The Community Garden - Before and After

Last month, I posted my 2011 gardening plan including a design for a new community garden plot in Wellesley.

Here's what we started with:

After a few weekends of hauling debris, pounding fence posts, pouring concrete, and a bit of woodworking with Japanese handsaws, it's finished.

All of the improvements are now the property of the town of Wellesley, since the community garden is shared public space.

Here's what we did:

On April 30, we rented a U-Haul and moved 2000 pounds of rotting wood, metal scraps, plant debris, plastic, and paper from the community garden space to the Wellesley recycling center. We purchased 4x4 fence posts, T-posts, wire fencing, hardware cloth, and lumber for an arbor at Home Depot. We rototilled the space, dug post holes, and poured concrete. On May 1, we completed the wire fencing and built the arbor.

On May 7-8, we hauled soil and bark, created 5 raised beds, and planted our seeds/seedlings. We built a small bird house and added a thistle feeder. We added irrigation.

$500 and two weekends later, here's the result.

Trellis: Canadice and Himrod grapes

Long Fence: Mammoth Sunflowers

Rear Fence: Sweet peas (flowering) and morning glory

Bed #1 (near gate)
Early lettuce as green mulch
Cucumber (1 Midori)
Summer Squash (1 Kousa and 1 yellow)
Brussels Sprouts (6 center row)
Cabbage (3 purple and 3 savoy)
Romanesco Veronica Cauliflower
Broccoli (6)
Violet Cauliflower
Basil
Dill
Borage
Celery (1)
Nasturtium (1 corner)
Marigold Little Gem (3 corner)

Bed #2
Cutting flowers (calendula, zinnia, cosmos, bachelor buttons, nigella, salvia, stock, aster, snapdragon, gomphrena)
Nasturtium (1 corner)
Marigold Little Gem (3 corners)

Bed #3
Asparagus (20 Jersey Supreme  one year crowns, and 50 Purple Passion)

Bed #4
Early lettuce as green mulch
Winter Squash (1 red kabocha, 1 delica kabocha)
“Gita” Long Bean (tower)
Rosemary
Costata Romanesco Zucchini (1)
3 Broccoli
carrots
Daikon
Borage
Celery (1)
Nasturtium (corner)
Marigold Little Gem (3 corners)

Bed #5 (near hose) - (use for Lettuce in early spring)
Early lettuce as green mulch
Tomatoes (1 Principe Borghese, 1 Costoluto Genovese, 1 German Striped)
Eggplant (1 Kermit, 1 Turkish Red, 4 Asian Wonder)
Husk groundcherry (6)
Peppers (1 Boris Banana, 1 Sweet Italian)
6 Kale
Onions
Borage
Sage
Basil
Nasturtium (1 corner)
Marigold Little Gem (3 corners)

I look forward to a bountiful harvest this season.