Plant a Row for the Hungry Finally Gets a Start!

The Plant-a-Row-for-the-Hungry project for which I am a volunteer has had a whole series of setbacks this spring, but we finally have plants and seeds in the ground. We are all so very happy to have the garden underway! I am guessing that the food pantry that we deliver to will be happy, too, when we are able to start bringing in some food.

We are still waiting for the deer fence, which is an essential element of large gardens around here. The fence materials are supposed to be delivered this week, and the construction completed late next week. Until then, all the beds are under sheets of lightweight row-cover. This is not the ideal material for use in the hot summertime; I think some plants already have had a little trouble with the "greenhouse effect," but we have had a large roll of this stuff in our supplies for years. Using it meant that we didn't have to go out and buy something else.

The materials for our pole bean teepee were donated. We have been building one of these each year for awhile now; it's a fun way to grow the beans. The teepee was also a lot of fun to put together for the five or six gardeners who worked on it.

One of the great features of our new location is the space filled with community garden beds right next to it. The community garden doesn't show up in either of these photos, but many of the gardeners have made a good start on getting their 5-by-12-foot beds planted. It is going to be a lot of fun to work right next to so many other veggie gardeners.