Garden

Hello,

There are advantages and disadvantages to the gardens that we now participate in. I find the distance a bit of a drawback for each of them. One is only about four blocks, but that means hauling any equipment that I or Leroy might want to use there. But it is closer than twelve miles away. Because of that longer distance I generally only go there on the days I work or we might ride our bikes there on a Saturday. Consequently in this now dry summer it is difficult to water. I feel antsy when I do it at eight o’clock at night because I am ready to dash in, do some small care things, and go home. Watering takes a while. If it were in my back yard I could water while doing other things with my time.

Another disadvantage is that I do not give either garden the care that I might if it were in my yard. Leroy does go to the community each Monday night while I work. I envy him that time because he gets to spend time with neighbors and usually gets quite a lot done. Being tired after work is not conducive to staying and tending. Now it is quite dusky at eight so I am not able to see as well as I did in the past. I liked the mulberries, but I am grateful that their time is past. We still have some in the freezer so we can enjoy them for some time to come.

Another disadvantage is that no Swiss chard will be available for us to eat as the fall winds down. No way to protect it until the frost comes anyway. I will miss that. For some reason it did not sprout.

A big advantage to both gardens is that there is a lot of space, certainly many times the space that we used by the house. In the community garden they hauled in compost and the soil is great. At my other garden there has also been some composting so the results are good. Also neither place seems to have any large pests at the moment, just smaller squash bugs. Last night I picked a zucchini that was covered with bugs. I had forgotten my gloves and it almost grossed me out to swipe off bugs and to touch it. I figured Leroy would bring home zucchini from the community garden consequently I was quite happy to share it with our “garden landlord”. There was also one cucumber to share. He shared some jars with me, but I am beginning to wonder if I will find enough produce to put in them.

Paula