Community Gardening in the time of Covid 19- part 2

 

Nov. 3, 2020

This is an update to the previous post written last spring during Shelter in Place. 

Initially, none of us could have imagined this situation would last as long as it has. In the spring we thought it might only be for several weeks. As noted in the previous post, the garden was in maintenance mode for a time, but in May we reopened under phase 1 guidelines which allowed up to ten persons to gather in an outdoor space while maintaining social distance. Basically that continued all summer until the fall, as we never really opened to the public. About fifteen gardeners have contributed in some way to the effort, with a core group of eight or so who have been most active. This was about half as many gardeners as we had in 2019.

In spite of everything that happened we have managed to continue through the year and had some good crop yields which allowed us to continue donating produce to the food pantry almost every week. And it has been on a week-by-week basis, of just staying focused and doing what needed to be done at the garden.  The garden is large enough that it is easy to work while maintaining social distance. 

We have the reward of being outdoors in a pleasant environment and also the satisfaction of doing something productive to help others by donating many pounds of fresh produce. For that opportunity we are grateful. All of us miss being able to move about freely and spend time with friends and family, and activities that we were involved in and perhaps took for granted prior to covid 19. Working together in the garden also provides the benefits of some social interaction with others in person that we otherwise might not have.

Community Gardens: Nourishing the Body and Soul

 

COMMUNITY GARDENS:  

 Nourishing the Body and the Soul 

Thursday, December 3, 2020 

7:00PM - 8:30PM 

Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88667421907  

Learn WHY Community Gardens are important and HOW to manage them. 

Mary Ellen McGuire, pastoral associate at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel  Hill, will discuss why community gardens are an important part of creation care. 

Managers of three local gardens will talk about how to manage and maintain  community gardens. 

 

• Paul & Pat Kelly, Franciscan Community Garden in Raleigh 

• Bob Weickert, San Isidro Labrador Garden in Chapel Hill 

• Deborah Gorman, Koinonia Garden in Chatham County 

Matt Jones of the NC Cooperative Extension Service will explain the services and  resources available through this agency. 

This event is co-sponsored by Orange-Chatham Interfaith Care for Creation  and Interfaith Creation Care of the Triangle.

Back to the Garden

Officially we're back to the garden, now that North Carolina is in Phase 2 of Coronavirus Response. We are open with social distancing, masks, and bring your own gloves and water.

Fortunately, we've been able to keep up with some maintenance and planting in the garden so that we weren't totally overrun by weeds. The Shelter in Place time allowed more than enough time to start seeds at home for transplanting into the garden. What started as some broccoli and tomato seedlings kept multiplying by twelves into the hundreds, and also allowed the advantage of staying safe, getting plants without having to go out and shop. 

So here we are. Saturday we harvested broccoli and turnips to share with CORA, and planted sweet potato slips. 

The garden is large enough to allow for plenty of space for working without being too close to other gardeners. All in all, there is much to be grateful for.

Community Gardening in the Time of COVID-19

Like everything else this spring of 2020, our garden plan has been upended. Fortunately we began planning this year's garden during the winter. In January we placed some orders for seeds and supplies, including 90 peat pots, thinking we might start more of our own plants this year.
We planned to add more perennials this year, and we ordered and planted early. We added more blueberries and a fig tree in February. In March we planted asparagus, potatoes and peas, which all went in before more stringent stay at home orders took effect. We are thankful for that.
Tomato and broccoli plants were started in March.
Now more and more seeds are being planted, and soon all available window and porch space will be filled with plants, which is a great activity to fill the long hours of stay at home time.

Coronavirus Advisory

Presently there is a Coronavirus Emergency in effect in the State of North Carolina.
In view of that, as a precautionary measure, we will not be having our regular garden work times on Saturday March 14 or March 21. This is to promote the health and well being of our garden members, volunteers and our community.
We will update when it is safe to resume regular open hours at the garden.
Be well.

Sweet Potato Time

This year's sweet potato harvest was a smashing success. Sweet potatoes are one plant that seem to thrive in hot weather, so they were not phased by the intense heat this summer.  Nevertheless, we weren't sure how the flash drought that came in September would affect them. We watered them as much as we could, and then when a cooler day came we tried a few hills with a fork to see if they were ready.  

We are very pleased and thankful for the results of our effort.

Changing Seasons

In gardening, one always has to keep a wary eye on the weather. 
We started our spring planting season in February with onions, snap peas, mustard greens and turnips.
The spring came slowly as much of February was rainy with below normal temperatures after the first week, which had seemed promising. So our spring crops took hold slowly and some weeks showed little progress. Onion plants grew slowly, and onion seed failed to germinate until nearly the end of March.  On the weekend of March 15, we planted our blueberries, as noted in the last post.
The blueberries remained dormant for the first few weeks as the soil temperature was still cold. That didn't matter, as winter conditions are recommended for planting them. They seemed to benefit from this slow start and gradually warming soil during April.  We did not lose a single one of our plants; all of them took hold.
We having our soil tested, we followed recommendations for amendments for the blueberries and other areas of the garden.

Sweet peppers planted among green onion and beets

What's new for us this year is a change of style from solid monoculture of plants per bed to interplanting of different crops within a bed. Along the same lines we're doing more succession planting. Instead of planting all of a type of plant at once, say for example cucumbers and beans, we are doing additional successive plantings at a later date. We'll have to see how this works out.
So far this has had mixed success.  Some times rain prevented us from getting back to plant when we wanted, so our second planting of peas went in late and they were affected by hot weather in May, which diminished their yield.  We had put row cover on the broccoli to protect from cabbage moth, but the sudden very warm temperatures caused them to mature rapidly under the covers and bolt.
In the bed pictured above, green onions were planted by seed in March, beets were planted in April, and peppers in May. As onions and beets are harvested, more space is created for growing sweet pepper plants.
There is always something new to learn in the garden.