Last spring, 2011, we started with this:
A big swath of lawn, a bail of hay, a stack of cardboard, some muscle, and a vision. This spring we have this:
An all-ages community garden with lots of room to grow.
Our lasagne gardening was a success. Without tilling the earth, we built a large tract of healthy soil using compost layering techniques.
We ordered some materials (local field-stones, road-crush and mulch) to give shape to the garden. Thanks to a Fido/Evergreen grant, we had funding to create four children’s gardening beds at the center of the Parkallen Community Garden. A crew assembled this spring to ready the beds for the children to plant.
We dug trenches around the beds to collect water and provide shape.
Then we filled them with road crush. The crush-filled trenches around the beds provided a stable place for rock borders. The rocks provide thermal mass to warm the soil.
We muscled rocks into place around the four beds.
This is Tom. Tom is what you’d call an “active senior.”
And voila.
Ready to plant.
Well done, crew.
Don’t forget the “interpretive programming.”
And a proud sign:
We’ve had incredible momentum this Spring.
It’s NOT too late to get involved in this exciting permaculture project. The Parkallen Diggers are actively recruiting new members to be part of our casual and/or core gardening group.
We need master gardeners and newbies. We need compost turners and watering can luggers. We need a fruit tree tender and shrub lover. We need people to turn on a sprinkler when it’s stinking hot and people to tip-toe down the edible perennial border looking for ripe strawberries. We want hammer swingers, pea-munchers and turnip pullers. Whatever your age, expertise, and commitment levels, you are invited to participate in making this unique green space grow.
The Parkallen Community Garden 