I think spring has sprung!

Just over a week ago, I signed up for one of the last available plots at the Ferndale Friendship Community Gardens. Our plot is about 7'x15'. When I got it, it looked like this:

All that grass is used as a winter cover crop, to help reduce soil erosion, and fertilize the soil. The gardens are organic, so no chemical fertilizers allowed. So the first thing I had to do was chop all that grass up and turn it under. I will admit to pulling a lot of it out, as it had all been turned under once already about 3 weeks earlier and had grown back. Once that was done, we put a couple inches of compost on top. The Girl (aka M) was a big help, as she enjoyed using the big shovel and the wheelbarrow to fetch, which was a good thing, as my back was killing me from turning the while garden over the day before.

The next day (Saturday), we planted our first seeds...a couple kinds of lettuce, radishes, carrots, kale, and onions in the garden bed, and in cell pots in the green house we planted summer squash, bush beans, sugar snap peas, and Brussels sprouts. And yesterday, we had sprouts! Lettuce, kale and radishes in the plot, and bean, pea, and brussels sprouts in the green house!

Then today, we went to Van Wingerden nursery to get free starts. The nursery was giving away starts in the understanding that we would share our harvest with the Ferndale Food Bank. We got 12 free starts! We got 5 more lettuces, 3 cherry tomatoes, a green pepper, and 3 red cabbages. I also bought 2 everbearing strawberry plants (since that is the first thing M stated she wanted to plant if we got a garden). Isn't it pretty?

Hopefully, my brown thumb is solely due to lack of experience and skill, as opposed to truly being unable to garden. There are several people at the community garden I can ask for help, which I fully intend to do! Wish me luck in growing a bountiful harvest...which we will share with the food bank, neighbors, friends...