Community Garden

[imp]

I often talk about our community garden here and finally took some pictures today- along with my thumb and a couple fingers- and thought you might like o see where I am going to be gardening the most this year. It's a bit messy and I take rather awful pictures, so bear with me, please.

I spent about 2.5 hours there today and feel much better for it. Only transplanted 25 tomato plants before we got rained out, but got 7 beds turned over with Mark's help. The plots had lots of worms, too, some big ones and littles.

The first 2 are across the cement drive from my plots, just to kind of show the area a bit. the last shows my plot; the center 7 to the tight side the last 3 plots which still need to be turned over and rows made, and to the left there are 5 plots, with 3 motre to be turned and rows made. The chard and garlic are at the end of the denter row and overwintered wonderfully.

In the back ground is mostly park area and empty lots. We are right across the street from the Martin Luther king Center.

[Worth1]

Looks nice.

Worth

[imp]

And some more pictures- wouldn't want you to miss that close up of my thumb!

[Ricky Shaw]

This is good stuff imp, and I was checking out the leaves on your Paul Robeson's.

[greenthumbomaha]

Imp, where'd you find a garden with no weeds? I'm moving to Texas!!!

Nice healthy plants and you're super organized (note to self). That's some good looking friable soil you have. Is that typical of the area?

- Lisa

[Deborah]

I think it looks great! (And also like alot of hard work!)

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

Imp, where'd you find a garden with no weeds? I'm moving to Texas!!!

Nice healthy plants and you're super organized (note to self). That's some good looking friable soil you have. Is that typical of the area?

- Lisa

Texas is mostly rocks desert and cactus.

Worth

[imp]

Thank you all. I really like gardening there and yes, LOL, we get weeds. I pulled some out of that chard and the garlic today as well as planted and sorted a lot.

Organized???!! Wow, I always think I am winging it, but I sure will take that compliment!

A few days ago, when I moved all the tomato basket babies over there so everyone could get them some, I expected to see awful huge weeds , but there were hardly any. I stood there and cried, just really cried, because I knew the other gardeners or Mike, the manager, had weeded for me and were trying to be supportive. Sometimes a kindness like that just takes me by surprise. I thanked Mike later-he and his people who get assigned community service had weeded my beds. Mike just looked me and told me "we take care of our own." and put on his gardening shoes and took off to see the tomato babies!!

The dirt is pretty good, some clay is there, but we get all the free compost we want to use, so that helps a lot- along with free water. I had hired Mark today, he used to roll papers on Sundays for me, and he did a lot of the grunt work and helped lay out beds. I've worked in a lot of compost and a lot of cow manure to help it fluff a bit and to enrich it. There were a LOT of worms today, too.

I was a bit edgy being away from home so long, but it's 15 minutes if the lights are good and it was good for me to get in the dirt. I told MissS I think I am like that demigod that wrestled Hercules, who got stronger every time he touched the earth- I just feel better when I garden.

I'll need to check on it tomorrow as I didn't water the transplants in; it started to rain for real on us, so we fled the scene of the crime, plus it had rained last night some, and is supposed to rain again tonight.

Spring! You just never know.

[Deborah]

Dang git Imp, that "We take care of our own" made me choke up and it's all your fault! Tell Mike and the crew that they've got a fan here too!

[imp]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

This is good stuff imp, and I was checking out the leaves on your Paul Robeson's.

I checked the leaves on all those I started, too!! All are regular leaf, from MissS and I sent in a bunch of packs to the swap, courtesy of MissS. I am glad to see all the RL's.

And, Carolyn, the Omar's better be good, I put 2 in because you love them! <grin>

[AlittleSalt]

Imp, it looks wonderful. I had something completely different in my mind - more like what you see on PBS organic gardening shows. I'm glad I was wrong.

Those are big laundry baskets full of solo cups and tomatoes?

Worth, there's east Texas too...sandy loam, lots of lakes, too much humidity, mosquitoes the size of a small crop duster plane (Exaggeration), and pine trees.

[imp]

It got to me too, Deborah.

Yes, Salt, tomato babies in baskets in solo cups. I can fir 20 to 22 per basket and it sure made moving them about a lot easier, even here at home. Like when I had to cover them for the last frost danger.

Now you know why I was making jokes about the weird looking laundry drop off thing! Thank goodness, my front yard is not the easiest to see into too much.

[Cole_Robbie]

What do you have planned to support your plants?

[imp]

Greg is supposed to be making me some 8 ft x 4 foot trellis's out of boards and field fencing, and we will hang them on 8ft T posts.

Ditto for the pole beans to climb on.

I figure three T posts in 8 ft ( the beds are 8 x 8 will support the weight well enough.

If he does not follow through, he already has the T posts and wire by his gate and I will use the wire and T posts ( and say naughty things at Greg, oh, wait, I already do that...).

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by imp

Greg is supposed to be making me some 8 ft x 4 foot trellis's out of boards and field fencing, and we will hang them on 8ft T posts.

Ditto for the pole beans to climb on.

I figure three T posts in 8 ft ( the beds are 8 x 8 will support the weight well enough.

If he does not follow through, he already has the T posts and wire by his gate and I will use the wire and T posts ( and say naughty things at Greg, oh, wait, I already do that...).

Imp, you are a Texan.

I do try to stay away from Texan-isms. But I found myself doing this a few days ago.

Tomorrow, I'm going to be making our pole bean supports that I've been buying material for and painting the past two days. I wanted to ask the people at Home Depot why they don't have 12' landscape timbers? Don't they know this is Texas?