I am late to start posting my progress on the garden so here is a little background on the first few monumental steps.
4/1: we planted seeds watered them and checked on them daily. we used cardboard egg cartons. the seedlings thrives and grew everyday. we are hoping to be able to plant the cardboard with the seedling to decompose. We planted pumpkin, watermelon, cucumber, zucchini, pole beans, snap peas, peas, basil, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, sunflowers, and moon flowers
4/6: an area on the farm was chosen for the test plot. we began clearing grass shrubs and vines. we were excited to find an intact opossum skeleton under some vines and shrubs.
4/8: the seeds have begun to sprout and we are so excited to see them grow each day
4/9: we began digging up the grass with shovels. My goal is to do the double digging/raised bed/french intensive method. this has become slow difficult work but have pushed on. as I dug further along the bed I kept finding rocks. I was not aware of the strangeness of finding these rocks until I dug out a brick and oyster shells. The rocks were all similar size and compacted in one area.I came to the conculsion that this area must have been the remnants of a road or drive for the farm. to save my back and make the best use of my time I avoided the area where the rocks were.
4/10: most of the grass is pulled up but digging the soil is still proving to be difficult
4/19: frustrated at the lack of progress I borrowed a friends rototiller to loosen the dirt up more. I was hoping to amending the soil with compost and manure. The rototiller made it obvious that aI had been denying myself that this soil was all clay. this meant the we would need to add sand along with compost. I was determined to grow something this year! the seedlings were quickly outgrowing their pots. I transplanted the seedlings into larger pots with 50% of the clay garden soil and 50% of my kitchen compost.
4/25: I explained the situation to Barbara, the president. She showed me potential areas that the test plot could be “relocated” to. At this point these areas were well over grown with invasive vines and trees. a bulldozer is scheduled to clear the area this weekend.
4/26: Daisy group 2027 came to the farm to learn the history and work at the garden. They were very energetic and highly interested in the farm. we split them into groups of 7. while one group picked up sticks others helped me add compost to the clay garden. we talked about worms and composting at home. we mixed the compost into the clay soil and planted butterfly garden flower seeds. I plan to put a sign up to recognize their work and put mulch to keep weeds at bay. I also have a bench I would like to bring out for people to sit and enjoy the area.
5/1: the farm and garden area look amazing!! the bull dozer came and cleared all the invasives down to the soil. I am exited to dig a new bed and amend it for healthy plant growth. there are many roots that will need to be delt with. As luck would have ti I met a fence company that was taking down a 6 foot privacy fence. they donated the old fence. I plan to put it up around the cleared area to keep animals and malicious people out. The plants are thriving in their pots but quickly loosing sun in my yard as the leaves fill in.
