After a rough start we finally have our first gardens organized by River City Harvest up and growing. The spring weather was less than cooperative with heavy snows in the most inopportune times, and when we tried to work the ground with a tractor and tiller it was completely ineffective. Same with a rented tractor and duck foot plow. Eventually Wade from the Cascade County Extension office rallied a friend, and was able to plow it with a 100 HP tractor and chisel plow. That did the trick! Grant tilled it twice last weekend with a tractor and tiller. We had a proper garden!
Since things didn't go very smoothly all spring, I decided I better measure and stake the plots before everyone was there. The standard plots were supposed to be 20 x 30 - of course that didn't hold true. On the south side they were 20 x 34 or so with one plot being only 12-ft wide instead of twenty. On the north section, I had to restake several times trying to squeeze in 10 plots. One plot was the standard 20-ft, while the others varied from 15 to 17-ft wide depending on how long that particular section was since it too ranged from 32 to 40-ft. I managed 9 full plots and one half plot in that half, which seemed okay to me since I was dealing with a migraine from the previous day and 80+ degree heat. My mind wasn't the sharpest to be calculating anything! It turns out I created one extra, albeit short, plot - we were only planning on fourteen plots, not fifteen! Oh well, we'll use it for the food banks if no one comes forward to rent it.
We're also able to provide a plot for the Park Place residents, many of whom are retired farmers or lifelong gardeners. The director came out to chat, and it sounds like the folks are excited to have an opportunity to work the soil again. I'm happy because I know how I would feel if I didn't have a garden, plus I can only imagine the wealth of knowledge behind those walls!
When I arrived, I had to off load the rototiller. Grant showed me how to start it and back it down two skinny boards, but that looked downright dangerous. I simply turned te machine around in the back of the truck, wedged the boards into the ground, and wheeled that bad boy off the tailgate. It rolled smoothly with no problems. (Later, a friend of Deb's in Park Place said they were watching me wrestle it off.)
The first few folks that showed up helped me finish measuring and marking the plots, then when Deb directed each to their garden, they did a great job of clearing the rocks and clumps from the plots. It was wonderful to see everyone enthusiastically working. A few ladies even planted peppers, squash and tomatoes. Others seeded different crops. Our greatest challenges are going to be the wind and sharing water, but I think it's going to go just fine.
