My cats woke me far too early this morning. Even so, it was RAINING! This was not a good omen (although I
typically LOVE the rain). Luckily, it
stopped by 10 and did not appear that any more rain would be coming our way.
10:45 a.m.: I rented
a pick-up truck from the U-Haul on East Main Street (courtesy of a grant from
the City of Columbus Health Department’s Active Living Fund at the Columbus
Foundation -- aka the "grant"). When we started the Garden
in 2009, this U-Haul location loaned me the truck for free. Not today, though. That’s ok.
The owner and I chatted about his garden in Reynoldsburg and his
two-legged zucchini thieves.
11:30: Courtesy of
the same grant, I bought a Montmorency cherry tree, Black Tartarian cherry tree
and Red Haven peach tree from Strader’s on East Broad Street. Tom was very helpful in helping me pick out
the trees, loading my truck and pruning the trees. Strader’s donates lots of seedlings and
spring flowering bulbs to the Greater
Columbus Growing Coalition every year.
Susan and I planted a bunch of these donated bulbs around the SACG in
early December last year and everyone is enjoying their beauty this month. Thank you Straders! Tom tells me that these trees (which I
confirmed in subsequent research) will be helpful in cross-pollinating our
existing Eastern Bing cherry, Montmorency cherry and Contender peach trees that
we purchased (courtesy of an earlier City grant) a few years ago. The neighborhood kids basically eat all of
our fruit before it is ripe, so we are hoping that planting more trees will
improve the odds of us actually getting to eat ripe fruit some day.
11:55: I pulled into GreenScapes Landscaping Service. I had emailed Bill, its owner, the day before
about picking up some bricks so that we could raise the height of our rain tank
(purchased with an earlier City grant) another six inches to make it easier to fill our watering cans. Bill is one of
the moving forces behind Franklin Park Conservatory’s Growing to Green Program
and is a huge fan and supporter of local community gardens. I met
with him later yesterday afternoon to pick out a partial pallet of remnant
landscaping stones (from prior jobs he had performed). When I arrived today, his office staff
mentioned the collage of pictures I had sent them a few years ago to thank them
for a prior donation of landscaping edging stones and then other staff loaded the
pick-up truck with the pallet. 
12:45: I arrived at
Franklin Park Conservatory for the main event of the day. In the past, we have been blessed that Clean
Turn (owned by City Council candidate John Rush) delivered the annual Scotts
soil donation to the Garden. I think
once or twice I may have driven over on a weekend to pick it up in my
Jetta. Other gardens take a many more
bags of soil than us. It’s first come
first served and trucks start queuing up as early as 9:30 a.m. I’ve heard stories of four hour waits. This year, Clean Turn was going to load the
vehicles since no other company offered to help load. Because of this, FPC would not have enough
manpower to make deliveries. I was not
looking forward to this. I had
requested only 45 bags of soil and mulch, but was given 60. (We are NOT complaining and will put the
extra bags to very good use). When I
pulled in the drive way, I saw Amy waiving while standing between two
vehicles. I pulled into where she was
standing. Coincidentally, right behind
her was Pastor Brown (who is building a community garden this weekend in the
lot right next to the SACG). He had invited
her to wait in his van, but she declined (since I wouldn’t see her there).
Sadly, Amy reported that our milkweed plants had been given
away to another garden. Curses! Green
Columbus had been soliciting gardens to plant milkweed plants to feed monarch
butterfly caterpillars. I asked the SACG
gardeners to vote on whether we wanted to do this. They did. I signed us up and was told to pick them up before
1 p.m. at FPC. Amy got there in plenty of time, but they had
already given away our seedlings! I’ll
remember you Julie Smiley . . . . 
While I was sitting there in line, I received an email from the
long-suffering, but newly hired, Katelyn, at Rebuilding Together of Central
Ohio. Oh joy! What bliss!
The City and RTCO had very generously and thoughtfully arranged for all
of the City Land Bank Community Gardens (like the SACG) to receive $250 in
materials for permanent improvements to our lots from the Home Depot in Grove
City. Katelyn had placed the orders last
week and I explained my fondest wish that I could pick them up while I was
still in possession of the truck we were renting today. (I really didn’t have to turn it in until
tomorrow, but I need to get my car back and tires replaced). We had ordered a picnic table that would
definitely not fit in the back of my Jetta (even with the fold-down
seats). We had to give Home Depot at
least 2 hours advance notice that we were coming to pick up our items. I IMMEDIATELY called Trish (at Home Depot),
gave her my purchase order number and told her I would be there in 2.5 hours.
1:45: Amy and I unload the truck. These bags are HEAVY from sitting in the rain. I’m like – “just dump the stuff right inside
our gate.
We’ll worry about it Saturday.”
