The plot thickens

The other day we spent a bit of time in the garden (we being Justin, Pi and I).

This was my space on Sunday after it was assigned.

I finished weeding for the most part (those clovers are hard to get rid of!) and pulled the old kale plants.

Speedy's Hardware is just around the corner so I sent Justin over for some Black Gold to amend the soil.  Justin surprised me with a cute little gardening bag and some new pruners.  Pi was overly excited about being in the garden and ran laps for a bit.

Here's Pi sitting like a nice girl while I weed. 

I must have missed the tool shed code during the meeting, but Justin made do with a T post to till the soil and mix in the Black Gold.

Doin' work! 

I still haven't planned out my plants, but we got some weeding done and added some nourishment to the soil.  I also took some coffee grounds to the plot as well (I've got some vinegar-y Kombucha that may be headed over there too).

Speaking of nourishment, I've started a hydroponic garden at work with the kids. I'm having them chart the progress of Tomato and Purple Tomatillo seeds.  We'll be allowing them to grow large enough to transplant and hopefully start a small garden in the back courtyard.  In another week or two, we'll start some lettuce and spinach seeds as well.  I think the kids may be of more interest than the tomatoes/tomatillos because they take off a lot faster.  I do have the kids asking to observe and take notes each day. It's so exciting to me that they are getting interested in our "garden" and they are learning to track data.

I'm testing out Smart Gardener and a few of the add ons.  The overall website is free to use to plan your garden (or gardens if you are lucky enough).  It can recommend plants based on plot size, location, personal preference and the like.

I got a SUPER shady plot and Smart Gardener doesn't do recommendations in the free version for shade. Since my plot is SO shady, I thought it was worth it to add on the "Smart Shade" bundle for $1.99.  I've been a bit on the busy side with school and work this week, so I haven't been able to play with it as I would like (and I've been under the weather for the last week), but it did make noticeable changes to recommendations based on the shade factor.

The other add on I purchased was the "Smart Squares" for $4.99.  Smart Squares allows you to plan for square foot gardening by calculating using the square foot method.  You can also choose between spacing methods when you add a new plant (square foot v. standard).

I've got to start doing a bit of planting.  We've (well, Justin) turned the soil and pulled the clovers.  The lemon tree looks lovely (but has no lemons).  Based on the shade, I know I don't have a ton of options.  But really, I just like to play in the dirt.

I've got dirt!

I'm so excited.  Today I was assigned a plot in the community garden at Victoria Manalo Draves Park!

This is a park about 1/2 a block away from us.  We take Pi there every day to play.  There had been no changes to the bulletin boards for a couple of years (I think the last postings were from early 2011), but I always would check to find out where to sign up for the waiting list or who to contact to find out how long the list was.

Most of the community gardens in San Francisco have wait lists that are several YEARS!  So when there was finally some updated contact information on the bulletin board in January, I practically ran home to email.

When I got an email saying there were 6 plots opening up (and there were only 5 people on the email list), I was practically jumping for joy.

We had our first garden meeting this morning.  It was a good chance to meet some new people with common interests in the neighborhood.

Here is my plot.  It's pretty shady, but I have
a lemon tree!  

I am a bit under the weather and I had a horrendous amount of homework to finish today, but I allowed myself 2 hours at the garden including the meeting.  I did some weeding (okay, a LOT of weeding).  There were a couple of kale plants in that jungle and I even ended up pulling a few tiny carrots out of the ground.

Here I am with Pi and my plot
(only a bit more clover to pull out!)

So at the moment I'm not entirely sure what I'll be planting. I have to do some research, I think this garden has even more shade than my last garden.  I know that greens will do well, so kale and chard are a must (and I eat a lot of both!).

I'm going to try out using www.smartgardener.com to plan my garden.  I haven't reintroduced any nightshades to my diet, so a lot of things I normally grow are out (peppers, eggplant, etc.) plus we don't have much of a hot growing season here.  It's basically cool aside from a few weeks in July and August here.  I have to say, based upon the recommended plants, I'll be growing greens and lettuce.  Lots of greens and lettuce.

I just found some add ons to Smart Gardener that I am going to try out.  They are the Smart Squares and Smart Shade.  My garden is only about 8x3 and is in the shade most of the time.  I think these would be worthwhile add ons to try out.

I'll admit though, my excitement isn't because I think I'm going to have loads of veggies or fruits.  It's more because it's a ray of sunshine and nature in this grungy place. It felt awesome to be outside, in the sunshine and getting dirty (actual dirt not all the other stuff that makes this city dirty).  It was nice to be with people who feel the same way.  I've never really had a substantial harvest of anything in all the years of gardening, but I love to do it.

And Pi is going to love basking in the garden while I work.  It's fenced in and there is plenty of room on the opposite side of the garden that gets sun for her to enjoy.