A new year is here, and with it comes hope. All those good intentions come roaring back, ready to improve our lives. Last year, we began creating an edible landscape in the old, disused playground. We promised you updates on our activities, and sharing what we learned as we experimented in our new space. Those posts got written, but never published.
So our resolution for 2017 is to both write and publish our edible landscape adventure (with pictures, of course!) We’ll aim to do one a week, keeping you informed of our progress, our activities, our successes, our failures, and any lessons we glean from all of it. …And we’ll probably slip in last year’s posts (as they become seasonally relevant.)
Above: growing soil!
Right now, we’re growing soil. Aboveground, the garden looks asleep; belowground, many organisms are busy converting multiple layers of compost and mulch into rich soil. You may have heard of it, it goes by many names: sheet-mulching and lasagna-gardening are two common ones. Growing soil doesn’t take much effort from the gardener (other than patience), so while the garden doesn’t need our immediate attention, we are inside, warm and cozy, surrounded by a mountain of catalogs, dreaming up the landscape for the upcoming year. If you’ve got any suggestions for us, we’d love to hear it! The only caveat is that the plant must have an edible component. With all the trees in our landscape, shade-tolerant edibles get bonus points.
That’s all for today – see you next week!
Because I have now acquired 5 citrus trees, I don’t have room to move them in, so I covered them and have a light bulb down in the bottom.
Students were led to each garden station by happy Master Gardener volunteers like this one!
Dorothy Shockley still remembers summer suppers at her grandparents’ farm. “Of course, the homemade tomatoes were the highlight, but also, black-eyed peas, squash, fresh onions and strawberry shortcake,” she says. “I’m sure meat was served, but I don’t think I ate anything but vegetables.” In the Depression, her grandfather supported his family with a truck farm. “So my dad grew up working that farm.”
DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ 