THE SEASON'S FIRST CUTTING OF HAY

The community garden abuts a hay field (to which it was once a part), and its time for the first cutting of the grass.  The field has been full of wild flowers, supporting a thriving bee and butterfly population, but there are now enough cultivated flowers from which they can collect pollen.  

This first cutting serves as a signal that it is time to cut back the grass in the small orchard that is part of the donation garden.  This area is also full of wild flowers, and some cultivated flowers, and one day we hope it will be a wild flower meadow.  But for now, it is a mixture of grass, flowers and unwanted weeds.  As we like to keep things simple, the garden does not have tractors, brush hogs or mechanical tools, so the orchard is maintained the old fashioned way - with a scythe.

It is hard work, so the process is spread over several days, but it does give one an appreciation for farming practices prior to farm machinery.  Imagine spending your day scything a field, then raking it up and tossing it on a wagon, to then have to unload and stack the hay.  Exhausting! 

We've had a good amount of rain which makes for very happy weeds in the garden beds.  While some of the gardeners use bagged compost on their beds, others use the compost produced at the garden.  It is easy to tell which beds use the garden compost - because it is not sieved, it is full of seeds, especially tomato seeds left from last year's fall cleanup.  Unfortunately we have too short a growing season for these nomadic seeds to grow into fruit-producing plants, so constant weeding is necessary.

Folks have been great about maintaining their garden beds, and the garden looks great!  More gardeners are using netting to control for potato bugs, and they are also using the recommended diatomaceous earth to control for flea beetles on the brassicas, so vegetable plants are thriving.  A healthy crop of garlic scapes was had (there are four jars of pickled garlic scapes in my refrigerator!), and peas should soon be ready for harvesting.

It is hoped that the weather will continue to cooperate, bringing us enough rain and sun to achieve a good harvest and allowing the gardeners to have a thoroughly enjoyable summer maintaining their plots.