Saturday, April 4, 2009

Asparagus Dreams

When I went to the garden today, three little asparagus tips had poked their way through the soil. Finally! At last! Asparagus is in my future! The onions we planted last week are up, too. And the tarragon has finally reached a height we can hope to harvest a teensy for potatoes or corn in the next week.

Today was opening day for the seasonal plots. We got 4 wheel-barrows full of compost onto our seasonal plot (#86), and got the main path woodchipped. It is amazing how even Jazzercising 4-5 days a week, the spring chores are hard! The weather is supposed to be nicer tomorrow, so I'm hoping we'll get the rest of the peas in the year-round plot (#103), and then maybe some greens in at 86.

People, including me, are disgruntled at the community garden. First, they raised the prices substantially this year - 33% for the seasonal plots and 55% for the year-round ones. The coordinator, Sarah, refuses to deal with the topics of vermin control and management of abandoned, weedy plots. The portapotty is AWOL. Sarah made a mistake laying out the plots, and some were only 9 feet wide instead of 10 feet. And, she was just finishing laying out the plots when I got there at 10 AM. The end stakes were not in on any of the plots, and even when we left at 1:30, less than half were done. I think she is not long for her job, and I think it could be another disastrous year for garden management.

On the positive side, my pal Nancy is back. Her husband has been working in London and so she gave up her plot a couple years ago. He's about to return, so she has returned to the garden. Great to see her there. Gardener extraordinaire Rose is also back, though not sure how robust she is. She seemed to spend a LOT of time sitting while son Russ did the hard work.

I'll try to get Alan to take a photo of the garden tomorrow to post. And of the asparagus.

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