Finally! After one of the wettest springs in my memory, the community gardens at Greenmead are finally open! We were able to check in with Brad, the head gardener there, find and mark our assigned 25 by 25 plot and plan on setting to work in it as soon as the weather and soil cooperated. When we checked in last Saturday, it was still too wet to work the soil- still some standing water, and muddy patches. Since the city never got to do the final plowing and disking, it was rough, and full of weeds, debris and a scattering of volunteer lettuce and dill. I could take my vegetable and herb plants out of the greenhouse and harden them off for planting! Woo-hoo!

Nice looking plants!

Our ‘Farm’

Yesterday, I loaded up the car with tools and sett out to hoe all the weeds down and build the raised beds we would need to plant all of the veggies and cut flowers we intended to grow. An hour after arriving, I had hoed an area about 3 feet by 12 feet and the task looked daunting. So when a nice young woman came over and asked if I wanted the plot rototilled, I weakened, and then caved. Rototilling isn’t really all that good for the soil, and churns up more weed seeds to grow more weeds, but it does make the weeds that ARE there easier to yank out. The rototiller made short work of the whole plot, so I spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon building the raised beds so we could start planting. I had rescued the wild lettuce scattered around the plot, so I stuck that back in on the edge of the squash bed- it will be a few weeks before that part of the bed would be overrun with squash vines, by then the lettuce would be eaten.

Getting it rototilled

Ready to plant

Later in the cool of the evening we hauled our tomatoes, cabbage and broccoli out to ‘The Farm’ along with  the flowers and basil we also wanted to grow. The wind was pretty fierce, but we managed to get everything planted and watered in before the sun went down on the day. This evening we’ll go back out and plant some seeds, cage those tomatoes, and make tee-pees for the pole beans we plan on growing.

Day 1 optimism

Just a footnote about my little Robins: Below is the last photo I got of them before they fledged. All crammed into the nest, pushing and shoving like little kids in the back seat. The next morning, only one remained in the nest all snuggled in. He seemed to be comfy there, almost saying “I’ve got my own room! Cool!” He stayed for another day, then seemed sort of lonely and left to go find his family. I took down the empty nest and put it in a tree in case Momma Robin wanted to use it again. Later that week I spotted two of the babies out in the woods waiting for Dad to bring them some food. It’ll be fun to watch as the parents teach them where and how to fend for themselves as they grow into adulthood.

Bye-bye birdies