Six volunteers from the Vermont Youth Tomorrow AmeriCorps VISTA Program (VYT) worked hard in the garden this week. They completed three important projects and made headway on several others.
Beautifying and edging the perennial bed outside the garden fence. This is the public face of our garden that neighbors see first. Yet it gets much less of our attention than the vegetable crops. VYT changed all that.
This is the “after” picture. Before these volunteers arrived, you’d have seen dandelions and 8′ tall curlydock growing where we we’ve been intending to build a wooden box to grow parsley root. Today, that curlydock is soaking in a bucket before its roots become someone’s homemade iron supplement. And the space is clear for bed-building this weekend.
The volunteers earned themselves a good watering, after shoveling dirt and wood chips, digging roots, hauling lumber, and more. Two volunteers spread heavy dirt and wood chips so our compost delivery truck can get through what were, until today, muddy ruts. Now they’re a smooth drive .
Volunteers enjoy tidily planted rows of carrots and bush beans, crops we want to continue growing. They did us a solid by digging out an entire bed of Jerusalem artichokes and sifting all the earth to ensure removal of all plant material. We shared the refreshing sunchokes and will be planting parsnips where once they grew.
Thanks to these volunteers, we have our last plot of beds dug and shaped so these final seedlings can go into the ground at our next work party.
You just never know what you’re going to find in the garden.
