Doorstep of Summer Garden Tour

With summer officially starting yesterday I thought a pictorial of my plot would be nice. So here is a photo tour of plot Z-1(aka my plot) at the Fenway Victory Gardens on the eve of summer. Photos were taken Sunday afternoon.

Walking through the gardens, below is the view as you approach my plot:

(Z-1 is the first plot on the left)

When you arrive at the gate you will notice the hi-tech security system:

(intruders beware!)

Upon entering the plot, to your left, along the front fence bed 1 - Broccoli, Carrots (poor germination), Leeks, Cabbage, and Onions (poor germination):

(Broccoli, Carrots, & Leeks in the front. Beyond the nasturtium is the cabbage and poorly germinated onions)

Moving on to bed 2 - A mishmash of Broccoli, Mint, Mesclun, Carrots (much better germination), Cucumbers, Sunflowers, Romaine and Spinach:

(The first half of bed 2: Broccoli, Mint, Mesclun, Carrots, & Cucumbers)

(2nd half of bed 2 - Sunflowers, Romaine, Spinach. The blank spot on the left housed the first planting of mesclun greens)
Bed 3- the center bed is home to the Tomatoes, Peppers, Basil, more Sunflowers, and more Nasturtiums (most of them are between the tomato cages):

(the view of bed 3 from the front of the plot)

(Basil at the back of bed 3)

(Looking from the back of bed 3 towards the gate down the row of tomato cages. You can see the Nasturtium flowers between each cage)

Bed 4 is the home of the Potato Trench & Pole Beans:

(The potato trench is filling in nicely, and the trellis' are starting to fill up with pole bean vines)

Behind the 2nd bed is a small batch of chives and then the herb bed (bed 5) - Garlic Chives, Dill, Parsley, Cilantro, some Sage, more (but smaller barely visible) chives, and borage:

(patch of chives between bed 2 and the herb bed)

(the main herb bed. Garlic chives in the front left look like grass. Dill, Parsley, Cilantro, some Sage growing close to the Cilantro)

Next to the Herb bed is the usual home for 2 of the 3 tomatoes in buckets. I move these around at my whim, but generally 2 of them sit between the herbs and the final bed.

(no such thing as enough tomato plants)

Bed 6, the last bed sits in the back right corner of the plot. There are 2 rows of Beets, Zucchini, and more Sunflowers in this bed:(Beets in front, Zucchini in the middle, a few Sunflowers and Daylily's in the back)

Here is a view of the plot from the backside. The gate can be seen in the back of the photo:

(plot Z-1 in all of its glory)

Finally, the last shot is a view from the front left corner as you approach the plot:

Thus concludes the tour of my plot on the eve of summer.

Seed Potatoes: Planted!

The seed potatoes from Wood Prairie Farm were planted this afternoon!

After visiting the family on Sunday to show reverence to my wonderful Mother I set out to prepare the potatoes and their future home. First I cut up the potatoes, making sure there were at least 3 eyes per piece.

While the potatoes sat in the light I headed to the plot and got to work digging the trench which will house the potatoes. After some digging and clearing I was left with a nice 10 inch deep trench, sprinkled with a generous helping of compost.

My hard work was clearly appreciated. This bird below was extremely excited to see a freshly dug trench for him to patrol, a veritable bug buffet! Here he (she?) is just about ready to dive in.

While at work on Monday I realized the temperature might drop too low to plant the potatoes in the next few days, I was also concerned with the brown cavities in the Russian Banana Fingerlings in the 1st photo so I called Wood Prairie and spoke to Jill at the potato growers helpline. She was extremely helpful informing me that the brown cavities in the fingerlings were of no concern, and despite the unreasonably cool temperatures I would be alright to plant out the Potatoes today. I cannot stress how excellent the customer service from Wood Prairie has been- I explained to Jill I was a first time gardener and merely wanted to alleviate my concerns before putting my potatoes in the ground. Jill patiently answered all of my questions and gave me some additional tips for successful spuds!

With my newly found potato confidence I stopped at the plot and placed my cut potato pieces in the trench, being careful to evenly space the pieces out.

I made sure not to note which potatoes were places where in the trench so that when they grow I can be surprised by what sort of potatoes I'll be able to randomly pull from the forthcoming hills.

Once the potatoes were evenly spaced I covered each piece with a few inches of a soil and compost mixture.

Next stop: Spud City!

We have liftoff (and bindweed)!

Gail and I headed to the plot Friday afternoon. When I arrived I found Gail happily weeding with a large pile serving as proof that we will be fighting an uphill battle against Bindweed (Calystegia sepium). Lots of serious hand weeding is ahead of us!

Besides the Bindweed springing up everywhere it can we saw signs of a garden coming to life.

I am extremely ecstatic to report numerous Beet and Mesclun mix seedlings emerging from the ground a mere 6 days after planting! I looked very carefully in the rows next to the Mesclun for Spinach and Romaine seedlings and believe I saw a few, however the Mesclun mix and Beet seedlings were easily visible in abundance so I will only confirm those for now. No visible seedlings from the Onions, Carrots or Cabbage yet but I will be back Sunday afternoon and hope to find more signs of life.

To celebrate our growth we began planting our herb bed. Garlic Chives, Dill, Sage and Chive seeds were planted in short rows before we left on account of darkness.

Getting down and dirty at the new plot!

