Planting the Gardens

We worked for 3 weeks during May to get all of our hot season (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, summer & winter squash, cucumbers, and basil) seedlings, plus bean and chard seeds, planted in the gardens. It was a lot of work, but yet another incredible example of what can be accomplished by a group working together. I don't have exact numbers for all of the plants, but I know that we have around 1100 tomato plants in the ground, and some 500 (each) peppers and eggplants. Whew!

Here are some photos from our planting day at Kirk's garden. Many thanks to Courtney for snapping these pics with her phone (I was preoccupied with loading plants into the car, and forgot to bring my camera).

Getting ready to plant tomatoes. We've dug our trenches, sprinkled in the compost, and marked the spacing...

Ta-da! Tomato plants in the ground! Those are all actually pretty large seedlings, but we bury them up to the top crown (hence the trenches) so that the plants will develop an extensive root system.

Planning for our next bed.

Seneca and Betsy planting the eggplants. They're using the stick to measure the correct spacing between plants.

Eggplants in the ground!

Fun with camera angles! Even though we're supposed to be planting (i.e. nurturing plant life), I switch gears into "kill" mode and dig up a few dandelions to clear room for the seedlings.

Thecia showing off the proof of her work -- tell-tale gardener's hands.