It felt like Spring yesterday!
Ooh, my legs and lower back ache and Jana's still asleep, but I feel pretty good. I'm also wearing my new Earth shooes all morning to help. We were going to go out yesterday morning to Princeton and hang out with Michael while he works and visit family, but Michael caught a bug from someone at the site and well, I'm tired of getting sick. So we stayed.
We had a really nice day yesterday, absolutely sunny! Mid-40s, but very sunny. Jana was able to get back into Gymkhana with more of her classmates from school in this session. Jana was actually looking forward to classes and on the way to Gymkhana, I was able to see that the Community Garden gates were open for today! And that's where we went after lunch. When I asked Jana if it was okay to spend time at the big garden, she replied, "The messy garden, mom? Ok, let's go to the messy garden."
When I parked, I opened the sunroof, unbuckled her and opened a door. I let her free to rummage through snacks, pretend to drive (she loves this) and go in and out of the car. I wasn't prepared with a camera though when she stood on the center console to stick her head out of the sunroof. Funny.
I got to find out just how busy it'll be to have a plot at that specific location, as people arrived, I took the time to greet each person. So although we were there for 3 hours, I probably only did about 1.5-2 hrs worth of work. Pulling out the hay was a lot easier than I thought, what killed me was coming across some scary stuff. Like old carpet remnants used as mulch.
I also found out the predecessor refused to put up a fence, she did build the boxes on one half and grew peppermint on the other half (ahem, I'm a real stickler to only growing mints in containers). I learned that deer frequented her garden. I got the picture that the work was too much for her that she wasn't coming back unless she had help from her adult daughter. I am putting a fence up, I already have the deer mesh net material and Michael is borrowing a post pounder from my brother.
Jana's very eager to start planting seeds and plants. Although she was happy to help do some clearing. But as soon as an area is clear, she wants to plant. Here are some progress photos.
I discovered that the plot I've been admiring belongs to the Garden Captain! He had a half wheelbarrow of composted mulch he offered to me. I quickly cleared out a 3x3 bed I know I'm not going to move, ripped apart a paper bag that Jana helped lay out over the bed then we dumped the stuff in there.
The plan before we start planting is:
1- keep cleaning the area
2- acquire wood for raised boxes
3- get all fencing material, then start building fence
4- build and install door
5- purchase/acquire a lockable deck box that can be used for seating and storage
6- purchase/acquire materials to fill the beds
End of March also means to make sure I seed start all of my peppers and hard to germinate herbs. I really like re-using restaurant to-go containers for this, they work really well!
Two seeds in every peat pellet and I'm breaking in my new heating mat. I also started more marigolds and Grub's Mystery Green tomato (I couldn't find the seeds last weekend, they were accidentally mixed in with my peppers apparently).
Peppers: CA Wonder, Paprika, Mini Sweet Orange, Tomato, Heart, Fruit Hybrid, Lemon Drop, Cubanelle, Congo Trinidad.
We had a really nice day yesterday, absolutely sunny! Mid-40s, but very sunny. Jana was able to get back into Gymkhana with more of her classmates from school in this session. Jana was actually looking forward to classes and on the way to Gymkhana, I was able to see that the Community Garden gates were open for today! And that's where we went after lunch. When I asked Jana if it was okay to spend time at the big garden, she replied, "The messy garden, mom? Ok, let's go to the messy garden."
When I parked, I opened the sunroof, unbuckled her and opened a door. I let her free to rummage through snacks, pretend to drive (she loves this) and go in and out of the car. I wasn't prepared with a camera though when she stood on the center console to stick her head out of the sunroof. Funny.
I got to find out just how busy it'll be to have a plot at that specific location, as people arrived, I took the time to greet each person. So although we were there for 3 hours, I probably only did about 1.5-2 hrs worth of work. Pulling out the hay was a lot easier than I thought, what killed me was coming across some scary stuff. Like old carpet remnants used as mulch.
I also found out the predecessor refused to put up a fence, she did build the boxes on one half and grew peppermint on the other half (ahem, I'm a real stickler to only growing mints in containers). I learned that deer frequented her garden. I got the picture that the work was too much for her that she wasn't coming back unless she had help from her adult daughter. I am putting a fence up, I already have the deer mesh net material and Michael is borrowing a post pounder from my brother.
Jana's very eager to start planting seeds and plants. Although she was happy to help do some clearing. But as soon as an area is clear, she wants to plant. Here are some progress photos.
I discovered that the plot I've been admiring belongs to the Garden Captain! He had a half wheelbarrow of composted mulch he offered to me. I quickly cleared out a 3x3 bed I know I'm not going to move, ripped apart a paper bag that Jana helped lay out over the bed then we dumped the stuff in there.
The plan before we start planting is:
1- keep cleaning the area
2- acquire wood for raised boxes
3- get all fencing material, then start building fence
4- build and install door
5- purchase/acquire a lockable deck box that can be used for seating and storage
6- purchase/acquire materials to fill the beds
End of March also means to make sure I seed start all of my peppers and hard to germinate herbs. I really like re-using restaurant to-go containers for this, they work really well!
Two seeds in every peat pellet and I'm breaking in my new heating mat. I also started more marigolds and Grub's Mystery Green tomato (I couldn't find the seeds last weekend, they were accidentally mixed in with my peppers apparently).
Peppers: CA Wonder, Paprika, Mini Sweet Orange, Tomato, Heart, Fruit Hybrid, Lemon Drop, Cubanelle, Congo Trinidad.