This weekend Gail and I were finally to get to work on our plot at the Fenway Victory Gardens. We both had friday off and were able to spend most of friday and saturday working on our plot. We met quite a few of our neighbors while we worked. It's really nice to feel the sense of community as complete strangers came by and said hello or struck up a conversation with us. We were offered tips on identifying some of the major weeds in our plot, given advice on having a successful plot, and we were even gifted a few plants! The knowledge that many of our fellow plot holders passed to us went a long way in helping us prepare the plot. We also managed to meet some of the animal inhabitants of the gardens:

Gail spotted these mourning doves with her young expertly camouflaged in a neighbors plot. We don't know anything about birds, but were fortunate enough to intrude on a group of birders (thank you Gail) who were able to identify the species. We also learned that it was a great surprise the nest was so out in the open and the birds were really relying on their ability to blend in rather then having a nest on safer, higher ground. According to the birders the young were between 2 and 4 weeks old.

After the short distraction it was time to get to down to business. Here is look at what we managed to accomplish with two days of hard work on plot Z-1:

Gail began weeding and outlining plots while the major cosmetic task was undertaken: I built and installed a new gate(above) for the plot using 1 in x 3 in x 8 ft boards and some wire mesh fencing.

With the gate installed Gail and I weeded and started to dig out our beds...

and we kept digging...

and digging!

Over the course of two days we got the gate built and installed, weeded the entire plot, as well as digging, amending with compost, and cultivating the soil in all six of our beds!

We even managed to do some planting:

The above photo shows our half rows of newly planted Mesclun Mix, Romaine, & Spinach. We also planted Beets, Onions, Carrots, and Cabbage. Along with the seed we were given the gift of leeks to plant, which we planted along side some volunteer plants Gail found while cleaning up the plot. I suspect they are pearl drop onions or something closely related (our volunteers are the healthier looking bunch on the left, the leeks are the smaller looking bunch closer to the fence):

After two days of hard work our plot is clean, weeded and starting to look like a garden:

All in all it was a fantastic way to spend my birthday weekend!

Gardening Tools (what I have/what I need)

The lady and I are off from work this Friday and plan on starting to prepare our plot for the season. We managed to scavange some garden tools from our parents, but are still in need of others.
What we have:
Edging tool, trowel, narrow trowel, various shovels, standard garden hoe, hand hoe, an anvil style hand pruner, and a severely bent digging fork which will be used as a hand cultivator.
We also have some very useful scrap wood I scavanged from around the gardens, some other odds & ends I will be using to make a trellis, and a variety of plastic bins and containers.

What we need:
2 pairs of gloves, hose, hand cultivator, metal rake, hand weeder, functional digging fork, twine, 1 fence post, plastic zip ties, plastic tarp, and nails.

The fence post, zip ties, and nails are there because a gate needs to be constructed and installed. The gate is my main priority for Friday, as keeping out unwelcome guests is needed. We will be taking a trip to the garden center and hardware store for tools and gate materials Friday morning, then it is off to work!

My question for experienced gardeners/readers is am I missing any tools?
Is there anything I, as a begining gardener am not thinking of that I will undoubtedly need?
Let me know in the comments!

Plot Selection Day!

(My Plot: Z-1)

The day I've been waiting for has finally come: Plot Selection Day at the Fenway Victory Gardens.

We met up with the VP of Parks at noon and strolled through the 400+ plots seeing which ones were available for new gardeners. Plots were handed out very informally. If we wanted a plot we merely spoke up and it was assigned to us.

The lucky winner is plot Z-1 (shown below). The back side is where the photo was taken from, the entrance to the plot is the 4 foot wide gap in the back left of the plot, which will have a gate soon. The plot is 25 feet long X 17 feet wide!

(plot Z-1 425 sq. ft. of potential)

The above photo shows the plot as it was when we picked it out. A blank slate, with the remnants of 3 small beds. Our plot is centrally located and is generally well kept. There is a lot of work ahead of me and I'm really looking forward to it.

Once we spoke up and claimed Z-1 as our own Gail(my lovely girlfriend) and I got to work scavenging around the trash areas looking for anything we might be able to use. We found some wood and a few broken sections of fencing. My brain immediately kicked into overdrive trying to lay out the potential beds that we will be planting. After our initial scavenging and planning we have outlined what we are hoping will be 6 beds.

(Potential beds marked with scavenged materials. Gail can be seen standing where the new gate will be located)

Here is some of the work that needs to be taken care of before the fun of planting and growing can really get going:

• A new gate needs to be made & installed.
• Various weeds/vines/plants need to be pulled from the ground
• Beds & Paths should be clearly marked off

The fun has begun! Stay tuned for progress reports.

Applying for a Plot.

As I began researching the viability of a vegetable garden the biggest obstacle was clearly my lack of land or a garden plot to put my plans in action.
I've take the first steps to solve this problem by applying for a plot at the Fenway Victory Gardens. Based on a quick look at last years maps there were anywhere between 5 and 15 open plots of 410+ found at the site. The application was general contact info & volunteer availibility.
I hope that getting an application for 2010 so early will have my high on the list. Ideally I'd love to have a plot assigned to me by February so I can really get detailed with my plans.

Some info on the The Richard D. Parker Memorial Victory Gardens/Fenway Victory Gardens and the surrounding park:
The Fenway Victory Gardens were established by the City of Boston in 1942.In the midst of World War II, with food rationing growing the City designated a wide variety of public land and parks for citizens to grow their own vegetables and herbs.
The gardens sit on 7 acres of land within The Back Bay Fens a piece of urban wild/parkland designed by renowned Landscape Architect Frederick Law Olmstead! The Fens was originally saltwater marshland which had been filled in as Boston expanded. Olmsted was tasked with designing an ecologically healthy park that could be used for recreational enjoyment. Today the Fens is a lush park & recreation area running alongside a small freshwater stream/lagoon.
The main enterance of the victory gardens looks directly at the right field entrance of Fenway Park.
Some Goolge Maps overheads of the gardens are below:

The Gardens are on the right. Fenway Park is in the upper left.


The Park (left) & Central (right) sections.


The Boylston section.

A more detailed map of the gardens and their sections can be found at the Fenway Victory Gardens.