Community Garden News

Joan Embree writes, 

Dear gardeners and friends of the Mountainair Community Garden, our first workday at the garden, April 21, was very successful thanks to all who worked so willingly and so hard. We accomplished a lot.

Kay and Lenora measured for and staked out our beds with stake-pounding help from new member Christian Raphael. Ana Raphael (goes with Christian) did a great job cleaning up the front edge of the garden, getting our tire planters cleared out and weeded around. Carla Cope did wonders with the northwest bed, digging and weeding it as well as undertaking other tasks. Tomas Wolff brought his pick and opened up some new ground for a medicinal/herb garden near the gate and helped with other beds. 

Lorance and Debra Romero arrived with a truckload of recycling materials garnered from the transfer station: dirt, bark mulch, and pallets to make compost bins among other things. Lenora's granddaughter helped with measuring and digging and will be part of iCreate's "Kids' Garden" plot. We dug or re-dug several beds. Finally, bagging up trash and weeds and hauling them off, we left the Art Center grounds looking tidier than before. 

At our short planning gathering, we:

• scheduled workdays (every Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon,
  
• discussed garden goals
  
• planned activities (see below)
  
• decided to plant only cool season vegetables until after the last "average" frost date -- May 15 -- and then to bring in seeds and plant starts for our plots.
  

Upcoming activities include:

•  starting plants from seed for our beds and for sales at the Farmers' Market after it opens May 19; 
  
• designing a garden sculpture for the center of our garden that will fit in with MMAC's outdoor sculpture exhibition on the remainder of the vacant lot next to Mountain Arts on Broadway; 
  
• committing to running the food concession at the May 19 Spring Fling Bingo event; 
  
• scheduling a trip to the Rio Grande Community Farm and perhaps other community gardens for May 26.
  

This coming Saturday, April 28, more digging and amending beds still tops our workday list.  We need to assess our watering capabilities (timers, hoses. etc.,)  to see what we lack with this bigger version of a garden as well as considering what we could do with a VERY LARGE satellite dish that Lorance brought us. (Perhaps we should check with the VLA folks to see if anything is missing?)  Also, we need to work on our garden sculpture design. There are still herbs and garden materials to be removed from our former garden area at the Mojave Rose. Materials include water system parts we may be able to use this year.

May 5 is the day we can begin work on our sculpture -- along with the other sculptors working on their pieces.  

     

Hope to see old and new gardeners back at our 2012 location this weekend.    

Addendum from Lorance Romero:

Folks, the thanks for the satellite dish goes out to our good friend Leroy Simmons. He got it off a job he cleared so it's all good. He agreed to help us set it up if we can figure out where we want it. I think it can provide some much needed shade as well as possible rain catchment.

I plan to make more composting bins from pallets and t-posts. If any one has some to donate I can pick them up. Also, just talked with Steve Torres who runs the gravel pit just north of town -- he generously agreed to donate to us some dirt for the garden.  I will try to pick it up before Saturday. Please try to patronize him for your dirt and gravel needs. His phone number is 505 705 5142, and, yes, he can deliver. There is some dirt at the garden on a tarp. if anyone needs it you are most welcome to it.

If anyone is near the Moriarty transfer station on Hwy 41, there is mulch for free outside the gates. Can anyone pick it up? You can borrow my truck. I have to work or would go myself. There is a small pile at the garden that folks are welcome too - Lorance, 505 705 0047

(cross-posted to Mountainair Arts and iCreate)