Winter Recaps

In order to provide better perspective on everything that will be happening, I want to take this opportunity just before spring preparations begin to highlight what has been happening at each property.

Croft Place



Residents and DNDA built 10 garden beds in May 2010. There is a decent amount of interest among residents, but currently only solid participation from 2. Last season residents grew collards, zucchini, pumpkin, carrots, and broccoli among other veggies. Croft Place also has an evening Garden Club once a week, mostly for kids but open to adults as well. It's been on hold for winter, but will be starting back up in March. Expect a lot of pictures from that in the future!

With the help of the 2 involved residents and the kids, a lot has been accomplished in the garden. A few kids spent a couple of days helping me build a retaining wall out of broken concrete, and some DNDA staff came out one day as well. One resident took the initiative to have wood chips delivered and we spread them in the pathways between the beds. Over the winter 3 of the 10 beds have been resting under a layer of sheet compost to add organic matter to the soil and another 3 have Fava Beans growing as a cover crop, adding nitrogen.



Portions of two beds have a winter crop of garlic growing. The root systems have been growing underground since early November, and just recently they started sending up their green stems. If all goes well, the bulbs should be ready in a few short months.

Delridge Heights



Delridge Heights has also had a garden since the spring of last year. This past season 2 residents grew cabbage, collards, carrot, tomato, peppers, and squash, just to name a few, in 3 garden beds. We built a 4th bed this fall. Again, not a great amount of resident involvement, however some additional residents recently expressed interest in regularly receiving fresh produce from the gardens. The two active gardeners have agreed to dedicate some of the garden to growing food for community distribution! This way, people have better access to fresh produce and hopefully will take greater interest in the garden after eating the delicious veggies!

Vivian McLean Place



Vivian McLean Place has a relatively large group of around 8 residents that are consistent, experienced gardeners and are dedicated to their garden space. They have some great ideas to work towards sustainability such as selling flowers and starts and implementing a more efficient and effective compost system. Mostly I'm just looking forward to spring and summer cookouts on the garden patio and seeing all of the boxes filled with flowers, fruits, and veggies again. The residents of the Vivian have even offered to help me with any of the gardens at other properties, whether it means building new beds or talking with residents about gardening tips.



Stay tuned for background on the other properties. Sorry for the poor picture quality. They were taken with a Flip video and then the stills were extracted. In the future they will be much better!

Thanks for reading!