Minton Stable Garden Annual Meeting

Despite the rain and the unintentional conflict with the first night of Passover, about 30 Minton Stable Community Gardeners attended the annual meeting, which took place on Monday night down the street in the English High School library. At least one of the lucky former waitlisters was there to pay her $30 dues and sign her contract stating that she will follow the ever-increasing list of rules; new additions for 2010 include a protocol for dealing with people who are at risk of losing their plot (due to not completing hours or other violations), the procedure for those wanting to use the property for their own gatherings, and the opportunity to donate extra work hours into a bank so others who may have some physical limitations or other emergency can have them applied to meet their own requirement (still 4 hours per season). With a few families and individuals having left the neighborhood since last season, a few more plots are being allocated to those at the top of the waitlist (of now over 40 wannabe gardeners).Thanks to Allan for sending me photos; I posted this one because it features almost everyone in attendance. If you click on photo to enlarge it you can make out the Steering Committee members in the back facing the crowd--I'm wearing yellow, Todd is left of me, John is right of me in a white shirt, Asa (in a black jacket with white stripes) is discussing the rules, Terry is right of her (in a maroon sweater). Roxane is sitting on the left side of the table, wearing a light blue shirt and taking notes on her laptop. Jennifer, who usually takes notes and chairs meetings, was taking a well-deserved vacation in Guatemala.

We managed to finish ahead of schedule so I could (as treasurer) process the dues payments of everyone who had brought them. In past years different issues extended the meeting; at least once there were disagreements between dog owners and gardeners over where dogs could roam and do their business, and the year the shed was built there was much discussion about how to carry out that project. But this year dogs were hardly mentioned. Bees were, though, as Joe (one of the gardeners) presented some information in advance of a possible proposal to keep some at the garden, a project in such an early stage that it has not sparked any controversy. One item that members did want to discuss was how to better turn our weeds and plant waste into compost. Right now we don't have the capability and there are sanitation issues as well, but there seems to be enough interest and energy to investigate and implement a plan to change that.

If you are a member reading this post, I would like to remind you that there will be four Steering Committee seats to be filled in the election this May. Asa, Roxane, and I will stay on for the second year of our two-year term, but the four whose terms are ending have decided not to run again. Sure, there is work involved, and decisions to be made, but we only meet for two hours a month. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have (there's a link on my profile page if you want to email me), or you can contact the committee at mintonstablegarden@yahoo.com.

Last work day

What a wild weather weekend as usual...another work day postponed as 1-2 inches of rain soaked the Boston area yesterday. Certainly not ideal conditions for hauling compost. Today's temperatures in the 60s made up for it, that is, if one doesn't worry about whether or not the neighborhood will be underwater in a few years from all these possible effects of global warming.Having finished up my work requirement earlier in the season and experiencing some back problems, I chose not to participate, but I stopped over at the Minton Stable Garden to harvest more broccoli sideshoots (see above) and see how the work was progressing. John, who along with Todd from the Steering Committee was running the work day, filled me in on who managed to show up to finish up their hours. They had finished loading this truck, but because Apple D'Or Tree, the composting business and destination for our yard waste, is closed on Sunday, it will spend the night here. Hopefully the tires won't sink deeper in the mud overnight. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to compost all our waste on site because it doesn't get hot enough in our receptacles for it to break down. Although Apple D'Or is nearby and not expensive, what to do about our composting still remains an issue; a few people on the Steering Committee are interested in developing a workable on-site system.After I picked the broccoli I also noticed that the garlic I planted a few weeks ago is coming up.As I lingered to take photos of the garden Ralph and Karla showed up to begin the next phase of their work contribution: fitting the shed with hooks and other fixtures so our tools and supplies can be stored efficiently. Ralph is a woodworker and Karla designs cabinetry configurations (the Steering Committee was duly impressed with her blueprints), so the project is in good hands. There had been a bit of complaining among us about tools being left around the garden and difficulty maneuvering around the shed to retrieve needed items. These improvements will give items their proper place and free up some more space for storage.

Winterization bearing down

The deadline at the Minton Stable Garden for winterizing one's plot is November 1. By this date gardeners are expected to cut back perennials, clear out annuals, and remove all of the fencing, tools, supports, bags of soil, and other items. The water has been shut off for the season, and only one more work day has been scheduled for the unfortunate few still needing to fulfill their four-hour requirement (or else their plot will be given to one of the thirty people on the waiting list).However, my raspberries and broccoli haven't received the memo. The rainy fall conditions have prolonged the growing season for both, with new berries for the former and the continued production of sideshoots for the latter. Otherwise, most everything else is ready to go. I had forgotten (or have been too embarrassed) to take a photo of my bean supports that fell over weeks ago. The tomatoes and peas are gone, and the perennials have been deadheaded but ready to be trimmed back completely. In about another week, material to be composted offsite will probably overflow on this tarp.One of my post ideas for earlier this summer was to showcase the elaborate supports built by my fellow gardeners. Some have been taken down already while others have the skeletal remains of whatever they supported clinging to them. Grotesquely bulging and overripe beans. Blighted tomato stems rotting against metal rings. If not slimy to the touch then crinkling from dryness. It's a shame I never got around to executing this idea, but there's always next season.

Here are a few photos of what's still up. A lean-to that the creator had intended for cucumbers (notice the nice brussel sprouts next to it).One substantial setup that once had peas climbing up strings, and still supporting the highest cosmos I've ever seen.One of several pea trellises made from pipes, broomsticks, and chicken wire.And one of my favorites: the arch connecting two raised beds designed for the handicapped. As in previous years, that will stay up throughout the winter, poking out from the snowbanks.

Wildflowers in the rain

Today I fulfilled one of my duties as a Minton Stable Garden Steering Committee member by supervising a work day. I don't know if the term "supervise" accurately described my role. It was more like I was Queen Elizabeth, Terry (or Allan or Kim) was the prime minister and the other 8 workers trying to get their hours in were a very effective House of Parliament. The objective today: advance work on the wildflower/habitat area that was begun last month on the MSG grounds.Terry and Asa, who are also on the Steering Committee, are the coordinators of this project. Prior to today, they had convened a planning meeting and held a work day a week ago to break ground of the two roundish plots. One had been completely dug up while the other was covered in newspaper and compost to kill off the grass and prevent weeds from returning. Today, Allan and Kim provided most of the native perennials and could identify them and recommend optimal places for them to be planted.Shortly before work began, around noon, I met with Terry to review what needed to be done and put out the signup sheet. After a morning of checking the weather forecast (100% chance of rain!) and trying to determine whether or not to continue plans for the work day, we stood on the grass with a light rain falling, figuring if no one appeared, we'd postpone it a week. But there was no guarantee that next Saturday's weather would be more conducive to planting, and there were a few gardeners out there who really needed their work hours (4 each season is the requirement). Sure enough, a few minutes later, they came, gloves in hand, ready to work. And this is really the best time of year to divide and plant perennials, and the people who were passionate about this project were eager to get them in.The variety of natives included milkweed, beebalm, lobelia, aster, purple coneflower, and even blueberries. Anyone in the area interested in more detail could stop by and read the little markers that a worker diligently provided for each. Asa stopped by later in the session and was quite impressed; given the weather and projections of low turnout, she thought there'd be about a half dozen plants in the ground. But we had the plots pretty much covered, leaving one small area open for new inspiration.

Around the Minton Stable Garden

It's been a while since I zoomed out of my own plot, so I spent a little time yesterday focusing on developments in other parts of the community garden. Most members have managed to keep out weeds and stay on top of their harvests. Echinacea, beebalm, phlox, and other perennials provide a variety of colors among all the green, and marigolds stand guard on the edges of many vegetable beds. A few tomatoes have reddened, while zucchini and squash are concealed under their leaves. The vines of pole beans have outgrown their trellises and in some cases begun to latch onto any nearby plants. The skeletal remains of spring peas still hang in some places, but all in all, plants are benefitting from the seasonal conditions that have often seemed the exception more than the rule.At times gardeners find that their yield is much larger than they can enjoy themselves, and if they can't give away the excess, some of it goes to waste. In response to this as well as the needs of many others in our community, the Boston Gardeners' Council has begun a food donation initiative. Once a week, participating gardens collect any unwanted produce, which gets picked up and delivered to the Roxbury Food Pantry. Our system at the MSG involves leaving a cooler out the day before, locking it in the shed overnight and bringing it back out for pickup the next morning. At first the Steering Committee thought that at this point in the season we would not collect enough to warrant a pickup but have found the cooler to be full or near-full of zuchhini, swiss chard, and other goodies that we hope have reached those who would benefit from them.The efforts from previous work days are now evident on the edges of the property. Sunflowers planted by the Dungarven Road fence conceal the chain link from anyone looking out from inside the garden, though as you can see in the above photo, they have lots of company. Meanwhile, along the back near the barbecue area, the raspberries divided and donated by a few members are on their way to a fruitful yield.But some of the most interesting developments lie ahead. At the last Steering Committee meeting, we approved taking steps to restore and redesign a wildflower area over where the Minton Stable barn had once stood, in the southeastern corner of the property. The "Habitat Paddock" would contain wildflowers and native plants that attract butterflies and birds that may also populate neighboring Franklin Park. Although this zone appears to be somewhat established already, with echinacea and flowering weeds that have been spared by the lawn mower, what it really needs is a healthy layer of compost, carefully chosen plantings, and landscaping that works for both the wildlife and the people who would like to safely enjoy and learn from it. A subcommittee and future work days devoted to this project are just the beginning.

