My wonderful little neighborhood has created a beautiful Community Garden for the residents of Washington Heights! I am beyond excited about this newest venture in my ‘hood and couldn’t wait to get started helping to make it happen. We started with a neighborhood Garden Blitz a few weeks ago, where the hubby and I, and about 40 neighbors helped dig, shovel, haul soil, plant the community beds, build the raised beds, till soil and on and on and on! There was much to do to prep this vacant lot for some serious gardening…and by the end of it we were covered, head to toe in dirt!
There was a huge effort on the part of the committee to make this happen. The owner of the land, who recently tore down the existing house in November of 2009, agreed to allow the Neighborhood Association to create a community garden on the property. In partnership with MUG, who I believe helped provide for some of the materials as well as with the help of many, many ambitious and garden-loving neighbors (and their little cuties) we were able to transform the lot into the beginnings of a beautifully planned Community Garden.
Residents paid $20 to purchase an 8X4 raised bed for one year and agreed to abide by a set of rules that include helping to maintain not only their own raised beds but the community beds as well. An elaborate layout was created by one of the committee members that includes an arch and benches at the entryway of the garden, an herb garden, raspberry bushes along the length of the north end of the lot, a strawberry patch, 2 asparagus beds (which was my primary duty on Garden Blitz day), several rows of corn along the south end of the lot and compost bins along the westernmost part of the lot. Oh, and I can’t forget the 24 raised beds that belong to all of us neighbors. Here’s how it all went down.
Day one: Garden Blitz
We started at about 8am and kept going until about noon!
Our first visit since the Garden Blitz
Two cuties discussing what to do next
The hubby. He has good intentions of helping, but he’s chatting with his dad instead.
We planted: Broccoli (lots), onions, Anaheim Peppers, Poblano Peppers, Kohlrabi, Bush pickles
We’re also growing some things at home that includes:
a pretty elaborate herb garden, strawberries, Zebra tomatoes, black cherry tomatoes and sun gold tomatoes in my topsy turvy (a gift from our neighbor), and we already had plenty of raspberries.
Solana’s watering the asparagus bed that I helped to plant on the day of our Garden Blitz!
We have a rain barrel (shown) and access to the hydrant across the street, in case you’re wondering how we’re watering.
Now we just have to wait for the fruits of our labor!
Lovely Peony 
