The freeze last week hurt some of the plants, so for those of you who are holding off because of the weather, that was a wise move.  We lost a basil plant, and it’s still to be determined whether or not the three tomato plants will bounce back.  A marigold was damaged, but I think it’ll be okay.  Lots of the green beans sprouted, then something wreaked havoc on them (I don’t know what), so we’ve got only 4 or 5 plants that I think will actually do well, which means that I need to plant some more.  Most of the carrots have sprouted, and everything else seems to be doing okay.

There were initially lots of people expressing interest in the garden, but only two families have actually planted something – my family, and the Johnsons.  Is it just that everyone’s waiting for the weather to warm up more, or has everyone suddenly found themselves too busy?  We do still have the entirety of the higher raised bed available, and half of one one of the smaller beds.  We have the material to build more, but we’re going to hold off on that, until we definitely have more interest and know that the new beds will be used.

So, if you’re interested, please write me (Chris) and let me know!

Here are some pictures of what Sonia and I have planted.

Marigolds help to keep bugs away.

Swiss Chard adds more color to the garden, and it tastes great.

Once the weather warms up, these basil plants will be huge and fragrant.

In addition to marigolds, chard, and basil, we’ve planted three kinds of tomatoes – one of them is Brandywine, an heirloom variety, cucumbers, strawberries, two kinds of green beans, bell peppers, jalapenos, carrots, onions, cilantro, parsley, and chives.

For instance, you can plant a bunch of carrots in one square, and two weeks later, plant more carrots in the square next to it.  This will ensure that you have a constant supply of carrots.  Once you harvest the first square, you can work some organic material back into the soil and plant something else there.  Managing small plots means less weeding, watering, cultivating – less work.  You’ll be surprised at how much you can produce in such a small space.

To read more, look at the links section on the right side of this page – especially the link regarding plant spacing.

Today would not have happened without the generosity of those who lent their strength and sweat (and even blood!), as well as some leftovers they had laying around – Doug Stewart, Jennifer Elshire, James Johnson and his sons, Dylan, Grant, Blake, and Noah.  I feel indebted to all of them, and I’m grateful to be in the company of such people.

The trailer full of rich earth

Friday evening, Doug Stewart got his giant flatbed trailer out of storage, and took me and my family to Living Earth Technologies to pick up three yards of dark, rich, aromatic gardening soil, which we parked at the garden site to await the big work day.

Jennifer Elshire brought the metal this morning and we got straight to work on building the first bed out of bricks while we waited for James Johnson and his sons, who were at his house loading up huge chunks of broken concrete.

The most difficult part of the work was scraping the grass and its roots from the ground. Without this step, the shorter beds will soon find lush, healthy grass growing among the lettuce and radishes. Each person pitched in on this job for as long as their back would hold out, and then the job would pass to the next victim.

Sonia digging up the grass

We completed the first bed, which was made with bricks held in place with rebar, and moved on to the second bed.  Three of the walls were formed from recycled parts of metal lockers, and the third wall was made with more bricks.

Dylan and Grant build the fourth wall out of brick

The third bed was constructed from big and small chunks of broken concrete, the leftovers of a patio James has replaced with a deck.  It was during the construction of this bed that Blake demonstrated his dedication to this garden by shedding blood, when he scraped his hand on a sharp edge of rock.

Gloves kept Grant's hands safe from injury.

The last planting bed is shaped like a circle, and was made from the corrugated metal that Jennifer was able to donate.  We wanted to elevate this one so that people who have bad backs can have a planting bed that they can work without straining their backs.  We built the walls of this one first, and filled it halfway with the remaining concrete chunks, then filled the upper half with soil, which required James and Dylan to lift wheelbarrows full of dirt over the wall and dump it in.

A wheelbarrow loaded with soil

At the end of the day, everyone was tired, sweaty, and dirty.

James takes a break.

Again, huge, heartfelt thanks to everyone who was able to pitch in.  It was a lot of work, but don’t worry if you weren’t able to make it today – there’s lots left to be done!

