Experimental Community Garden Plots – 2012/2013

September, 2013

As gardeners we often don’t get to work in a field.  It’s a different thing altogether to work in a field than in a garden. There is all that space, sky, sun. You walk from one end to the next (diagonally, so as to get the most out of it) and throughout the soil is soft and pliable underfoot. There is also a lot of work, so in this field one gets to grow not just food, but community as well.  And of course, none of us being farmers, we also grow an attitude of adventure, a tolerance for making mistakes, a thirst for experimentation.

If you want to join us in the field, email us and we’ll let you know when the next work party happens.

The two Community Garden Plots that Transition Wayland got this year (2013) went through a couple of transformations already, and so did the plans for it. The initial idea was to grow grains, to see how well we could grow wheat or oats, on a small scale here in New England. By the time the plot was assigned, it was too late to put in grains, so we decided to plant dry beans. Many people came to help with the rototilling, weeding, planting, and watering, and we thank all of them!

The beans were eaten, probably by the bunnies and the weed pressure turned out to be formidable, so the next step was to sow buckwheat, in August, to smother weeds and build biomass. We tilled that in in September, and sowed winter rye, again as a weed smother, a soil conditioner, to combat erosion, and to have more biomass come Spring, when we will till it in again.

In Spring and Summer 2014, the plot was managed by part of our group for vegetables, with lots of the produce going to the food pantries and being shared all round.

In Fall, the group double-dug and made ten raised beds.

The garden is ready for Spring 2015, but before then there is a lot of planning to do. Get in on the game!