Planting Time at the Community Garden

We have declared that we are no longer in danger of frost.

I'm late today because spouse and I (especially spouse) spent part of the day planting, with a rest break (or two) for my back.  I'm going to the chiropractor tomorrow so I hope to get some relief and an idea of what his treatment plan is going to be. (Yes, I broke down, and had my first appointment with a chiropractor in about eight years on Thursday. Medicare doesn't pay for that initial evaluation, so it was cash.)

First stop, after an exercise walk in the park, was our community garden.  I was fortunate enough to score a raised bed last year because they had a cancellation and I was in the right place at the right time.  It has gotten difficult for me to do work in a regular garden bed, even with my kneeler/gardening bench.  I hope I can find a way out of my most current back pain issues so I don't have to do any more whining about my back on my blog.

This year, there's been a change.  Our community garden, which is located in a public park, was targeted by thieves last year.  It's happened before, but last year was...well, it was last year.  Turns out, after at least two of the guilty were caught, that they were taking veggies - and reselling them.

A lot of people in Binghamton are food insecure, but theft from other community members is not the solution.

This year our gardening association is in the process of building a fence.  Because our garden is run by an organization (VINES), a wonderful organization) which serves low income people, urban people in food deserts and other disadvantaged people, they've tried to be gentle about "please don't steal from us". (Note, the fence isn't finished yet).

We arrived at the raised bed with some transplants and seeds.  Garlic (left) and peas (right top) are already planted.  Today, we planted some eggplant, peppers, a few onion plants, and three rows of zinnias. We also have one traditional plot, and spouse is in process of planting there.

Finished for today at our garden, we moved on to our house.  While spouse transplanted some flower seedlings, I planted two pots, one with scented geranium plants I bought in Ithaca a couple of weeks ago and the other with a Mexican herb I hope to blog about in the near future.  I also planted one more hanging basket.

Now, it looks like it's going to rain but we aren't sure.  Warmer weather is moving in, and hopefully we'll finally have true spring at last.