Rethinking the plot.

(My mom hates it when I refer to the community garden as a “plot”. She says it sounds like I’m going to a cemetery.)

On Monday night Graham and I went over to the community garden to gather whatever tomatoes had ripened. I also wanted to see if any of my squash plants had fruit on them.

A few weeks ago I wrote about a decision I had made to turn in my garden key at the end of this season. However, after this recent visit to the garden, I’ve been re-thinking that decision. There are a few reasons I’m going to stay.

1. I was talking to Peggy, the woman who handles all of the administrative aspects of the garden, about the insanity of the weeds in my plot. She suggested that we start our own compost pile in our garden rather than haul everything over to the big pile. I really didn’t think that would be acceptable to the other gardeners, so I was glad to hear that. It would be a lot easier to manage the weeds if I could just compost them on my plot instead of having to move them all with a wheelbarrow to the other side of the garden, where the main compost pile is.

2. Someone had brought a laptop into the shed and I was invited to watch a beautiful photo slideshow of the kids who garden there. It featured all kinds of great shots of girls and boys proudly holding up their harvested tomatoes, carrots and potatoes. I caught a little bit of their enthusiasm, standing there in the shed with the other gardeners.

3. Peggy asked some of us if we’d like to have a get-together at the end of the season to share the food we’d grown. I was thrilled! The community “feel” that I was hoping to experience there finally took hold of me.

4. We harvested so many Roma tomatoes I don’t know what to do with them all. Well, I know what to do with them all, I just don’t know how I’m going to find the time to do it all before they rot. I still have all of my Banana Leggs to roast. I think I’m going to have to freeze a lot now that we’re getting to the end of the season.

5. I realized that I really do need to add mulch to my beds, and that will help keep the weeds down considerably. I found out that I can buy a bale of straw for about $5 just down the road.

6. I have a better idea of what to expect from the community plot for another season. I can plant accordingly.

So you will see me at the community garden for another season. Like all gardeners, I need to continue to practice patience and continue to remember the sense of gratitude we felt at leaving the garden that night with so much good food.

(You were right about the squash, Mel…there are two small Musquee de Provence squash growing! I hope they’ll be a good size around Thanksgiving. They will make a beautiful centrepiece.)

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