Prepping the Beds, and a Few Surprises

It's a jungle in there

The first surprise is that we are NOT at the Maze Garden on the corner of Third and New, but rather the MLK Garden on Carlton, behind the church. Surprise!

We're assigned plots 5 and 7, which is nice because even though they're not next to each other, one's got some shade and the other one looks like it might be full sun, or at least close to it.

After getting the lowdown from Will, Courtney, KT, and I set off in search of our new digs. None of us were quite sure where on Carlton this place was, and one of us wasn't entirely paying attention (ahem, that would be me) so we took a detour down Montclair, where we discovered that the man sitting on his front porch pretty much within shouting distance of the garden didn't even know where it was. Which was sort of depressing. Once we realised we were on Montclair (and tried to pretend we hadn't lived here for four years already, which one of us actually hasn't!) things got much better. Located the garden, and I realise I've actually been past it before, I just wasn't ever really paying attention because I was always on my way somewhere else. (Note to self: pay attention, squirrel-brain! This is why you garden in the first place. To get out of your own head and onto the planet.)

"Why aren't there any numbers on these things?"

The garden is actually really cute, but then we met the next problem, which was, "Which of these unlabeled, unnumbered raised beds are numbers five and seven?" Some frantic telephony ensued, aka "Wait, let's call Will, he'll know!" because I couldn't use my usually phenomenal internet-fu to access any sort of garden layout map. Urgh.

Next I got to teach Courtney and KT how to weed. Yay! Dirt! Courtney had thought to buy a mini gardening kit (quite helpful, since all my gardening tools are in NJ or possibly deep in a stairwell closet here in town) so we were able to snip off roots so we could compost the rye grass. The problem with composting weeds, of course, is they'll grow in your compost if you throw them in roots and all when they're fresh. Which makes more weeding. Not how I want to spend my May.

Mmmmm, rooooooot cloooooouuuuud.....

Anyway, we cleared out most of bed 5. I think Will and I are going over there at some point tomorrow to prep the beds some more before it rains (the soil level isn't terribly low, but it's not spectacular, either, so we'll have to see how much stuff we need--also I dearly hope Will has a shovel because I've no desire to move compost with a soup ladle....). Planting Sunday, I think?

Pretty sure we've made a convert out of Courtney. Though she hasn't yet encountered her first worm, so we'll see.

Courtney digs in!