Much has changed as we move into planting season 2018. The larger open planting areas are now either defined areas or raised beds. We have found that doing our planting this way avoids “over planting”….people planting on top of an already planted area and it helps conserve water. This remains, nominally, a community garden…it is shared by the tenants here….should they choose to participate. We also have a squadron of varsity gardeners who come in once a week….Someday I’ll write a book about “community” gardening….
We’ve also installed an irrigation system on parts of our garden with some success. Many areas still need careful hand watering as the season grows warmer.
It’s March as I write this and we’ve just put in more lettuce…an all year crop here…sorry New Hampshire, it’s California. The radishes and arugula also freshly planted. The collard greens and chard have been wonderful all winter and will probably hang on thru early summer. The big planting here happens in April when we put in the summer vegetables…..all the usual suspects minus corn and melons as we just don’t get enough heat here for those.
The bees endure. We have one remaining hive which appears to be very healthy. This hive will get split in early April, giving us a new colony….we hope. In the meantime, much of our non edible planting is about nourishing the bee colonies here. In the past we have had up to 5 hives…but ants, mites and dampness have done damage.