This is the only the second year I’ve gone to the trouble of locking up
our donation. In past years, the bags
have a way of walking off in the three days between their delivery and the
following Saturday. Sad, but true. Amy, though, wanted to do MORE. She started distributing bags among the
plots. And, she started spreading mulch
around the fruit trees. (I like to wait
until the soil warms up more before mulching, but as faithful readers know,
sometimes, the
ants take over the mulch bags and I get literally eaten alive by the time I
start spreading mulch in the flower beds and herb garden). Barb shows up and asks that we not mulch any
more trees because she and Frank are going to build us wooden enclosures for
the trees. Then, Amy had to return to
work. That slacker.
2:30. I get home for
a quick and very overdue lunch and hair-brushing. I cannot eat enough. I send an email updating my other volunteers
about the status of my evening plans.
3:00: I arrive at
Keep Columbus Beautiful to pick up our supplies for our “celebration” of Earth
Day on Saturday. These include five
litter grabbers, 15 pairs of gloves, safety vests, energy bars, lettuce seeds
and a sign to put in our lawn designating us as an official Green Columbus
Earth Day worksite. There are also
supposed to be a few trash bags, but I didn’t look too closely. We also get two t-shirts (one for me, of
course, as team leader) and one that I will give away to an especially
passionate volunteer. We also get
volunteer incentives, including gift certificates to Chipotle’s, bus passes,
and a certificate for a free Gateway movie, and free Jeni’s ice cream,
etc. I was extremely disappointed to not see
Robert Seed again or get to meet the ever efficient Danielle, Green Columbus’
most efficient volunteer ever. However, the two folks there were very effective and helped me get on my way in a very short time.
3:45: I arrive at the
Grove City Home Depot. Before getting
Katelyn’s email, I had
initially planned to pick up 2 cubic yards of premium
top soil from Kurtz Brothers that had been donated to us by the City of
Columbus. Love you Seth! I had also arranged for wheelbarrows and volunteers to help empty and hose down the truck. But, with the morning rain, I wasn’t looking
forward to shoveling mud out of the truck.
And, I REALLY wanted to get our picnic table.
An employee in the parking lot directed me to
the Will-Call/Service desk. This was
rush hour. There was a long line. I couldn’t find Trish. I tried calling her again and got a
frustrated person who was standing three feet from me and said she’d get to me
eventually. Sigh. When I was finally waited on, they couldn’t
make heads or tails of my P.O. number.
Luckily, Trish happened to call them just then. Of course, she knew exactly who I was and
what I wanted. Thing was, she was at the
opposite end of the store. So, I got back in the truck and drove to the
Commercial side of the store. All of our
order was there on a cart – except the picnic table. They couldn’t find it. I explained that the website said they had
them in stock. That was met with derision. Oops. Colin was dispatched to find it. I mentioned that the customer service desk
knew where the tables were. I was not
wrong. They were outside the store on
display. I had to explain to them how to load the truck (being a lawyer, and all,
that doesn’t want to kill anyone while driving back north on I-71 during rush
hour) and insisted that the table go in with the top on the truck bed.
4:45: I get home and make myself a quick pesto pasta dinner (from frozen pesto I made from my SACG garden last Fall).
Pastor Brown stopped by.
I imagine someone told him about the shady characters walking in between
his tall stacks of soil. I explain that
we are emptying the tank so that we can raise its height. We briefly chat (although I’m so tired and
incoherent) and then he goes inside where it’s warm.
6:45. I return the
truck, but seem to have misplaced the keys.
They were in the trunk of my car (where I put the KCB supplies). Oops. I drove 62 miles today. This is not especially "green" of me, but the plants we grow this summer will put plenty of oxygen into the atmosphere and absorb lots of carbon dioxide.
7:00 p.m. Back home.
Sadly, get to read the obituary and nice local newspaper article about
my Uncle Jim, -- one of two gardeners on that side of my family – who died
Monday night. It mentions his gardening, his case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Coif, time managing the OSU baseball team and belonging to Varisity O in college, and his time in the Ohio House and as a judge,
etc. I didn’t know before today that he
used to practice for the U.S. Treasury and the old, old law firm of Dargusch,
Saxbe and Dargusch. He outlived many of
his peers. He could grow virtually anything, which made my father endlessly jealous. Needless to say, my father and cousins are very, very sad right now. My father and uncle had practiced law together (in a building my grandfather built during the Great Depression) in my home town since 1958.
So, I hope that we
have help this Saturday. Unless it is pouring down rain, this is what we
have planned:
·
planting fruit trees,
·
spreading garden soil and compost in the plots,
·
preparing food pantry plots for planting,
·
planting Spring crops in the neighborhood bed (where anyone passing by can help themselves),
·
planting turnips, beets, lettuce, kale, collard greens, broccoli,
carrots, cabbage, potatoes and peas,
·
spreading wood chips around our new picnic table,
·
relocating four blueberry bushes from the north side to the south
side of the SACG,
·
turning material in the compost bins,
·
thinning a strawberry patch (which means that you might be able to
take some free strawberry seedlings home with you),
·
picking up litter along Stoddart Avenue, and
·
mowing grass.
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