Plotting the Plot

The PennWell Community Garden is a group project, and everyone's input is needed to help make it a success. But with any garden, you have to have a good idea where you're headed. You must know what you want to do in this season, and what you'd like to accomplish in future seasons.

So by way of getting that conversation started, I want to use this blog post to spell out a little on how I'd like to see this garden grow in the weeks, months and years ahead. What started as just a seed of an idea, as Traci Huntsman put it, can continue to grow and expand proportionate to the amount of muscle and thought we're willing to put into it.

Here's a few ideas I have for the garden's near and far-out future. Please don't take them to be the end-all, be-all. I want to hear other ideas. I'm just one member of the group.

Short Term Plans (next few weeks)

• Finish clearing out the remainder of the bed space, and take some measures to prevent weed encroachment (namely, mulch of some variety)
• Finish planting so as to use up all available space. We're doing a good job with spacing requirements thus far, but it would be a shame not to use all of the land we have open to us. We should talk at some point about how we can obtain more plants, either from seed or transplant. A little bit of collaboration will help us plan this out.
• Top-dress the plants with soil amendments (and the area in between, if enough amendments can be obtained) to introduce more organic materials into the soil.
• Water judiciously throughout. This summer is showing some hints that it might be hot and dry. Maybe even record breaking, although I hope not. We will have to be careful and take steps to protect our investments.

Medium Term Plans (before the season is over)

• Begin our composting operation. Based on the plans I talked about earlier, we can build ourselves a functional compost bin with a little bit of lumber and a saw only. Afterward, we can rely on garden waste and compostables that we come up with ourselves (either from home, or from around the office) to create good soil.
• Organize our Mini Farmer's Market. The idea was floated in our first and only meeting to make our produce available to people around the office. We shouldn't wait until we're picking tomatoes and peppers to figure out how we're going to do this because, well, produce tends to either spoil or get eaten. Things we need to discuss are how we're going to advertise that we're doing this, what we will charge as far as pricing goes, how to make sure we offer quality products, what materials we might need, etc. I think the idea has promise if we just develop it a little.
• Also, hell, we need to give it a name. We have "branding" experts here I'm sure, so what do we call out market? My suggestion? The Cubicle Farmer's Market. Because that's what I feel like now. A cubicle farmer.
• Keep the garden well-maintained in between growing seasons. The last thing we want to do is let things become as overgrown as they were at the start of this season. It was a battle restoring it to usable condition, believe me! There are a few options here, like covers and mulches. Maybe one of the nicer options would be to plant some kind of cover crop, like a rye grass or some other type of nitrogen-fixing plant. This technique is called "green manure." The plant prevents other weeds and grasses from moving in, and then when the time comes to get ready for the next season, you simply till the plants into the soil where they add nutrients and structure. That way, the garden will be in better shape than we left it rather than worse.

Long Term Plans (future seasons)

• Talk about fall gardening. I haven't done much autumn gardening myself, but I understand that the cooler seasons are best for many different types of crops. Turnips, radishes, beans, tomatoes, squashes, pumpkins and melons are a few examples. Selling pumpkins around Halloween might be a pretty cool way to raise a little money.
• Explore the option of expanding our cultivated space. This could take the form of container planting around the bed, building a new bed, or digging an in-ground plot in the area adjacent to the existing bed. With more space, we can further our growing efforts. We could create a dedicated herb garden, or perhaps a small butterfly garden to attract pollinators to the area.
• Another option would be to plant fruit trees, or a berry patch. This might require some kind of approval from the building management people, but I've always wanted to plant a tree and never have. The arbor would have a symbiosis with the garden, attracting pollinators to one another. Eventually, the shade from these trees could create a microclimate ideal for a shade garden, or maybe shelter for a bench or table or two — a nice place for people to get away from their desks. And in a few seasons, we'd be able to add fresh fruit (think peaches, pears, apricots, etc.) to our Mini Farmer's Market plan.

That's about all I can think of right now. Let's talk about it!