SENNS DAIRY COMMUNITY PARK & GARDEN
Once upon a time there was a gardening princess who dreamed of a bigger garden, (what a shock?!) one where the sunlight was unimpeded by 75 foot tall Douglas Firs, fences and soggy soil, one that could literally feed a family or two or three...When along came a Big Bad Opportunity! She put her name on a list, it seemed a long shot, but gardeners are patient and know how to play the odds!
To her delight within weeks she was contacted by the Portland Community Garden staff who offered her the 'opportunity of a life style'!
Needless to say, she jumped at it and before long was granted the privilege of possessing 400 Square Feet of sunny garden space, smack dab in the center of a garden just blocks from her castle!
Oh visions of greens did dance in her head!
With a wistful smile flickering over her lips, she pondered;
What to plant?
Where to begin?
I need new garden slippers!
And so the story began and now continues...
For simplicity's sake yours truly will play the part of the Gardening Princess!
First things first I had to see the place! So I hopped onto the #71 bus heading east and before long I was standing in awe of what was spread out before me in all it's potential glory; Buttercups & Dandelions & Dock, Oh My!!
All I could see was WEEDS, WEEDS, WEEDS! Masses of them! Thick healthy...
and nothing but... weeds(!!!)and they were EVERYWHERE!
"Holy Cow!" I cried "Are you kidding me?"
With a quick assessment I sighed deeply and doing what any good gardener would do next I took up my weeding hoe and began the slow and laborious task of resurrecting what, I have been told, was once the most beautiful plot in the Senns Dairy Garden.
I must admit that gave me added impetus and zeal!
Since it was mid September at the time the ground was hard and dry so there was more then a little difficulty in breaking the surface what more eliminating the luxurious growth of the uninvited guests who had begun their own occupy movement right here in my beautiful Plot #8.
It didn't take me long to figure out that my 58 year old carcass was not up to this task as it stood, but I have one advantage over them; Brains!
So I used them!
Giving the entire 400s/f a good soaking with the conveniently located water hose I then retrieved a number of sheets of the cardboard which is supplied so generously to us by the staff and covered everything as best I could over the couple feet of growth and went home to take a nap... And dream!
The plan worked and within a couple of days I was seeing actual soil! In the process I uncovered some long lost limbs from one of the surrounding fruit trees and set those up as a little testament to what 'will be'!
Symbols can make a strong impact and strangely this little vertical accent in the midst came to mean so much to me, I was sorry to have to remove it when the time came...but it did, through sore muscles and determination, a large dose of patience and a little planning I began to see real change!
Some may choose to mulch over the roots and leave them, but I wanted to be done once and for all so not to encounter these visitors again in the spring. So I laboriously removed them row by row piling then composting. In the process aerating the long neglected and compacted soil.
Above is a close up of what sprouted, at this size they are a whole lot easier to deal with! And so they were quickly turned under into the now moist soil! Little by little square foot by square foot I turned and tilled the southern most section of the plot until I had a good 8 feet of cleaned, turned soil ready to be amended.
At this point these lovely variegated nasturtiums were the promise of life & hope! With that inspiration, I began to move into forming my beds, approximately 8 foot wide by 20 foot long for the first one; Beautiful isn't she? :)
I continued on to prepare the second row and ordered my seed from Territorial;
I selected only those vegetables that can withstand some degree of chill factor, because believe or not I wanted to plant immediately!
For more information on cold weather selections I suggest reading The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman, it's invaluable! Available from the Multnomah County Library as well as his DVD which is phenomenal!
Though I had hoped to get them into the ground, in seed form, by early October, it was late October by the time they were actually planted.
Being the consummate recycler I decided to use the remnants of my gardening meditations as props for the soon to be applied row cover, also available from Territorial Seeds, and if nothing else a good conversation starter! So far we have had the mildest and driest of winters in ages!
This mild winter has it's benefits and one is that quite possibly there is growth going on even as we speak; today being the 10th day of January 2012!
Once this row was covered the sheeting was secured with rocks for weight and then soil over the edges of the sheeting to keep it from being blown away in the wind...My little babies are all tucked in and ready to grow!!!
Then I started tilling and prepping the second row for planting. The plan was to get potatoes and garlic in asap, but as the say "such are the plans of mice and gardeners" It didn't happen that way. The weather turned cold and windy, the sun began to set too early for my evening visits and so my plot remains until today in this state. I am hoping to make a trip down to see it this afternoon to get you all an update, as well as to satisfy my own curiosity!
In the meantime, I go on dreaming and planning, which is the gardeners main job in winter!
I have my next order placed with Territorial for seeds of vegetables that I will start indoors and plant out by mid to late February.
I picked up a 36 compartment planting tray with heating pad at Portland Nursery for right around $20, that I will use to get the seeds started.
Things like Broccoli and Kale and Celery and Fennel and Fava Beans!
But more on that later; for now you are up to date on Plot #8!
I hope to hear from all of my fellow Portland Community Gardeners on how they began, how they maintain and what innovative and creative methods may have been employed to Keep Portland Green~Happy gardening!
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