The community garden is rumbling along at its own steady pace. The past weekend was a bit frantic, trying to get the field prepped for tilling on Monday, but we squeaked through, pulling out the last of the winter “rock crop” just as Bob C. arrived with his tractor. Our amendments of choice this year were bone meal (phosphorus) and urea (nitrogen), since last year’s crops were disappointing in their hardiness. However, I am *very* happy not to be turning everything by hand this spring, which is what ended up happening last year. Yes, it was a low-carbon footprint/free exercise way of doing things, but it took two weekends and my glutes were scolding me for a month!
One advantage of pooling resources is pooling compost. Below is a shot of the mountain collected from various households as well as landscaping debris. We’re aiming for a “turn-less” system (which is what the 4′ pvc pipe is supposed to help with), but we had too much volume for a single vent to handle. The goal this year is to build a couple more boxes, and see if smaller piles won’t keep hotter and ultimately be handled by the pipe method.
And, as promised, baby plant pic spam!
Lastly, our garden guardian, the Toad Cairn. Last year I found a mummified toad amongst the tomatoes, and I asked if it would like to stay and help keep watch over our crops. I built him a little toad tomb in the northeast corner of the garden, from which he can survey his domain.
The Druid's Well 