Give community gardening a chance.

I’ve just returned from the community garden where, sadly, weeds have begun to march again across my plot. I stopped by the garden today on my way home from doing some errands. I was sort of dreading going there, because it has been about 12 days since I went last. I knew that there wouldn’t be a tremendous amount of growth in my absence, because the soil just isn’t that great and I haven’t been fertilizing with anything other than a couple of wheelbarrows full of compost. I haven’t had to go over to water because we have had rain every couple of days.

Although it was slightly overwhelming to see all of those weeds rearing their ugly heads again, I wasn’t completely disappointed. Some of the beans I planted have sprouted, and the cucumbers are starting to slowly make their way up the contraption I built for them. Ironically, the plants that are doing the best are the ones I had nothing to do with: the tomatoes. Other than let these volunteer plum tomatoes just “do their thing”, I had nothing to do with their success. There is even fruit on most of the plants.

The squash aren’t as big yet as I hoped they would be, but there has been some growth, and there are flower buds on all four of the plants. Some of the sunflower seeds I stuck in around the edges of the plot have germinated. The mint, anise-hyssop and golden jubilee hyssop I brought over from my back yard garden are all doing okay.

I replanted some of the eggplants and peppers because they were too shallow and clearly suffering. Then the rain that was simply spitting got more serious and I had to abandon my weeding job.

Lately I’ve been trying to decide if I’m going to bother with the community plot again next year. It hasn’t been exactly the experience that I was hoping it would be. I was hoping to connect with some other gardeners, and while I have chatted with a few of the other gardeners, I haven’t really become friendly with anyone. I’m told this isn’t unusual. On the other hand, I haven’t put the energy into this garden that I thought I would. This spring was very busy for us, and I was late getting started. I have definitely learned a few things. And it is nice to have a garden where you can kind of let it go or just decide that you aren’t going to lose sleep if a few of that particular plant gets eaten by bugs.

When I left the community garden today, I felt like there was a lot of work ahead of me in that plot still, but I wasn’t as discouraged as I have been other days. It’s not a contest over there, after all. It’s difficult for me not to feel a bit competitive about my plot when some of the plots there are so damn pretty, full, productive and intensely planted. I’ve just got to continue to amend the soil and plan better for next season. And then follow through with that plan, if I decide to give it another chance.

Today I feel like I will.

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