When James first told me that our university housing complex offered garden plots to residents for a small fee, I was really excited. My mom had plot at a community garden when I was growing up, and she started a small vegetable garden in the small patch of her backyard that gets sun. I always enjoyed going with her to work on the garden, even though I mostly played in the dirt with the bugs and worms, rather than actually being helpful. I filled out my application for a small plot as soon as they became available in December. Today, we received our plot assignment and went to check it out after I got off of work. And then I realized that I know absolutely nothing about gardening. I guess it's a good thing that, in addition to the gardens themselves, the university housing people also offer an online manual about organic gardening in Wisconsin.
We got lost on our way to our plot. It was actually a lot closer to the entrance and the tool shed than we were expecting, which is nice. It was also completely covered in dead plants from last year's growing season. There were a few green shoots of something, I have no idea what, poking up, but other than that, it's pretty brown. The positive side of this is that most of the (ex)plants, having died and lost most of their roots, seem to be pretty easy to pull up. I'm pretty sure it's not necessary, but we opted to have our plot rototilled, just to make things a little easier. However, before that happens we need to clear out all of the dead stuff and any weeds currently living in our plot.
After we took a brief look at our plot, we went bowling with some friends, and then headed to Target to buy some gardening tools. The people who run the gardens provide the larger tools, like shovels, rakes, and hoes, so we just picked up some gloves, a pair of clippers, and a gardening bag that came with a kneeling pad, a trowel, and this three-tined object that looks like it was stolen from an amputee pirate (okay, even I know it's a cultivator).
I was hoping to go back out tomorrow and get started clearing all the dead stuff out, we're supposed to be getting some thunderstorms tomorrow, so it may have to wait.
