Preserving

Saturday, March 17, 2012

New Community Garden Site Plots are Marked Off!!

I have to say that Dora is doing a great job pushing to get the new Community Garden site ready to go! She has been spending 5 days a week + getting things going. Even though she is a part time employee for the county. Thanks so much Dora for all the time you have been spending getting the new site ready!!!

Around dinner time yesterday, I decided to take a ride over to the new site to see what progress has been made this week. To my surprise, all of the plots are marked off! Yippee!!! This was finished late yesterday afternoon, about a week ahead of schedule!

All of the plots are marked off with these temporary orange markers. Starting Monday they will be replaced with permanent stakes. Since most of the stakes put at the old site are missing, Dora asked me if I had any short T Posts available. Last Sunday I spent 4 hours at the old site and removed almost all of the stakes and fencing that I am planning to keep. This afternoon and tomorrow I will go to the old site and remove all of the other T Posts that I won't be using and give them to Dora. This will help speed things along. I don't think this will take too much time. Then I am planning to go to the new site and start picking rocks and raking it out a bit. I  may have a load of mixed soil & compost delivered to my new plots to put on top of the existing soil. This is how I started my beds here at the house. The soil here was all clay. So, I framed out beds, put down a heavy layer of paper and put the new soil on top. I have a great source for some really good clean organic mix that I can get delivered. I think it may be money well spent.

The county has started to deliver some compost to the new site. They are supposed to dump it around the perimeter for the gardeners to use to amend their soil. I'm not sure where this comes from and how good it is.

They dumped some big piles down at his end. This area is not going to be made into plots. When they tilled it. They found that soil wasn't good and there was concrete and other stuff that had been dumped there years ago. I guess that this compost will have to be hauled by wheel barrow to usable plots.

Wish me luck.....it's going to be a lot of work!!

24 comments:

  1. Best of luck and keep us updated on the progress. Your posts are always interesting.

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    1. Thanks, I'm sure there will be a lot of updates and whining!!!

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  2. Progress at least then - you'll be able to make a start which is good news.

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    1. Sue, I am so glad that Dora is now in charge. A gardener knows what needs to be done and when!

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  3. Oh, my...you have quite a job ahead of you, girl! I don't envy you. Well, I envy you your plot, but not the work involved ;-)

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    1. Granny I'm sure there will complaining and aching muscles involved! Sophia was over this morning. As I was taking out her 100+ extensions she asked me, what I needed help with in the garden. I told her there was going to be plenty of work for her!

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  4. WOW!! I'm looking forward to following your progress. After all you did last year, I KNOW you have it in you to make a beautiful garden this season.

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    1. Thanks Lynda, It's going to be a lot of work!

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  5. So much work, two years in a row... You are an inspiration! I look forward to seeing your progress. I am oogling over how nice and flat your new plots are. (I live at the top of a mountain and don't have any level ground to speak of.) Thankfully, plants grow nearly everywhere. What a blessing, too, is this weather that we are having. (I'm in NW VA.) If there was snow or the ground was still frozen, I don't think your plots would be plowed or staked! :) Best wishes for a bountiful growing season!
    Lisa P

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    1. Thanks Lisa, We have been lucky with the weather. They were supposed to do this last fall. Oh well, at least things are moving along and I can get some work done!

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  6. glad to hear that there is some progress going on!

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    1. Me too! I'm really excited to get started!

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  7. Wow, after all that work last spring, it looks like you're back at it. Enjoy the gardening!

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    1. Don't remind me. I was really looking forward to not having to do heavy work this year. Oh well, another garden adventure is beginning!

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  8. It's good that they are running ahead of schedule. Hopefully that will make it easier for everyone to get in and get things growing!

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    1. I was surprised that they got the plots marked off this week. I guess it takes a real gardener to get things done!

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  9. Lot's of work ahead... but just think of all the calories you'll be burning! ;-p

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    1. I really hope that this work will get rid of my winter fat and maybe a little extra!!

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  10. So much work to do, but now you can get started. The soil looks very good from the pictures. Adding quality soil and compost on top can only improve it. I am looking forward to the updates. -Rachel

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    1. The soil is better then we expected it to be. Hopefully I can get it in decent shape this year.

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  11. That's awesome!! Our county has free compost, too but it's made from whatever is dumped at the county recycling center. Hopefully, it was heated enough to kill whatever was in it. :o) I'd love to grow more veggies. Right now I'm starting ground cherry seeds on my counter. So far, so good! Thanks for visiting my blog.

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    1. I'm really going to have to check out that compost before I use any of it. Last year it was clean. We shall see how desperate I get! Love your blog!

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  12. I'm so glad things are starting to happen!

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