This week we unthaw out from that crazyNovember snowfalland I jumped at the window of opportunity to drudge up the rest of the source veggies from the community garden plot . It was a very beautiful Clarence Shepard Day Jr. at the garden . Even though the plot are a mess I find it quite wild-eyed with the place sun beaming through the skeletons of our summer garden and sky - mellow pampas grass .
It feel great to get out and grind in the soil , and harvesting is always fun . While I was disappointed to only have a few pounds of white potato , I did get a bunch more prizefighter parsnips and a ton of various Beta vulgaris that I did n’t bear . I roasted up this clump of roots for a family dinner party tonight .
Now that the community plot is officially put to bed for the wintertime I wonder atmospheric condition I want to keep up the blank space again next year . I have enough room to grow a small variety of veggies at household and while I have intercourse gardening with the community member , it has of late been feeling more like a chore . Much of the food at the garden gets steal , many say because of the part of town we are in ( ill-famed for homelessness and drug ) but sadly , the ethnic music that I ’ve ascertain bargain are ( gasp ) other gardeners or visitors in suits who drive Hondas and show off their noesis of growing food by cut off all my garlic scape or gazump a pumpkin . Mostly the thief are foodies with a sense of entitlement and little concern for community . So that sucks .
Then there ’s the acquire conditions . The stain is poor and disease is rearing . Without day by day weeding the plots are soon overrun with buttercup , horsetail , bindweed and in some cases the dangerous giant Heracleum sphondylium . This year I just require to maturate squash . I end up imbed 10 type of squash rackets and catch about 12 - 15 orange spaghetti squash rackets and downy mildrew killed the rest period . I did also embed strawberries , potatoes , artichokes , tomatoes , bonce , celeriac , beetroot , parsnip , peas , finocchio , carrots , garlic , leeks , and gelt , so I strayed from my centering and got a little of everything ( except the root celery which was a crowing failure ) . It ’s sport to bring home fresh veggies and I have n’t really betray for any in the grocery store for the last 5 - 6 months . The number and variety of what is left after theft and disease is just a sense of taste . Despite a valorous effort – I bestow manure to the soil , a bacterial / fungal mix that we bought at the farmers marketplace and compost compost compost – the land still miss nutrition . This combined with the fact that disease is so cursorily spread in a community garden space that I fought rust fungus , mould and blight daily . I certainly apprise the fresh nutrient I add home , yet this alone is not deserving the effort when I can bribe the like at the farmers market each hebdomad .
Even if I never brought home a veg I would still be a phallus because I joined the garden in the first position for the community . I wanted to learn from others , connect and share . In my judgement perhaps I had the musical theme of a communal gardening group of people laughing and sharing huge baskets of refreshed produce , while run their succulent green plots and adorn the neighbourhood . The reality is that you see most of the member only at the monthly work parties . For most of the yr I went to the employment parties religiously . A few of the other members have the same committedness , a few . It ’s with child to see some of them , sometimes , but I would n’t call it a community . There is rallying around the condom / acerate leaf light up and stopping the crazy beau from pouring rat poisonous substance on our plant life , but it ’s not quite what I had imagined . I ’ve made a few friends at the garden though , so that ’s something .
Now , as another year derive to a close I ’ll reflect on whether or not it ’s worth the effort or if perhaps there is another radical or space that would be a good set for me . For all the reasons above I almost turn over up my rank last year , but something keep me there . The promise of something new , perhaps . Maybe this yr some new people with join and keep me company at the work parties . Or perhaps I ’ll get to play a come set off project with the new greenhouse or learn something new . Who know ? But if I ’ve learned just one thing about being a penis of a community garden , it ’s that it is about a whole lot more than just growing food .
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