Trellises Galore!

Today we took delivery of our trellises, donated by a generous local business. They gave us twelve in all, plus a couple of broken ones that we salvaged for parts. We also picked up the lumber for the second compost bin. The lumber was ripped to its pieces at la casa de Estevez-Curtis and then assembled by Dylan on site. The result is a duplicate to the first, ready to go when the kids return next Tuesday. While the lumber was being cut, Dylan and Erica sprinkled a little bit more sulfur onto the soils. Then they found a black cricket with an orange stripe on one of the sunflowers. They checked with County Extension, which told them to kill it and any others we found. I moved the pile of compost from the location where we put the new compost to the other side of the old compost. At the same time, Erica disassembled trellises to put on the ends of the beds with the snap peas. We might note a very important event occurred this morning when we picked the very first piece of food from our garden. A small snap pea. Dylan and Erica reported that it was delicious. We put two trellises on the end of three beds. I planted the rest of the peas in the empty spots where peas did not grow yet. I also planted turnips in the bed where none have yet surfaced after a month. We put three pyramid trellises in the beds where the climbing cucumbers are growing. We need to decide what to do with the rest of the trellises. I like the idea of placing them at the perimeter of the garden and planting some native vines to cover them. Or, perhaps, to move some of the morning glories popping up along the fence line.

Today it was overcast all day long. It threatened rain several times and even dropped a few torturous drops, but the skies never opened as we needed them to. Nevertheless, we referained from watering today. The beds had damp spots and I wanted everything to have a chance to dry out. We spent about two and a half hours out there this morning.

I am still struck by the beauty of the simplicity of the Edible Peace Patch. We have had to do a lot of work, but the landscape is saying peas now, and tomato, pepper, and will soon be saying corn, beans, and squash, where it once only said grass. We are just over halfway through our experiment this semester. The results are starting to show.