Bonding over bindweed

Yesterday was the first Minton Stable Garden work day for the 2009 season. After I signed in, Terry, the Steering Committee member in charge, gave me two options. I could help with the weeding of the grassy near the fence along Dungarven Road, where lots of burdock and even a few rhubarb plants (which we have decided to keep) had sprouted up. Or, I could grab a shovel or hoe and help dig bindweed out of one the the heavily infested plots. The first option was pretty well covered, so I decided to join a few others for what one gardener had referred to as "bonding over bindweed," and put in my first work hour battling our horticultural equivalent of the swine flu.
Native to Europe and western Asia, bindweed is thought to have made its way to the US as early as the 1700s as a seed contaminant. Highly adaptable and proficient in finding light, bindweed will aggressively rob other plants of soil nutrients and space to grow. According a link I found about how to control it, bindweed is often referred to as wild morning glory or creeping jenny, and it is so widespread that there are words for bindweed in 29 different languages. Although I was short on time yesterday, I managed to take a few photos, including the one above of a few plants in the plot that was next to the one that four of us (including the plot-holder) dug up.What we tried our best to do was dig around the bindweed and pull it up, roots and all. Yet sometimes, despite our best efforts, we'd feel the snap of the plant breaking apart, and we'd have to dig further. We were doing that anyway, since the goal was to extract every possible piece of root, from the thick white arteries that you can see in the bag, to the smaller thread-like offshoots. We also pulled some of the bindweed from neighboring plots, though the infestation had not yet risen to the same point of severity. In any case, the gardener in the above plot, who will have to start over, and his neighbors will have to remain extra vigilant, checking for new growth weekly for the rest of the season.
What was the origin of the MSG infestation of bindweed? Could it have arrived with a load of free compost, or with some strawberries that were transplanted from an outside garden? Regarding the latter, if you look around the MSG you will find many strawberry patches, often the result of plants spreading in from neighboring plots. Some gardeners like myself had kept them as an experiment, and after a successful harvest considered them a mainstay.

This plot holder also had a strawberry patch, yet despite the possible risks of more bindweed, he has decided that in addition to tomatoes, he will keep growing strawberries. They seem to do well here, as opposed to in my backyard, where they had been eaten so often by some critters that I had to give up on growing them there, so I really can't blame him.

So, in the end, enough about the plants we don't want. With tulips in bloom everywhere, let me end this post on a brighter note.

The season begins

I'm not a big fan of meetings.  I can usually gauge the inefficiency of one by the intensity of my resulting headache.  Luckily, the Minton Stable Garden Steering Committee understands this, as there is usually only one meeting of all of the gardeners each year.  Aided by a shortage of intense controversies, about an hour was all that was needed to review rules and share other information on the upcoming season.

We gathered this past Monday at the nearby English High School library (thanks to Allan for the photo).  The important items of business included signing a contract pledging respectful gardening practices and paying the annual dues of $28.  For the past couple of years MSG members have followed through in completing their 4-hour work requirement and honoring deadlines for maintaining their gardens, with few people abandoning their plots or moving out of the city; as a result only four individuals/families have been granted plots, leaving 30 still on the waiting list.  Given the high demand to garden, a Steering Committee member explained that with nine work days scheduled and opportunities to mow and shovel, there will be no excuses for falling short this year.

Julianna from the Steering Committee provided a treasury report.  With a budget of around $1400 a year, money needs to be raised for any purchase beyond the basics (water, plantings, fuel for mowers, special events, etc.).  Two other issues that I would like to explore in future posts are an update on our bindweed situation as well as our inability to produce our own compost.

Nancie, also on the Steering Committee, brought up an idea to keep gardeners informed and give them a voice: a Yahoo group, now in the "beta" phase.  Also, members were urged to run for one of the three Steering Committee slots that will be open this year.

I had not seen many of the 30+ people in attendance since last season.  I look forward to running into them in the garden soon, if it ever stops raining.

No work shortage here

As the coordinator of yesterday's work day at the MSG, Jennifer from the Steering Committee had a variety of tasks to delegate to the participants, including some who were there to have another chance to finish their annual 4-hour work requirement.  An Excel spreadsheet documenting work hours that was sent to gardeners earlier last week revealed that over 20 plot holders have fallen short in their duties.  But there was no shortage of items on Jennifer's checklist.  Overflowing compost containers needed to be dealt with; some of them bore signs declaring that they were "closed," while volunteers were piling excess garden waste onto a tarp, I assume to be picked up with other yard waste on trash day or brought to some other location.  Last year around this time, the containers were so full, often a result of everyone pulling out their annual plants and weeds as they put their gardens to bed, that they were removed, and everyone had to carry out their garden waste.    

Some other workers were digging around trees that had been planted after the garden was rebuilt in 2004, because the roots were not at a healthy depth.  I agreed to mow the grass in the dog area; as pleasant as it was to work in the shade, I found out the hard way that not everyone had been cleaning up after their pets.

And, like at a previous work day, more native plants were put in.  In some cases, making room for them can be irritating.  Curtis was wearing thick rubber gloves to remove stinging nettles, which have making inroads from their usual location along the fences, where they are usually kept at bay through mowing.  That would not have been my first choice of work day task, but Curtis didn't mind, as he appreciates the plant's medicinal qualities.  I've spoken to a few gardeners over the years who swear by nettles, not for the medieval practice of whipping patients with paralysis, but for making a tea from the dried leaves to treat infections, pain, hay fever, and other conditions.

Over by the children's play area, on the way to the Williams Street entrance, holes were being dug and leveled with gravel to make way for a memorial to John Carroll, the first person to garden on the lot.  He passed away nearly one year ago, but not without having a chance to witness much of the work that had been put in to preserve the beauty and function of this area, for both gardeners and non-gardeners.

Return of the Raspberries

Today's community garden work day was productive.  Having glanced at the sign-in sheet, it appeared that at least 20 gardeners and wannabe gardeners showed up.  Having gotten to know several people in the latter group over the summer, I hope that they'll get off the waiting list soon.  Then next spring they can get their hands dirty on a more regular basis and channel some of that community involvement they have displayed into a rewarding gardening experience.  And we'll see them more often.

Usually we spend our work days pulling plants out of the ground.  There was still a bit of that to be done today.  I was assigned the task of pulling out whatever burdock I could find in the common areas.  I did my best to dislodge the noxious weed's stubborn roots, but I cannot claim victory.  I wouldn't be surprised if we had to repeat this task at the October work day.

However, most of the participants were busy putting plants in the ground, including asters and goldenrod, native plants that are coming into their peak of beauty at this time of year.  But the initiative that is exciting me the most involves something sweeter.

One of my favorite features of the old Minton Stable Garden was the cluster of raspberry plants located near the back fence.  They were believed to have been planted by John Carroll, and anyone was welcome to feast on them.  When the site was razed to make way for the new garden design, those plants disappeared.  

Not far from the original patch, a new area (see photo) was dug up today and fortified with compost.  Gardeners will be urged to dig up and plant their excess raspberry bushes in the new plot so everyone can enjoy them for years to come.  I wish I had some plants to divide!  But I'm looking forward to the return of this MSG feature.

Doing our part

I returned today to the garden after a week-long absence to pick a few tomatoes and a bouquet.  Also to survey the results of last Thursday's work evening.  It's been my unfortunate luck that I have missed the last three work days, due to vacation plans, a course that meets Wednesday nights, and a crunch time at work.  Luckily, my husband Steve and I had the foresight to sign up for mowing, a monumental task that we never quite completed, even after fulfilling the annual 4 work hours required and then some.  The much-touted riding mower was awaiting parts, so we had to switch off using the one operational gas-powered push mower and our electric mower.  It was a struggle to tame the overgrown grass, constantly wet from the intermittent July rains.  Still, I would still recommend signing up to mow to any gardener who has had difficulty making it to the work events.  It's not unusual for plot holders to find that September has arrived and they are an hour or two shy of meeting their work requirement.

The July work evening was nearly rained out, but without having heard a report, I could tell that last week's was much more productive.  Most of the various trees and other native plantings in the area at the corner of Williams Street and Dungarven Road are no longer choked by weeds, and the length of the grass no longer inhibits anyone from walking right up to them.  Also, many gardeners heeded the call to weed the section of path adjacent to their plots, so in general the place is now "under control," though thankfully (in my opinion) not too manicured and sterile.

In a neighborhood as diverse at Stoneybrook, there are always bound to be different standards for how neat and tidy a community garden should be.  What some might regard as the natural beauty of native plants might be seen by others as a bunch of tick-harboring weeds.  In meetings there has been much debate over how much should be allowed to remain wild. Another related issue concerns what should be allowed to exist on the property.  I remember the controversy over some wood preserved after the demolition of the old Minton Stable barn back in the mid-1990s.  Some gardeners had grand plans for the 10-inch southern yellow pine planks to be used to build a shed, while others saw the wood pile as an eyesore.  The boards became punky and eventually had to be removed.

My general feeling is that a border of native plantings provides a needed buffer between the property and the street and abutters, and is also important for attracting butterflies, birds, and other wildlife.  However, during my mowing last month as I encountered asters, black-eyed susans and other plants running rampant, I was unsure of where that line should be drawn.