Spring Cleaning in the FVG!

What a gardening weekend!! However, being exhausted and meeting fellow gardeners are two indicators that the Fenway Victory Garden's first "All Park Clean Up" of the 2010 season was a success! Saturday was glorious & sunny, perfect to welcome gardeners, friends, and members of the Boston community into the park to tackle spring chores. The agenda included: organizing the three composting areas, building new wheelbarrows, planting grass seed, re-numbering plots, building up a few plots that did not fair to well with the March floods, and collecting litter.

It was invigorating to see everyone out and ready to help! I also had recruited two friends to get their hands dirty with me - and they were in for a treat! We were assigned to one of the composting areas with three other people. Our tasks involved making three rows of debris into one [which would allow gardeners space to drop off new compost materials], garbage clean up, and making the ready-to-use compost pile into a more distinguishable pile for easy access.

Here are some shots from the morning's activities:

(the large compost area getting lots of attention; our finished compost area)


(one of the groups collecting litter along the Muddy River)

After the clean up ended, The Landsdowne Pub hosted a gathering for all gardeners involved in the clean up. After taking a break I returned to the garden to do some work on my own plot, wanting to take advantage of the weather! As luck would have it, a fresh, dry pile of wood chips were delivered! Everyone rushed to get their share!

Saturday's tasks:

• planted marigolds in each of the front corners of the SFG boxes
• planted a lavender bush
  
• hung a pot of pansies
• planted two dahlias

• built a SFG trellis for the middle box (Box 2); unfortunately the trellis netting was defective and the squares are not perfect; i know it is not a big deal for the growing veggies, but I hate that it doesn't look as perfect as the other two...
  

• took down a side of my potato box, allowing it to get more sun
• added a wheelbarrow of compost to the 'addition'
• planted grass seed in my future 'sitting area'
  
• added a wheelbarrow of wood chips to the 'addition,' creating a small walkway - this area is really starting to come together!
  

• weeded along my fence
• added 5 wheelbarrows of wood chips to the aisle

On Sunday, I returned just for two hours to work a little more. I accomplished what I wanted to do, but I was definitely low-energy!

Sunday's tasks:

• trimmed the wild rose bushes along the back fence (in & outside the plot)
• added yet more compost to the back raised bed
• sowed poppy seeds; hoping to eventually turn this area into a wildflower area
  

Here is how my plot is looking as the average last frost date approaches this week:

A final tip for people on a wait list at a community garden: VOLUNTEER! It is the best thing you can do in order to show your interest and dedication.

My Easter Celebration

...was in the garden of course! Today was about as perfect you could get for Easter Sunday-temps reached almost 80 degrees! To make the most of it I logged about 5 hours - the the most time I have spent in the garden in many months; and to top it all off it was the Red Sox home opener! People were everywhere!

I was anxious to check on the peas that I planted on 3/20 as I was afraid that the incredible rains we had drowned them or washed them away. I only saw signs of one plant breaking the surface, so I will have to keep an eye to see if the rest follow. When I planted last year in mid June they seemed to come up quickly. Maybe when planted earlier when the temps are cooler, they are slower to grow..? However, I am so happy to already be able to plant, remembering that this time last year I was 'plot-less!'

Today's garden chores consisted of:

• stabilizing the fence between my plot and my neighbor
  
• weeding the perimeter flower bed and three square foot boxes
• raking leaves
• trimming back wild rose bushes along the back fence
  
• planting lettuce (Mesclun salad mix,Buttercrunch & Salad Bowl ) & carrots (Short n' Sweet & Baby)
• drafting possible layouts for the 'addition' area which include a space for my potato box, corn and a shaded area
• adding one wheelbarrow of compost (I forgot my shovel today which made it very difficult; I will need to add more when I return with my shovel!)
  

Free Gardening Workshops in Boston!

Happy New Year!!! I gladly welcome 2010 as it will provide me with another year (and chance) to grow fresh produce in the city. I learned and accomplished so much in 2009 and and cannot wait to develop my skills in 2010.

I was happy to discover that the date for the 35th Annual Gardeners Gathering has been announced! I attended this event last spring before I received my plot assignment! I learned the basics of gardening, discovered the wonderful world of vermiculture/worm composting and heard about the benefits of raised beds! Now that I have gotten my hands dirty, I cannot wait to see what I learn this year!! I highly recommend attending if you are a gardener - or want to be gardener - in the Boston area!!

Here are the details, taken from the Boston Natural Area Network website!

Saturday, March 20, 2010
11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Curry Student Center, Northeastern University, Boston
Click Here for Directions Free Event, All Welcome
Walk-in Registration

The Gardeners Gathering is an annual citywide event for community gardeners and other garden enthusiasts. Held in the spring of each year, the event is a welcome kick- off to Boston’s upcoming gardening season. The event is filled with informative and fun activities and workshops. Gardening and green space organizations are present to provide current program information. Door prizes are awarded and pre-ordered seeds (provided by BNAN) are distributed. All are invited to join more than 300 community gardeners to welcome spring.

There will be Community Gardening Workshops for Beginner and Experienced Gardeners. Networking, Door Prizes, Info Gallery, Community Garden Awards, and More!

One of the typical highlights of the Gardeners Gathering is Mayor Thomas Menino’s greeting and presentation of the annual Community Gardening Awards. BNAN is grateful to Northeastern University for hosting the event each year and to the City of Boston for its ongoing support of community gardening.

Thumbs Up San Francisco!

In case you haven't heard I wanted to share the great news that composting is now MANDATORY in San Francisco!! This is an incredible accomplishment! Similar to the Seattle law, which required only households to compost, the October 21st SF law requires every residence and business to have three separate color-coded bins for waste: blue for recycling, green for compost and black for trash.

