Hurrah! The Fence is Up

Remember when our garden looked like two burial mounds?  This is a picture from February 1, Groundhog Day Eve.

Now the garden coming together, thanks to all of the volunteers who worked over the past weeks to make it happen.

In late March, Paul, Alice and John Eyre (not shown) worked on the water connections with the Borough Department of Public Works.  Yes, they hand dug this trench!

We will be watering our garden with town water (from artesian wells), run off the water main along Division Avenue.  DPW installed a water meter, and the Community Garden will pay for water use with the income from plot rentals.

There are brass fittings and flexible pipe runs underground from the meter to the garden.  If you go to the garden now, you will see the pipe running up to the posts that will support the spigots.  There will be three spigots running down the center path and one outside the garden to water the perimeter beds.

This past week was a beehive of activity.  Peter Coviello disced the compost and soil to a depth of one foot. 

Thanks, Pete, the soil looks great!  (The trench is for the groundhog/bunny barrier.)

Now for the fence.  

Here are Paul, Vince DeNave (the Borough engineer) and some of the Green Path crew, unwrapping the fencing materials.

Next the poles went in.  Did we mention it was really hot on Wednesday and Thursday?

Then the metal mesh was hung, small on the bottom, big on the top.

In this picture, Dick, John and Hector are putting up the angle brackets to hold a monofilament that acts as a deer barrier.

Sharon, Katey, Kathryn and Maryann, just finished closing up the ditch that holds the water pipe.  Yes, the soil was like concrete it that heat.

Mary is doing the same inside the garden.

Come on down and see the progress.  Stay tuned for an email alert about opening day!  

Community Garden at the Chatham Patch

Have you seen the coverage of the Community Garden at the Chatham Patch?  There is an article and a great photo of Paul and Marcy, presenting to the Borough Council.  (One correction to the article:  I'm donating the planting beds and various herbs and edible flowers rather than "beautification shrubs" -- whatever they are.)  Anyway, I've just subscribed to the Patch.  What an easy, interesting way to get local news.

Here is the address:

http://chatham.patch.com/articles/plots-assigned-at-community-garden#photo-257205

The next official event for the Community Garden is March 31, 7 pm in the Library's downstairs meeting room.  It will be an orientation, covering vegetable garden basics.  All are welcome.

The Romance of pH

As it's almost Valentine's Day, I thought, "What is more romantic than soil pH?" Soil pH (which stands for potential hydrogen, for those of you who need to know these things) is a measure of acidity or alkalinity. Think little strips paper from high school chemistry class.

Gardeners care about pH because it impacts a plant's ability to absorb water and nutrients from the soil.  In short, if the pH is wrong your plants will languish.

The pH scale has 14 points, with 7 being neutral, above 7 being basic (akaline) and below 7 being acidic.  To quote the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service, "A slightly acid soil, with a pH near 6.5, is optimum for growing most vegetables."  For more details, see njaes.rutgers.edu

Mike Bucuk took a soil sample from our garden space last fall and sent it off to the lab for testing.  Our soil under the turf was 5.9 -- a bit acidic.  Earlier this month we added 66 cubic yards (10-12 dump trucks) of very aged compost with pH of 7.5, spread across the planting areas.  Once it is tilled in spring, our pH should be just right.   (The lab also checked for soil contamination, not knowing if anything had been dumped there over the years. Good news, no problems there.)

For a gardener, the right pH is heart-warming.

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are!

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, and this year we have something special to celebrate.  Today at the Community Garden the combined forces of the Borough Department of Public Works, Peter Coviello Contracting, and Green Path Landcare composted the beds.  When the dump trucks arrived the organic matter was steaming.  Those little bacteria are working so hard at decomposition that they are heating everything up!

Looks like giant groundhogs have been digging:

But the backhoe is coming, the backhoe is coming:

What a great little machine.  Thank you, Peter Coviello.

See how smooth.  Do drop by and see it.

If the groundhog sees his shadow tomorrow, we are supposed to be in for six more weeks of winter.  Forecast is for partly cloudy, so we'll see.  But either way, get your applications in now for the 2010 gardening season.

Chatham Community Garden, Day 1

Sunday, January 24, 2010, a small group of volunteers took out the first sod from the perimeter of the two large rectangles that will be divided up into the twenty beds of the newly-christened Chatham Community Garden.

Deb, Mike and Tom Bucuk of Green Path Landcare, a Chatham Township company, came with their sod-cutter. Other volunteers from the Borough and Township came with their rakes, hoes and forks to move the cut sod. Wet, semi-frozen slabs of sod are heavy! This project is a great example cross-community cooperation.

We decided to do this at the last minute. The next step, you see, is for Borough Public Works to bring in 10 trunk loads of leaf compost to dump on top of the beds. The outline of the garden, now clear with the sod removed, will make it easier for the drivers to see where to dump. Now we are waiting for a hard freeze. The ground has to be quite solid for the trucks to safely negotiate the site.

The garden is located in Chatham, New Jersey on the corner of Division Avenue and Main Street, under the high tension wires and behind the commuter lot. Both PSE&G and Williams-Transco have been incredibly helpful in getting the proper approvals for this site.

Local food, here we come.