Community Garden: Come on rain; best year is coming up

Where is the rain? The snow helped a little over the winter but it was really dry, for the most part, and had no appreciable moisture content. It did help break down all the leaf and bark mulch that was added to the garden. The last of the leaf mulch has been delivered and it will do everything we need to do very nicely.

The soil in the garden is really getting nice. The first and second year there was just a little too much compost that was not completely ready to be used in the garden and the fact that we may have been a little excited and put too much in the raised beds didn’t help. This year should be the best ever. It seems that people want the garden to have squash and zucchini again so we will.

Onion bulbs first because they can withstand the cold weather to come and then squash and zucchini seeds when the soil gets warm is what is going in the production garden on the east end. The tomatoes will be placed along the wall again and I hope to get lots of Roma tomatoes. They seem to do better and we can get them off the vines before the critters get after them and they produce abundantly. Our next hopes are to possibly put jalapeno, banana, and poblano peppers in front of the tomatoes. This will utilize the garden bed very well and hopefully help keep the critters away. The entire west end, north of the brick pathway will be tilled and when it is warm enough we will plant watermelon and cantaloupe seeds.

We will spread whatever mulch is left over in that area to help with weeds and grass that will be trying to grow and at the same time hold in moisture and stabilize the soil temperature for the melons. We may be getting some old tractor tires that will be used for strawberry beds and we may be able to build some more ADA beds that are two feet tall. We will be trying to make sure we have a couple of benches for people to sit on when they are at the garden. Being able to sit and rest and visit with other gardeners is about the most exciting thing happening at the garden. We may install a few extra poles for those that are truly energetic.

The west end is still watered by hose and sprinkler so donated time to water will be greatly appreciated. Tree mulch was placed around the apple trees last Sunday so that will help the ground around those young trees. Do trees think? Is that like cannibalism? I mean placing cut up trees around growing trees? Do they ever get mad at us for doing that? I know you don’t have anything else to think about so do a little research and let us know what you find out. I can’t wait to see how this turns out.