lists, lists, lists

Planning a garden, especially a big one like the 200 Foot Garden, take a lot of planning.  Lots of lists and spreadsheets, so we know what to buy, what to plant, when, where, etc.  Tracy spent a couple hours on the spreadsheet last night (for all four of our family's garden projects) and I've spent a couple more today, trying to piece everything together.

I think I've got a pretty good list put together for the garden now, enough to make a shopping list for seed starting materials and seeds.  Right now it looks like we'll have at least 32 different varieties of plants at the 200 Foot Garden this year (not counting the extension blocks--I haven't done the planning for those yet).  We'll be putting in about 600 plants total, with most of them starting by seed, in the greenhouse.  We've definitely got some big work days ahead of us.

Now I'm off to order the seeds that we're still missing--I need to order two kinds of chard, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, peppers, new kinds of squash, and more pole bean seeds.  (I'll be ordering from Seeds of Change, Johnny's, and High Mowing, at the very least.)

Our load of compost is set to arrive on Wednesday.  Lots to do, but it won't be long until we've got green stuff growing, and that makes it all worthwhile.

More Cukes

While watering with Yvonne yesterday, we gave away two more cucumbers--one to Dorothy, who helped us plant the garden in July, and another to a family whose kids go to the same school as my kids. There are a few squash and lemon apple cucumbers starting to show fruit now, though they're still very small. We talked with lots of passersby about the project.

Looks like we're supposed to get a tropical storm this weekend, so nature will handle the watering while I'm out of town.

Next week I have a meeting with Donna, the property manager, to talk more about next year and what sort of things we might plant. Once I know what's permissible, I also need to give some thought to how much labor all of this will require and try assess how many volunteers we'll need (and if we can get enough). There's lots of additional potential for this little spot of ground.

Plans Coming Together: Planting This Sunday

We're starting to put the plans together for planting this weekend. Looks like we'll put stuff in the ground (and take a bunch out of the ground) Sunday morning, from 8am--noon. I should have at least half a dozen folks out there to help (if you're in Brookline and want to see what's going on (or want to help), come on down). We're right near 99 Kent Street.

Cathy Neal from Bountiful Brookline called and offered to pick up some donated compost from Allandale Farms and also pick up some of the dolomitic limestone that we need to improve the soil. (Thanks, Cathy!)

It's starting to feel like this might actually happen.