From left: Sonia, Blake, James, Noah (crouching), Dylan, Grant, Chris (Jennifer had to leave early for a birthday lunch)

Tomorrow is our first work day on the garden, and our goal will be to complete at least 3 raised beds – and possibly even get some seeds in the ground.  I’m excited that after talking about this for the better part of a year, it’s finally coming together.  Thanks to all of you who are giving of your time and resources to help make it happen!

It seems that we’ll now have lots of material for building the raised beds.  What we need now is soil, so please be on the lookout for that.

• A palate of bricks that’s been up here at St. Tim for a long time.
• Lots of broken concrete, courtesy of James Johnson
• Possibly also some wood from James
• More bricks, courtesy of Pastor Steve

Be on the lookout for people rebuilding their fences and throwing away the old fence.  We shouldn’t use treated lumber for vegetables, but for ornamental plants, that will be fine.  I like the idea of building a garden out of what would be considered junk, stuff that would otherwise wind up in a landfill somewhere, when it could be helping to produce life.

Other stuff we’ll need for the workday this weekend.

• Dirt
• Humus
• Wheelbarrows (I can bring one)
• Tillers (I have one, and Brad has one)
• Shovels
• Sledgehammers
• Wooden or metal stakes

Down the road, as we continue to build, we’ll need:

• Crushed gravel
• Mulch
• Maybe a fence – hopefully people won’t vandalize the garden
• Other ornamental things we’d like to add.
• Hoses

We can’t use treated lumber because the chemicals in it will leach out into the soil.  We CAN use: cedar, cypress, redwood, corrugated metal, stone, cinder block, and brick.  Keeping that in mind, there are a few places we can keep watching for used materials:

• Construction sites, who will often let you take their scrap materials
• Home Depot or Lowe’s – especially for the pallets they throw away, which can be taken apart.
• Free stuff on Craigslist (houston.craigslist.org/zip)
• Freecycle (Houston and Tomball – you’ll have to click “Join This Group” on the Houston page)
• The Habitat ReStore (at 13572 Hwy 249).  Not free, but the prices are good, and the money goes to a good cause.

And of course, if any of you find out about friends or neighbors who have materials they’d be willing to donate, please let us know.  You can either post a response here on the site or email me.

Thanks!

With winter on its way out, we need to break ground, and build some raised beds.  We can already be planting a few vegetables, like onions, spinach, and peas – and if you’ve never had raw sugar snap peas straight off of the vine, you’re missing out.  And in only a fewf weeks, it will be time to plant LOTS of stuff – broccoli, beans of all kinds, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce…

I’ll be looking to nail down a ground breaking day very soon, but I need to know what days and times are best for those of you who would like to be involved.  Also, how do you feel about having work days on Sundays after church?  Please submit some feedback on what would work best for you, and keep watching the site for updates.

Now, having said that, we can still work on the garden on an individual basis, if you have the time to do so.  Remember that there has been some money donated towards purchasing materials for the garden.  If there are a sufficient number of you who are able to put some work into getting this started up, please let me know.  We need to begin by either creating some raised beds or simply tilling up some areas.

I had a dream last night about a garden full of herbs (I remember seeing lots of basil, in particular).  Could that have been God telling me to go ahead and plant herbs?  Would God care about something like that?  Absolutely!  It’s His Creation!  Could it have been merely a dream?  Of course.  Whatever the case, it doesn’t take much time to create some areas in which to plant some herbs, so, again, if you’ve got the time, let me know, and I’ll make sure the property is open for you to get in.

As I anticipate that I will be too busy over the next few weekends (I’ll be helping people in Baytown this weekend, and at a conference next weekend) to organize anything regarding our garden, I won’t be organizing any work days, but this is one way that using a web site can help us out.  If one of you want to organize a work day or two over the next few weeks, post a comment here on the site, and others can also respond via comments.

I will update the site again in a couple of weeks, and I’ll keep you posted on any work days that get planned.  Thanks for your patience as we get things cleaned up from the storm.  I hope that all of you are okay.