Lexington Interfaith Garden

Toad at home in the Interfaith Garden

Temple Emunah and Follen Church volunteers worked at the Interfaith garden last Tuesday. We planted carrots, dug furrows in the rich earth and planted potatoes, and removed a cover crop to prepare for more planting. The difference between fluffy dark organic rich soil Carla has curated for many decades and the rock strewn sandy soil in my own back yard was striking, but the reward was two toads that find the garden a great place to make their home.

Todd planting carrots

Hoping Spring finds it’s way to your backyard and you find your way to join us at the garden – Janet Lane

This week’s post comes from Janet Lane, liaison from Follen Church, UU

When I arrived at 8:30 am the cart of harvested produce was quickly being loaded to walk it over to the Lexington Food Pantry. Volunteers: Anya, Carla, Heather, Janet, Jennifer, Mark and Tom all got to work.

Jennifer and Carla working in the lettuce bed

Once the harvest cart left, we planted seeds and transplanted seedlings under Carla’s guidance. Carla continues to try new methods of gardening, new ways to rest the soil, and plant new varieties of food. I always learn something when I volunteer.

Tom planting seeds

Carla uses pipe tobacco over the carrot seedlings to deter insects…and keeps the winter cover crop “composting” under tarps to continue to feed the soil for new plantings.

See more photos from this week, this year and seasons past in our Photo Gallery!

Tuesday, Hancock and Temple Isaiah sent a few members to help Carla at the Garden. Remember that weird snow last week?  Carla got out enough ahead to cover the lettuce up against the cold and snow.  We saw firsthand that it did survive.  Got to love those cool weather crops…and Carla’s quick remediation!

A primary task Tuesday afternoon was to create paths.  You might wonder why they are important.   Yes, they are great for weed suppression.  But as long-time volunteers know actually are important signals to where it is OK to walk.   In the early days as seeds are planted you have to keep a sharp eye not to step on newly planted beds or young seedlings that might be mistaken as weeds.  In later days, when the Garden is fully planted and vegetables are flourishing and spreading their greenery, it is hard to find one’s way.  The paths are critical at that point.

Step 1:  Weed the path

Step 2:  Lay down thick layer (6 pages?)  of wet, absolutely sodden newspaper.  Carla set up buckets of water where we let the newspaper sections soak and get appropriately wet.

Step 3:  Cover with a blanket of straw

Step 4:  Water everything so they don’t blow away

BTW, there are plenty of path making opportunities ahead for the rest of you.  We just got a start on creating them.  The timing was terrific for our team–the weather cooperated.  As we finished, it started to rain.  And the forecast was for more rain the following day.  Keeping the straw and paper wet in the first days makes them far less likely to blow away later.

Check out photos from this week, this year and seasons past in our Photo Gallery!

Sunshine makes a big difference!  It might have been cool (currently 38 degrees as I write this) but with the sun, the volunteers seemed pretty comfortable.  Carla designed the garden with plenty of “cool crops” to plant that will be OK to germinate in these early days. Here she is checking on some lettuce plants that have been protected by a garden row hoop system.

Other activities today included planting a few different varieties of peas, hoeing and prepping for planting bok choy, and spreading compost.

Look at that rich compost in Dan’s wheelbarrow! This is one of Dan’s last opportunities to help at the Garden since he is moving out of the area. Thanks for all your help over the years!

More photos from today in the Gallery!

Saturday, March 27, 2021

The weather cooperated, and allowed Carla to meet a small crew of volunteers to start the necessary cleanup after the winter. The list of to-dos included compost bins getting emptied and spread, garden carts being repaired, asparagus beds getting cleaned out and overall general clean up.

We started Year 12 with lots of bare brown land, with the exception of the winter rye that was planted last Fall to add nutrients back into the soil in time for Spring 2021 planting. Just like the last 11 seasons, when volunteers arrive at the barn at the start of each shift, they can expect to meet Carla, ready with instructions.

To enjoy some more photos from this year and years past, head over to our Photo Gallery page.