Weed? Or not?

My last post was actually regarding an incident that happened a little over a week ago at our community garden plot and originally published on my knitting blog. Honestly, I expected to lose a tomato or two to petty theft this summer but had no idea that thieves would be so bold as to take our largest and most healthy tomato and pepper plants.

People suck.

Despite the fact that we have no extra money to finish fencing in the plot, we are going to keep on keeping on. This is how the plot looked when we took possession of it:



After some initial clearing I found that there is a raspberry bush in the back corner with immature fruit and some scraggly little strawberries hiding under it. Nice surprise!

I had planted some seeds before the theft and will continue to tend to them and the smaller vegetable plants and herbs that are left. I will also continue to clear the site and lay out the beds for next year, when we can afford to put up a fence. I really hate to lock out a space in a public park, but the investment in time and money is too high not to.

Regarding seeds. And weeds. I just moved here from the mid-Atlantic. Weeds, desired natives, and landscaping are so different here that I have no idea what to pull and what to leave. So I nicked an idea from Wintersown and made some little greenhouses to plant my leftover seeds. They were set out on Sunday afternoon and already my Cut Flower Mix from Heirloom Acres Seeds...


...and the Calendula (Pot Marigold) from The Thyme Garden are sprouting.


I'm especially pleased about the Calendula because they are from 2005 and I had variable luck germinating some other seeds I received from the company.

The stolen tomato plants were 4th of July hybrids that Rock Star started from seed late in the winter. We still had a few left at home, so I decided to plant them in the back, next to the garage at our new place.

A few stabs of the shovel revealed gravel - probably related to an old parking pad - under the wood chips. Damn. If we don't have the money to put up a rabbit fence this year, we certainly can't hire someone to come in with a backhoe and a truckload of manure!