by Amy Swanson
Volunteers from Church of our Redeemer, Hancock and Lexington Methodist
Weather: Sunny in the mid-40s but with the wind, it was definitely multiple- layers-and-hat kind of weather
Last week was all about getting the winter detritus out of the garden and doing other sorts of prep work, like mending fences and cleaning tools. The focus of this Saturday’s work was to spread a first layer of composted manure on the garden. And that we did! This week Great Brook Farm in Carlisle dumped a truck full of composted manure in front of Carla’s barn. That’s 12 ½ yards in case you are interested. The crew split up into shovelers, wheelbarrow pushers and spreaders. I think this is the first time that we got the whole job done in one session! That’s due to the great crew of volunteers that dug in and got it all done.
The pile of composted manure moved from outside the garden to inside the garden. Actually it was probably best that the weather was cool because everyone was working hard enough to break a big sweat!
You can see the sharp contrast between where the composted manure has been spread and where it has not. There’s a reason Carla calls this her black garden gold.
The other job was to continue planting more of the cool-weather crops…a job that started on Tuesday. Those afternoon volunteers planted some lettuce, beets, radishes and spinach in the small garden and parsley by the compost bins. On Saturday one of our volunteers, Anne, planted 3 rows worth of peas in the main garden. We kidded her about how straight her rows were, because with the Interfaith Garden being on the Lexington Garden Tour in June, they better be perfect.
The peas got planted along the fence closest to First Parish. Every year the location of the peas changes so the nitrogen they add back to the soil can benefit yet another part of the garden. We planted squash in this location last year.
Almost every time I work at the garden there is something new that I learn. This time it was about pea tendrils. Did you know that tendrils are the early pea shoots that reach out, typically attaching the plant to nearby supports? What more they can be harvested to eat (a great addition to salad I am told) without interfering with the rest of the pea plant growing or maturing process.
This family used trowels to gently add compost to the strawberry bed. These early-growing plants are noticeably bigger than last week when we first cleaned out the winter cover protecting them.