How the garden grows

It's been far too long since we updated the blog, but that's because we've been busy in the garden.

Since the last post we've finished building the beds, filled in dirt, planted, and have been harvesting beautiful salad greens.

Peas, Squash, Tomatoes, Potatoes, herbs, poppies, calendula and nasturtiums are all in bloom. We have wonderful tomatoes, peppers, peas and beans all forming on the plants and now that we have finally gotten a couple of weeks of warmth, things are really taking off.

If you get the chance to stop by and check things out, I think you'll be amazed.

Since planting, we've gotten several loads of mulch donated, and Seattle University donated 5 yards of course compost/mulch which we have used as a deep mulch in all the raised beds to help retain water.

I'll try to get more current pictures up soon, but if you want to see it, you should come on down.

Materials and Breaking Ground

If you have been by the field lately, you may have noticed the outline of string in the corner of the lot. This is the area where we will be building the raised beds. Additionally, we gained some more free lumber, an amount that will allow us to completely build out all of the planned beds. Not only is this wood in great condition, but the board lengths are all either 8ft, 6ft, or 5ft lengths--the exact lengths called for in our design of the beds! This means only minimal cutting to trim the ends of some of the boards where needed (they aren't all exact lengths). Combined with the bricks which will form the curved outer accent wall of the beds, we will now be able to begin bed construction as soon as we have the ground ready (which might happen later this week).

Also, we will be placing a large sign in the field in the next day or so. It will have a bit of basic information for neighbors to read, and a bulletin board for people to leave notes.

Stay tuned for more updates.

*Update: we found a place with inexpensive rentals on a sod cutter who will also give us a 20% discount. I'll be cutting the sod on Wednesday during the day if anyone is available and wants to help. After this we'll be prepping the ground under the beds and then, with any luck, building garden beds by the weekend.