This last Saturday was an exciting day at the Farm for two reasons--it was the first day we planted something, and the first day we began composting!
When we arrived, we discovered what the interns had worked on during the week prior: a completed compost bin sitting on a level area that looks like it's been bramble-free for months!
Ain't she purdy?
They had also worked on the area around the drain. Near the middle of the Farm, there is a 2 foot square drain that allows any runoff from the sprinkers or rain to escape, rather than sit on the grassy level. The fact that a drain was necessary seems to point to the fact that a grassy lawn, no matter how thirsty, is not the most efficient way to handle runoff. Now that the grass is gone, there's a potential for the dirt and compost to clog the drain. We've covered it temporarily with some landscapers burlap, but a better solution is to let some ground-covering plants do what they do best--absorb and filter water and keep dirt where it needs to be.
A circular area around the drain was dug and turned, which aerated the soil and loosened it for planting. Any clumps of that tenacious sod that still had not broken down were hauled away to the compost pile. The work went pretty quickly, especially with Julia leading us in song! "Our roots go down, down in the ground..."
Once the soil was ready, we brought in the plants. We chose low-growing perennial herbs that will quickly fill the area. Of course by quickly, we mean by late Fall, but in the long run, that's quick enough. We planted thyme, sage, peppermint, Chocolate mint, pennyroyal, yarrow, oregano, lemon balm, and a red-veined sorrel. We then mulched our new herb bed with our Eucalyptus bark mulch and watered it well.
Of course the risk of planting anything in the city, as many urban home gardeners can tell you, is that it may not be there the next day. Vandalism is the bane of every big city, even America's Finest. We have been holding off planting much at this point, because we are waiting for the installation of the perimeter fence. But I'm happy to report, that as of the following Monday morning, our herbs were where we planted them and they looked very content!
Next up: compost! Paul brought a truckload of a variety of green plant materials to add to what we had from clearing the Farm site. To read more about how compost is made, and why it is so important for organic gardening, this wikipedia entry is a good start.
So we had a big pile of green stuff--what to do with it?
Actually, the first thing we did was pull the sugar cane out of there! The sugar cane (what looks sort of like bamboo in the lower left corner of the pile up there) grows in Paul's yard. We have to count ourselves lucky to be living in a city where we can grow almost anything, nearly year 'round. So we had ourselves a little local meal of oranges, grapefruit and sugar cane. Paul showed us how gorillas peel the cane with their canine teeth, and we all embraced our inner gorilla.
Some of us also embraced our inner 10-year-old--maybe it was the raw cane juice?
Then it was back to work. We all gathered together for a fantastic lecture by Paul on compost (preceeded by an interesting lecture on the robber fly, after finding one hitching a ride on Ben's leg). By the time I left, the remaining folks were using shovels to break up all the greenery, and by Monday morning, it looked like this:
