Dear Friends,
I just returned from our third weekly drop off at A Place To Turn—what a joyful way to start the week. Early crops of lettuce, kale, radishes, chard and peas are ready now. They help fill the gap while we wait for summer to really take hold in the garden.
All beds are planted now at both sites, and we are nearing the end of hand-watering new seedlings, The drip irrigation system is running well at Edwards Church three times weekly which seems to be plenty. Things are very wet with overhead sprinkler watering at First Parish, and I hope the arrival of summer heat will help to dry things out a bit more between waterings there. While we are battling with bunnies at Edwards and insects who seem to be enjoying our spinach, beans and broccoli at First Parish, I feel confident that we will succeed. I am investigating things like homemade pepper spray and neem oil to safely fight back….and mostly I am trying to be patient and persistent. Green beans and cucumbers have started their way up new trellises, and this week we will stake the tomatoes for the first time. A new crop for us— potatoes—seems to be off to a strong start at Edwards, and I am eager to see how they do!
We continue to do pre-arranged volunteering with just two people at a time—there are always people available to help. The inclusion of more people to hand water and to grow seedlings at home has made a path for new volunteers to join in. I’m not sure our efforts to get started extra early this season have made much of a difference in our early yields, but I do think the home seed-starting helps to improve seed germination and allow us to start in the garden with stronger seedlings. It is an experiment we will continue next year for sure.
Here is the link to our 2020 album of photos from the season for you to enjoy! Some of these are shared on instagram and facebook also to help spread the word about the work underway in our community. As always, if there are people interested in working with us, send them our way!
For Framingham Community Farm,
Diane Bassett