by Janet Kern
Weather – cold and wet ; enough said. Nevertheless we had six volunteers from Temple Emunah and Church of Our Redeemer. Carla gave a tour of the gardens for the new volunteers, who were amazed that the garden had already yielded spinach, rhubarb and chard for the Food Pantry. Using an old broom handle, holes were made a few inches deep and apart for the planting of two rows of leeks. I believe Carla said that the only things left to be planted are peppers and tomatoes!
The weather was perfect for laying down (wet) newspaper between the rows of peas and covering with hay to keep the weeds down and provide clear walking paths. With more rain in the forecast, we knew that the hay would become nice and wet and be matted down.( Dry and sunny would mean that all the hay and newspaper would blow away with one gust of wind). We also planted more chard to fill in one of the rows where some seeds had not germinated.
There was some evidence of critters – a big rabbit hole near the strawberries, and Susan actually watched the large, (and presumably very happy and well-fed) field mouse in the compost heap for a few minutes.
Having used up most of the hay and since most of us were feeling a bit chilled, Carla let us go early at 5:40!