Continuing our work in the garden last Sunday, we finished building rows from front to back, while having fun!

Then, as we got all the plants in the ground, we gave them a good deep watering with the help of neighbor kids.

It’s amazing how gardening brings people of all ages outside and working together on a common goal.   So many people have stopped by this project drawn in by activity and the impact of a simple “hello!”

Feeling ambitious last week, we even got the front terrace done as far as our collection of donated stones would take us and then put in some ground cover and seeded the area heavily with wildflowers, using a few lilies as accents.   Plants and stone certainly improve the street scape of this once vacant lot and make the whole project feel further along.  We’ll have more to share on this as we go!

Not to be out done by the crew working on the front terrace, Woody tries his hand at “Straw Bale Gardening.”  So far we have 3 bales and 2 of them have sweet potatoes in them.  The 3rd is planned for potatoes.  The bales provide the depth these plants need in an instantly raised bed format.  We’ve never tried this before, so we’re eager to see how well this experiment could work to grow plants.

What we can report is that this garden is working on the level of bringing people together, sharing ideas, enjoying nature, and building community across differences.   Like this solar-powered hummingbird that now lights the stairs at 4th Street, the garden provides a small  flickering ray of hope and unity to a once neglected lot.