2017
GARDEN: WARREN STREET, ELLENVILLE
The proprietor of residential premises on Warren Street, Ellenville, had long wished to cultivate the site's three-quarter acre of lawn as a vegetable garden, but had lacked sufficient knowledge and confidence to undertake such a relatively large-scale project.
In the early spring of 2017, learning from the local government, the Village of Ellenville, of the community vegetable gardens project, the proprietor contacted John with a proposal for the Warren Street site to become a part of the “Ellenville Garden Village” project.
Although John's focus at this time had been in trying to engage the help of volunteers in order to commence cultivation of a plot belonging to Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, Ellenville, reliable voluntary assistance was not forthcoming. Given that the Warren Street proprietor's proposal included two volunteer gardeners, John visited this site and assessed its cultivation potential. The soil was rich, drainage was good, and sunlight into the growing area could be improved with moderate branch removal from the trees lining the eastern length of the garden. Furthermore, the proprietor was in a position to provide the materials and equipment necessary to create a vegetable garden over the coming few months of 2017.
John therefore designed a 34-bed cultivation plan for this 3,500 sq ft site.
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| Warren Street: Cultivation Plan, 2017 |
It was agreed that organic best practices must be applied in creating and maintaining this vegetable garden, and that a significant portion of the garden's harvests will be donated to local food pantries and soup kitchens.
The Warren Street proprietor obtained the following basic tools and materials:
Spade
Gardening fork
Shovel
Rake
Hoe
Trowel
Irrigation equipment: watering can, garden hose
String and stakes
Measuring stick
Wheelbarrow
Gardening gloves
Sharp knife
Fence posts
Deer-proof fencing (provided by Ace Hardware, Ellenville)
The Warren Street proprietor and her daughter proved enthusiastic and hard-working gardeners, removing turf with John, and roto-tilling the exposed soil, as 12ft x 4ft vegetable beds were created in May and June, 2017.
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Preparing
the soil at the Warren Street vegetable garden: removing turf
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A nice variety of vegetable seeds had been provided by the Kerhonkson Seed Library for the overall multi-garden project, and, once a few vegetable beds had been prepared at the Warren Street site, tomato and pepper starter plants (kindly donated for this garden by Flowers By Lynn, Ellenville) were transplanted into the sunniest beds along the western length of the garden.
Not all 34 vegetable beds were sown (or filled with starter transplants) at the Warren Street site in 2017, as the eastern length of the garden was deemed to receive insufficient sunlight for plants to reach maturity. However, a branch removal project is planned ahead of the 2018 season.
Although deer proofed, this garden lost a number of crops to groundhogs in 2017, therefore shoring up the fencing will be another vital inter-season task. Happily, there was success in this garden's first year with other crops, and a small surplus was given to Ellenville's Green Certified restaurant, Aroma Thyme Bistro, who added a “Warren Street Eggplant” dish to their August, 2017 menu.
It is intended that this will truly become a community garden in future years, serving as a teaching garden that will introduce local young people to the skills and knowledge involved in producing one's own natural foods.