I spent some time weeding.  As I was rushing out, Sabrina came by with Zephyr to water their plot.    We talked about what kind of edging to do with our plots and what to do with all of the debris that Hilary and Jake dug out of her plot last weekend.   One of the pieces begs to be a statement piece somewhere.  The rest would probably do well to plug the holes between the chain link fence on the west side of the Garden to keep the groundhog from re-visiting us this year.   It is too bad that this debris only got dug out last weekend.  In 2015, we received grant funds from the City to haul and lawfully dump literally over 2 tons of similar debris that we had dug out of the Garden in the prior six years.  I think all of that digging must have worn Hillary because she hasn’t been back to her plot since then.

On Friday, Tree King generously donated and dropped off a couple tons of wood chips for us to distribute in and around the Garden.  It was really more than we need and it blocked a bit of the alley.  I arrived on Saturday to find Amy already hard at work.  I watered and weeded my plot and started to weed and mulch the northeast flower bed.   I also tried to shovel some of the wood chips out of the alley. Sabrina came for a few hours to tend her plot and teach one of our volunteers how to weed and to move and re-place our benches during the wood chipd project. 

The City Municipal Court sent us 7 community service volunteers this weekend, which was great.  What usually takes us 3 hours to accomplish on our annual opening day they finished in two hours.    We borrowed wheelbarrows from Kimball Farms next door and from Cathy.   They distributed wood chips on the paths in an hour and then around the fence lines in another hour. 

One lady used the rest of our spray paint to make part of the spinning compost bin to match the nearby rain barrel.   A couple volunteers weeded under and around the picnic table and raised bed.  One gentleman mowed our lots and edged a bit.  One gentleman dug me another post hole for our fence straightening project.  (He had more luck than the hard-working fellow last week).  We could have dug another, but I was concerned about irreversible harm to our brambles this season.  One volunteer watered our bare root trees and bushes (black cherry and elderberry, which are all leafing out).  Two weeded a couple of flower beds, after assuring me that they knew something about landscaping.  One cut back our sadly dead lavender bush.  One weeded a few food pantry plots.  One straightened up and tidied up the alley. One dug up dandelions for a while.  One weeded and mulched a portion of the strawberry patch.  One leveled up the compost bins.  One weeded and spread donated soil in the kids’ raised beds.  And so it went from 9:30 until 2:15.    I even left them help me to plant a few broccoli, cabbage and Brussel sprout plants in the food pantry plots because we got so much done. 

After they left, I spent another four hours weeding my plot, and picking up mulch from Ohio Mulch for my own house while it is still on sale.   I let chickweed take over my plot every winter.  It is generally very easy to pull out, but not always.  Sometimes, I just roll it up like a carpet to make room for new plants.   Sometimes I pull it.  I also have a fair amount of mint in my plot because it deters beetles.  I planted some Xmas lima beans, edamame and contender green beans.  I think I stepped on my lettuce seedlings, so I replanted it.   I also found and replanted a bunch of garlic among my cold crops and spread some diatomaceous earth to deter flea beetles.   I also placed and put up my tomato trellis and squash/cucumber trellis and planed some zinnias in my front row cutting garden.  (I have a lot of daisies coming up that I will probably have to dig up soon).    Weeding is not always depressing.  After pulling away some chickweed, I found some romaine lettuce and cilantro in my plot that I had planted last Fall.  Yippee.

I also found some volunteer sunflowers and put them in more appropriate places (like flower beds or along the south side of my plot) where they can be enjoyed by everyone over the summer without shading my key vegetables.  I also gave Sabrina one before she left.  I had to bricks around some of them to keep from inadvertently stepping on them while I worked, and twigs around them elsewhere so that no one else would step on them or dig them up like weeds.   

While I was weeding and placing trellises, Christina and Alex from the Old Towne East Neighborhood Association stopped by.  They were giving a trial run to the tour path for this year’s Historic Home and Garden tour in July.  This year, it will actually be in the Franklin Park neighborhood (our  neighborhood), which has changed considerably in just a few years. (In fact, one of Ms. Dee’s nephews stopped by this afternoon and could not get over the change in the neighborhood since she died just a few years ago).   They introduced themselves because the SACG will be a stop on the tour this year.    I’m glad that the first time that they saw the Garden was when the lawn had been mowed, chips had been spread and most of the flower beds had been mulched.

As readers know, I never miss the Kentucky Derby.  We even grow lots of mint to send home with gardeners to muddle with their bourbon. However, this is always one of the longest gardening days of the year and I could not tear myself away.  It was also Cinco de Mayo, but it was too chilly and cloudy for margaritas.  (I’m sure that you never thought that you’d ever hear me say that;-)

Rose stopped by with a pet carrier containing three tiny kittens.  A nearby lady was feeding 3 stray cats who all had kittens.  She was about to take them to the pound, but Rose brought them home instead.  I worry about them because Rose tried to take care of Ms. Dee's cat and we ended up sending her and her kitten to Colony Cats up on Sawmill Road. 

I finally managed to empty the big tank yesterday so that Ken can repair the spicket.  The tall tank is running out of water, so I’m a little concerned.  We only received about a half inch of rain in the past week and the tall tank is not an efficient collector of water. 

Kimball Farms was also busy working in their hoop house yesterday.

On Wednesday, I hope to plant some squash and then mulch the remaining two flower beds.   Next weekend, I’ll start planting and distributing peppers and tomatoes.  On May 17, we will have volunteers from the United Methodist Women to plant our food pantry plots and prune some flowers.

We have lots of extra wood chips in case anyone wants to stop by and fill a bag or wheelbarrow . . . .   Just help yourself to what is along the alley (as long as you don't make a mess or dig down to the soil).