Garden prep work and planting

The garden was tilled on Tuesday night, so we are ready to plant.

Garden prep: Thursday, 2 June - 7pm

We need to get the irrigation hoses in place and mark off the rows. Then, we'll do some digging to get the compost into the ground for the seedlings. If you have a garden fork or a pitchfork, please bring it along.

Garden planting: Saturday, 4 June - 9am

We'll gather to get the seeds and seedlings in the ground and get the water running.

Hope you can make it.

First harvest: Peas and lettuce

The peas are ready to pick as is the lettuce. Some of the lettuce was used for the meal that is served as part of Wide Open, a worship service and dinner that is ministered by Galena United Methodist at Westerville Estates. The youth group, Souled Out, at Church of the Saviour will pick the peas and the rest of the lettuce to eat as part of their Sunday night meetings. Hopefully the rest of the garden will turn out this nice. It is a great way to start the summer.

We want your body! (To help move compost)

We just a handful of people for a short period of time this Tues. (31 May) at 7pm to help move an incredibly generous donation of compost. The compost is bagged so we just need to lift the bags into our wheelbarrows and move it over to the garden. Please contact me if you are free for this short period of time to make a big impact on the garden.

P.S. Should have an update on the tilling this Monday.

Planting update: waiting for the go ahead

Last Sat. we were able to accomplish all of our jobs except for the biggest: planting the seeds. It has just been too wet. None of the neighboring farmers have been able to till their fields either. With the hot dry weather, we could be ready to go any day and will need all the help we can get as soon as the dirt is turned over. Please watch this space for updates on when we will be meeting. It is likely that we will start planting one evening this week. Depending on how many people show up to help, we might need to work over a couple of evenings.

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Rain or shine - community day will go ahead this Sat. (10am)

We're still planning to meet this Sat. (21 May) at 10am in the garden, but due to the excessive rain, planting might not be an option. The soil has been too wet to till, even for all of the neighboring farms. There is still a lot to do, though. We'll set up all of the irrigation equipment, collect rocks, and put work into the much neglected grape and berry garden (setting up trellises, weed suppression, etc.) We will also do a small amount of planting to create a bed of trap crops to lure pests away from the garden itself. So please plan on joining us whether the weather cooperates or not. We look forward to seeing you.

How does our garden grow?

Our garden is funded by Church of the Saviour, Harlem Road, and New Albany United Methodist churches, but we rely on help from a variety of individuals and groups. If you would like to make a cash contribution, you can make a check out to Church of the Saviour - United Methodist and note that you would like the money to be deposited in the 3 Sisters fund.

We are also interested in donations of materials. Here is a list of things we need for the upcoming year:

• 3' x 50' opaque plastic tarps (usually used for landscaping) as well as several bales of straw for weed control
• Compost, mulch, or other soil amendments for clay soil
• Seedlings: tomatoes, in particular, but we are opening to other plants as well
• Garden tools and a container for holding them (currently they have to be left out in the open)
• 8' metal fence posts, 6'+ tall bamboo stakes, and wire for trellising pole beans

We appreciate the help we have received in the past and look forward to making this our best year yet. You can contact me through the link on the homepage of this website if you have any questions.

Rock and roll

Tonight we had some outstanding help from the youth group to gather rocks around the garden. The rocks will be used to hold down plastic tarps we hope will keep the weeds in check. Picking rocks was actually a lot more fun than it sounds. We found lots of wild strawberries and blackberry bushes we will return to later this summer.

(Pictured: the only two helpers who were brave enough to be pictured.)