It was the day after the vernal equinox and we woke to blue sky and sunshine for the first time in many days. It was a frosty morning, and by the time we headed to the MOP garden the white frostiness on the rooftops was beginning to melt.
The day before, the city had given us a load of compost, so our task was to spread it over the bee garden. In the photo above, you can see the layer of leaf mulch that the EYA interns spread over the garden to keep the weeds down. My mom and I dug out a few dandelions. We saved the long roots to clean and dry for dandelion tea.
This row was sown with a cover crop. Maybe it's winter barley?
So here is the garden before we started adding the compost. Brian and Jean told me we needed a general cover of three inches, with more at the edges, to a depth of about 6 inches there.
My mom and dad functioned as the welcoming committee, as well as chipping in with all the other work: serving tea, picking up litter, cleaning up the edges of the beds, and shoveling compost! It was truly an intergenerational work party, with the youngest participant at age 9, and the eldest, being in their mid seventies. At one point the youngest member of our group stood at the top of the compost pile shouting "I love manure!" (It's actually veggie compost, but who wants to spoil the illusion?)
I made a path out of bark mulch for the wheelbarrows from the alley to the entrance to the bee garden.
Look at the lovely color of that warm luscious compost!
Thanks to everyone who came and helped out, and for those who missed out on the fun, remember that the third Saturday of every month there will be a work party and a workshop at the site.
It was the day after the vernal equinox and we woke to blue sky and sunshine for the first time in many days. It was a frosty morning, and by the time we headed to the MOP garden the white frostiness on the rooftops was beginning to melt.
The day before, the city had given us a load of compost, so our task was to spread it over the bee garden. In the photo above, you can see the layer of leaf mulch that the EYA interns spread over the garden to keep the weeds down. My mom and I dug out a few dandelions. We saved the long roots to clean and dry for dandelion tea.
This row was sown with a cover crop. Maybe it's winter barley?
So here is the garden before we started adding the compost. Brian and Jean told me we needed a general cover of three inches, with more at the edges, to a depth of about 6 inches there.
My mom and dad functioned as the welcoming committee, as well as chipping in with all the other work: serving tea, picking up litter, cleaning up the edges of the beds, and shoveling compost! It was truly an intergenerational work party, with the youngest participant at age 9, and the eldest, being in their mid seventies. At one point the youngest member of our group stood at the top of the compost pile shouting "I love manure!" (It's actually veggie compost, but who wants to spoil the illusion?)
I made a path out of bark mulch for the wheelbarrows from the alley to the entrance to the bee garden.
Look at the lovely color of that warm luscious compost!
Thanks to everyone who came and helped out, and for those who missed out on the fun, remember that the third Saturday of every month there will be a work party and a workshop at the site.
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