Parsons Garden: A New Look

What a week it has been! After kicking off with our first work party last Sunday and first pot luck on Monday (attended by over twenty-five people), the following days saw many additions to the garden. Two of the circle beds in Parsons were cleared out and expanded for... ASPARAGUS.

Asparagus

That's right. In just two to three years Williams will have its own asparagus forest. One reason asparagus had not been planted before is because it is a delayed perennial. It also requires trenches 6-8 inches deep for planting, which, given the amount of asparagus we planted, was a lot digging.

Then, on Thursday, our strawberries, blackberries and raspberries arrived. On Friday we began construction on our trellis, meant to serve both as a border, and new face for the garden. To do this, we imported black locust logs and forest managers from Hopkins Forest. In order to anchor the stakes we dug two foot post holes and surrounded the posts with crushed rock.

Construction on our berry trellis!

We then dug up the ground between them and transformed them into beds. Simultaneously, Lucy and a few garden interns from Mount Greylock High School, transformed a grown over bed into a strawberry patch. Now we must clear all of the dirt from the excavations and go back to the daily maintenance that is essential to all gardening.

Perhaps most importantly, our Facebook page (The Garden: Williams Sustainable Growers) is nearing 100 likes!!