Williams Sustainable Garden Project: April Work Parties

Monday, May 2, 2011

April Work Parties

After being spoiled with the gorgeous weather at our one-year anniversary celebration our next two work parties were on the colder, rainy-er, numb finger side of the spectrum, but that didn't keep us from getting a lot done or having fun! We've been moving perennials from the Kellogg garden to Parsons so they don't get bulldozed in the Stetson-Sawyer construction, preparing herb barrels for Dining Services, planting, and weeding. Then the sun came back this past Saturday for an exciting morning of planting more lettuce, arugula, and spinach as well as blackberry, raspberry, and black raspberry bushes to serve as a natural fence. We also had fun helping out at the Mount Greylock High School garden work party preparing beds and planting.

Things are growing wonderfully in the Parsons and Presidential gardens- we've transplanted and direct seeded many different types of salad and cooking greens, beets, and carrots and have about 14 varieties of tomatoes as well as peppers, eggplant, okra, watermelon, and herbs growing in the greenhouse. The spinach we planted right before spring break is harvestable and delicious, so that is exciting as well. We've also been able to share lots of greens (that we had planted last fall), mostly claytonia, spinach, and arugula, with Log Lunch the last few weeks. The parsley we started back in February successfully made it to the Passover seder last week, and we hope that our collaboration with WCJA was the beginning of an annual tradition. As the semester is winding down things in the garden just keep ramping up, so we're hoping to entice some more volunteers by reviving the pre-work party pancake breakfasts that were a big hit last spring! Check out some pictures of what we've been up to: