Diggin' It Up

This year Heirloom Gardens is tending to 11 yards in the NW Denver area, with a total space of over 26,000 square feet. 

Our yard-to-garden transformation activities have been dubbed "Big Digs," and they're truly memorable. With a crew ranging from 9-18 people, we take yards and remove any sod, dig up weedy patches, till in soil amendments, mark beds, and cover crop paths. We're usually able to do this in about 3-4 hours. Let's hear it for teamwork!

Below are a couple of our Big Dig sessions. At some point soon we'll post a complete set of "before and after" pictures of all the gardens.

This is the yard that will become Eli's garden. It's a 2500 square foot front yard.

The team getting to work. Look at that action shot!

The side view. The neighbors came by while we were digging to ask what we were up to, and they ended up becoming members of our NSA!

Tilling and marking beds.

A particularly nasty spot of grass. We were lucky to have a tree expert volunteering with us this day, and he taught us exactly how much space to leave when digging around trees.

Jessica is cover cropping the garden paths with Dutch White Clover. It's a nitrogen-fixing crop (meaning it improves the soil), and it forms a living mulch to keep out weeds and retain moisture. Plus, it's pretty!

Brenda helping to lead the team. She is one of our HG apprentices for this year, and Eli's garden is one of the ones that she oversees on an ongoing basis.

Finishing up...

Some of the crew that made it happen. Jessica, Chad, Brenda, Michelle, Denise, Stacie, Betsy, and Sundari.

This will become Sharon's garden... or what I like to call "The Lake Garden." Isn't it beautiful?

Deacon ran the sod cutter so we could roll up and remove the sod (we found it a good home on Craigslist), and then he ran the big tiller for us.

Working and chatting.

All done and ready to be planted!