Karen from Healthy Brandon got us started with our contracts to sign, and Nancy filled us in on the improvements that are coming. With the help of a Green Grant from Walmart, we will be able to add some raised beds to our plot, and bring the water closer to the plots. By the end of the summer we hope to have an above-ground irrigation system with soaker hoses to deliver the water gently to the roots where it's needed. This will help keep our water bills down as we won't lose as much to evaporation!
Once we had all agreed to the rules, Nancy and Karen officially declared the gardening season open!
Brian got out his measuring tape to divide out the plots, and found we were short a few feet from what we thought we had. Instead of 64 feet across, we were barely at 60... so some adjustments were made. We still have our centre walkway, however, and each plot only lost about a foot from what we were promised. The ground plots are now about 14" by 14". We gardeners may be Canadian but we still garden in feet and inches! Everyone pitched in to string out the plots, or at least supervise. How many people does it take to stretch a string and drive in a few stakes?
By 8:30 it was all marked out and the claims were staked. There was some last minute wheeling and dealing as people exchanged ground plots for raised beds, and the raised bed locations were moved around to improve access to the water. Good thing they're not built yet, or we couldn't move them!
As the sun went down, a few keen gardeners were still on their plots, laying out boundary lines and planting the first few rows of radishes. The early bird may get the worm, but the early gardener gets the first radish!
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