We've got a garden on our hands! ;)

It's officially a garden, folks!  (Well, its probably already obvious to everyone else, but we are finally realizing the scale of our garden vision and are just so excited to see that the garden is really coming to life!).  We have pretty much all of our plants in the ground and the different garden areas are coming along nicely.  Great news: one of our community garden contributors has contacted the Hershey Nursery and they are graciously donating (and delivering!) 30 bags of cocoa mulch to help make our garden more beautiful and significantly cut down on our weeding time.  We've also been "recycling" grass clippings and cardboard (from our own homes and neighborhoods) and have already been getting those into the garden to meet our mulching needs.

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to:

 

One of our great Girl Scout volunteers

Peas

Rosemary

 Discussing placement of the birdsnest

A little rest in the shade

 
Final plantings in the children's fairy garden

The sunny summer weather on Saturday was lovely for a day at the beach or by the pool but was a bit brutal for gardening, so we're going to plan to meet a little later for the next few weeks to avoid some of the peak sun time (3-5pm on Saturdays).  At some point we might also switch to a morning schedule to be able to enjoy the garden work when it's a little cooler.  More on that later…

Next up will be our official community garden "Grand Opening".  We'd like to have our next potluck at the garden (Saturday, June 26th) so we hope you join us there!

Have a great week!
~Marykaye

Why mulch?

Hello everyone.  Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!  We had so much fun in the garden on Saturday and wanted to share some of our experiences. To this point, mulching has taken a back seat to tasks like preparing the soil, composting and planting but as we travel further into our gardening adventure we are quickly realizing how important it could be. While we are discovering the many benefits of weeding (a time for great conversation and an undeniable "zen-like" experience just being in the moment), we are realizing that a little careful planning can probably save quite a bit of work on the gardening front.  (We also found out that a place in the shade to retreat from the sun for a cool drink comes in handy in a garden!). ;)

Until now, we've mostly used straw to mulch around all of the plants we've put in the ground and that seems to be working beautifully. However, we are finding that the remaining unplanted spaces and the garden paths are quickly seeding and sprouting on their own.  (I've read that you can easily see growth of 2-3 inches per week from happy weeds and we've got 'em!).  As a result, our garden think-tank is turning it's efforts to finding the best options for mulch.  Cocoa mulch would be wonderful (fragrant, attractive and local!) but pine needles, wood chips or garden netting might be more cost-saving options. We'll let you know what works best for us as we experiment!

Here are some pictures from last weekend:

We love to read your comments so if you have anything you'd like to share (including your experience with great mulch materials) please leave a comment at the link below.  Have a great week!

~Marykaye

Eat More Dirt

Hope you don't mind the post title, but that is the name of a great new book on organic gardening that I'm reading right now.  "Eat More Dirt: Diverting and Instructive Tips for Tending an Organic Garden" is an entertaining resource with great tips and you sure can't beat the title! :)

This past week we were thrilled to have the garden filled with volunteers and they made short work of a field full of weeds.  (The composted area had lay unplanted as we worked on other areas of the garden but quickly seeded itself with life, as good soil will).  We later learned that the particular weed, "lamb's quarters" are actually a nutritious foraged edible that you can purchase by the pound at some health food stores!  (We'll be sure to collect some to try next time we weed!). 

Thanks again to the folks at www.digmyearth.com for the donations of free or discounted compost and the wonderful ladies from the YWCA and our two local girl scout troups.  We appreciate you all so much! Our loaner truck is filled to the brim and ready to be used today when we head out to the garden to plant peas and work on some weeding with our volunteers.

Here are some pictures from last week:

Worms love good dirt

Our wonderful volunteers

Before the weeding (we could have called it harvesting, really) ;)


The field, after everyone's hard work, ready to plant!

Community

Exciting news!  We'll be partnering with two local Girl Scout troups and the YWCA, who will be helping out in the garden next Saturday (5/15).  We have so many things we'd like to share in the garden and this will be a wonderful opportunity to start reaching out to the wider Harrisburg community.  We've seen that composting has continued to be one of the most important things we've been spending time and energy on, so we'll continue weeding, adding more compost and getting plants in the ground this weekend with our helpers.  Thanks go out to the folks at www.digmyearth.com for discounted compost for the garden!   We are also in need of some more plants including broccoli, cauliflower, kale, fennel and herbs, so any donations are welcome.

Projected 40 mile an hour winds kept us out of the garden on Saturday, so we used the time to come together to do some more garden planning.  Children's garden coordinator Karen Hunsburger shared a lovely description of the vision/mission for our garden, which you can now check out by clicking on the Mission tab near the top of the blog under the picture header.   It's a wonderful reminder of the purpose of the garden, which we hope will serve as a great opportunity to help improve the lives of children and their families in our area.  That's a gift to all of us!

Here are some pictures from this week:

Progress on the flower pattern (1/3 of the garden)

We're planning to mulch the paths with cocoa beans or other materials

We're still waiting for the green in our garden, 

so here are some pictures of some of the lovely plants 

and plant life seen during our planning meeting to add some color. ;)

Have a great week!

~Marykaye

Progress

We've had some fun times in the garden!  Many more days of bringing out compost and other supplies and finally some planting.  Greens, beets, radishes and peas have been direct sown as we continue to raise some seeds inside (tomatoes are already a few inches high!).  Thanks to garden members for donations of supplies (hoses, buckets and storage containers) and to Joy of www.tshirtsforpeace.org for helping us to lay out the garden and ground our intentions for an abundant season.  We've had some lovely friends helping (big and small) and look forward to posting a listing of upcoming classes/activities.  Hope you all had a wonderful Earth Day!



~Marykaye

Regular weekly gardening schedule: Saturdays from 1-3pm (raindate Thursday's at 6pm)

Hey everyone.  Great news!  We now have regular hours for when we will be working in the garden in April and May and would like to invite all of you to join us at any time that you can. Here is some important information:

Saturdays from 1pm - 3pm will be our regular gardening time
If it is raining on Saturdays, our rain date each week will be the following Thursday from 6pm to dusk
Tools are needed, so if possible, please bring a shovel and a garden rake
Make sure you bring drinking water for your personal benefit & prepare for sunshine!
Dogs are not allowed on the Garden Plots
Children are welcome, but must be supervised by an adult at all times
• Karen's cell phone is 717-574-2654 and Marykaye's cell phone is 717-829-6115 in case you get lost or need to call for any reason

We pulled the information below off of the Dauphin County Community Garden Website to help you locate the garden and hope to see all of you very soon! If you have any questions, or need more information on becoming a participating member of the project, please let us know.


Dauphin County Community Garden
Begun in 1977 on eight acres leased from the State, this site allows folks to grow vegetables and flowers on their own, annually rented, plot of ground. Registration for these plots is competitive with most snapped up in March. There are 318 plots and one hand pump.

Location: GPS - Longitude 76.863874, Latitude 40.293420
[1100-1299] Elmerton Ave, Harrisburg, PA 17110, Garden Plots #23, 25, 27, and 29
Just a reminder, the gardens are located on the corner of Elmerton Avenue and State Farm Road near the Harrisburg city line. From Cameron Street take Elmerton Avenue east. Turn right on State Farm Road.

Some pictures from Saturday

Heading out to the garden

Tilling in the compost

Laying out plot lines

Investigating the soil

Worm friends

Soil looked so much healthier after compost

A good day's work!