I cannot imagine how the city is educating everyone on composting, however I did find details about what people can compost in their green carts and kitchen pails, in addition to this public awareness commercial:



San Francisco is definitely doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint--all their collection and transfer trucks run on alternative fuel (either liquefied natural gas or biodiesel). They may start fining people in the future for non-compliance as their goal, according to City Environmental Officer, Jared Blumenfeld is to have zero waste - no garbage - going to landfills by the year 2020. I hope that other cities (especially Boston) follow SF's example.

View a quick MSNBC report about how composting can go full-cycle to help local vineyards.

Learn more about SF's composting program:

• Article: San Francisco composting, recycling becomes law Wednesday
  
• San Francisco Environment Department: Composting
  

Also, I added a poll (in the right hand section) to get a feel for how many people are already composting in their homes. Unfortunately, I am not yet composting myself, but hope to purchase at least one kitchen composter by early 2010! Living in an apartment makes composting challenging, but not impossible!

GoGreen.vc

Thanks to gogreen.vc for listing me in their directory of farming, gardening and composting blogs! Check out their website to find a lot of great information. Many of my favorite blogs that I follow are also listed! Blogs are listed by state/country.

Also, since the site founders also invented the Worm Factory®, there is a lot of information about vermi-culture (worm composting) which I hope to try some day when I move on from apartment living!! I hope to post more about vermi-culture soon as I attended a workshop earlier this year! It sounds easy and fun with only a small amount of "yuckiness!"

Perimeter Progress

Today was the day that my poor, neglected perimeter beds (and plants) got some attention! My veggies are growing great and I am just waiting for my first harvest! I started filling the perimeter beds with a mix of store bought topsoil and compost from the community garden. Unfortunately, I am not up to 6 inches all the way around, but after six hours of back-breaking work, I decided to call it a day. I planted Salvia, Dahlia, Lupin and Yarrow. These guys have been troopers as they have stayed in their pots for two weeks after they were purchased. I also planted two blue Hydrangeas on either side of the gate. Obviously I have a lot more space to fill, but will probably going in stages. I will probably plant climbing roses right next to the gate as added protection (unfortunately, we have to worry about people breaking into our gardens, so roses and nails are a popular deterrent). I would like to plant mostly perennials. Any perennial suggestions for a sunny, zone 6 garden?

Here are a few snapshots from today:

A garden that finally looks like a garden!

Success!!! After a very long but productive weekend the garden has taken shape and vegetables have been planted! I could not be happier about how it has turned out. I will walk you through our recent progress with photos...

The 3-4x4 raised beds & perimeter frame are in place

Laying down the weed blocking fabric & securing it with fabric pegs

Mel's Mix: 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost (left to right)

Mel's mix - mixed; wood chips cover the ground

A raised bed - filled with Mel's Mix

A complete box - with lath boards to divide the bed into square feet (for easy plant/seed calculations)

Completed Box #1 with trellis (made from conduit pipes and nylon trellis netting)

Completed Box #2

Completed Box #3 with trellis

The big picture

Lupin (left) & Dahlia (right) for the flower beds along the perimeter

So, what have I planted so far?

Box 1

• Green Bean - Blue Lake Bush Bean (7)
• Cucumber - Diva (2)
• Cucumber - Burpless Supreme (2)
• Lettuce - Head (3)
• Marigold (6)

Box 2

• Tomato - Sweet 100s (2)
• Tomato - Jet Star (1)
• Tomato - Early Girl (1)
• Sweet Basil (2)
• Marigold (6)

Box 3

• Squash - ? (4)
• Melon - Organic Hale's Best (1)
  
• Pumpkin - Howden (1)
  
• Pepper - Red Beauty (1)
• Pepper - Mandarin Hybrid (1)
• Marigold (6)

Containers

• Mint - Spearmint (1)
• Lemon Balm (1)

Still to plant (from seed):

• Green Bean - Roma II
• Cabbage - Earliana
• Cabbage - Red Acre
• Spinach - Salad Fresh Hybrid
  
• Lettuce - Salad Bowl
• Lettuce - Parris Island (Romaine)
  
• Pea - Sugar Snap
• Radish - Crimson Giant
• Carrot - Short 'n Sweet

The Worst Thing About Gardening

The rain stopped long enough for me to enter my garden for the first time tonight!! A busy week kept me away from my first and worst task...weeding! I was able to take inventory of what had been left by the previous gardener. There wasn't much aside from some random pieces of wood, some trash, an old rake and a broken hose. I also tried to get a more accurate measurement so I could finalize my garden plan. However, there were still too many weeds in the way - but my current estimate is 31' x 12' - a very good size! If forgot to bring a compass so I could figure out the directionals, which I need to plan my layout. Taller crops should be on the northern side of a garden so they don't shade the rest of the crops. Fortunately, the map on www.fenwayvictorygardens.com fortunately had the compass rose.

I weeded for about an hour and a half - until it got dark - getting through about two thirds of the garden. Luckily most of the weeds came up easily but they seemed to never end! The gardens were pretty quiet but I had a single chickadee kept me company.

Post weeding...with still more to do!

All the weeds I pulled from my garden - three wheelbarrows full!

Next on my to-do list:

1. Finish weeding (of course)
2. Complete garden plan
   
3. Cover entire garden with a weed blocking fabric
4. Build and assemble raised beds
5. Create "Mel's Mix" (mix of compost, peat moss & vermiculite)
6. Buy plants & seeds
7. PLANT
8. Fence repairs