Perth-Andover Community Garden
The P-A Community Garden Meeting on January 28th was attended by a baker’s dozen of interested potential gardeners.
The meeting was led by local organic gardener Wayne Sabine, with David Dow as the special guest speaker.
Dave is a long-time organic gardening maestro, and he offered much useful advice to our little group of novice would-be gardeners.
To get a community garden project off the ground, or in the ground, maybe I should say, there are plenty of issues to hash out first….issues that may not even occur to you until you get going!
Some of the topics discussed were:
- Will this be a Capitalistic or Communitarian Garden? For instance, will each individual gardener have their own plot in which they grow their own chosen veggies, or shall we band together and grow one big garden? In this system Jack tends to the tomatoes and beans and Jill nurtures the carrots and radishes, and then we all share the bounty as needed.
- If we do individual plots, how big should each plot be?
- We’re getting a pretty late start on this project. In an ideal world, we would have ploughed our plot last year, and planted it with buckwheat to condition the soil. Now, if we simply turn over a piece of ground without having had a cover crop we will be plagued with weeds. Which means our most efficient methods to get this garden going will be to use the Lasagna Garden Method, or use raised beds.
- With the lasagne method, you lay down a cover of paper or cardboard over the ploughed ground, and cover this with a layer of straw. This will make a mulch to keep weeds down as you plant your crops in a furrow.
- Raised beds are marvellous as you have all fresh soil and compost to plant in. They are also physically easier to work, as you don’t have to bend over so far to weed and tend your plants. But, they cost money to build.
- How about gardening etiquette?
- Everyone at this meeting was in favour of growing organic, with no pesticides or herbicides being used. But what about fertilizer? And what kinds of seeds shall we use?
- If a gardener wants to save seeds from their crops to plant next season they have to use heirloom breeds. Hybrid crops don’t re-seed themselves.. If you plant heirloom next to hybrids of the same species the hybrid pollen will adulterate the heirloom breeds.
- How about corn? Corn is tall, and has to be planted so it doesn’t block out the sun for anyone else’s crop. Plus, corn attracts racoons. If we want corn, should it all be segregated off by itself so it doesn’t cause any problems?
- Ditto for squash and pumpkin vines. These gigantic plants need to have their own home in the garden, so that they don’t take over and crowd out a neighbour’s plot .
So you see, lots of decisions to be made before the first seed goes into the ground!
This is a very exciting project, however. Community gardens grow communities. Because of industrial agriculture, we have lost connection with the earth and our sense of where food actually comes from.
When we get back to our roots and grow our own food, we know how and where it was grown.
Produce in our stores is frequently shipped thousands of miles to land on our supermarket shelves. We don’t know who grew it, or what chemicals and pesticides were used.
Communities all over the world that have begun these garden projects have discovered that they produce more than just food. They produce a sense of connection with the earth and with each other.
Crime rates drop and citizen satisfaction rises. Gardens are beautiful, too!
Stephanie Kelley
