#msyep

Though we are growing a garden, which includes many different types of lovely flora and vegetable that we do try so hard to keep, there are other plants that we would happily uproot. These are of course the many types of weeds. Weeds, like aphids that we talked about in the last post, are a hazard and detriment to the garden, and are best removed as fast as possible. However, unlike aphids, weeds damage your garden in a different way. Instead of just basically using the plant as a breeding ground similar to the aphids, they instead grow along with them and sap important nutrients from your garden, which of course does not help your plants whatsoever in the long run. However unlike the aphids, weeds are generally easy to get rid of. You can just pluck them from the ground as they sprout up. However do try and be careful that what you actually pull is a weed and not your just sprouted plant for that would be embarrassing really really embarrassing. 

Wish me luck!

Maintenance takes up the majority of our garden working time, and of that, pruning is the most crucial for plant health. By cutting away dead or dying leaves, branches, or even entire plants, we allow 100% of the water and nutrition from the soil to go into healthy, producing plants, not being siphoned off. We are very careful while timing pruning - wait too long and healthy plants could die, trim too soon, and you’ve just killed perfectly good plants. The same is true for the amount/location to clip. We try to keep out clippers sharp and clean, so that they make a nice, clean cut withe no tearing, which can damage plants and cause rot. In general, we are either pruning, or harvesting every few days, at least once a week, often more, because, despite our small space, we have many different varieties of crops growing. 

When tending to your garden, you find out fast how good your harvesting skills are - especially if you harvest basil. We harvest the basil on a weekly basis and harvest the other plant once in a blue moon. But all jokes aside, it is only after harvesting basil that you realize just how fast it can grow back and with us having multiple basil plants, we often find ourselves harvesting the plant fairly often, more than the others, which if you’re gardening for the first time might drive you insane just a wee bit. - J

Over the past three weeks my coworkers and I have been working on the continued growth and the maintenance of the Garden Project. A question you might be asking (amongst several others) is what exactly is the garden project and  what  does it  have  to  do  with  a  Public  Library. Well, to  answer those  two  very  specific  questions;  the  Garden  project  is  a  collaboration with a few staff members at the Cambridge Public Library and the Biology Classes from the well known High school in our area, Cambridge Rindge and Latin. During this collaboration we are trusted to help take care of a small garden bed located near Rindge and Latin’s field house, along with several other plants marked in orange Home Depot buckets. The beds and buckets contain several types of plants and vegetables. Examples  are  the swiss  chard, watermelon,  radishes, beets,  a  sunflower, and  several  types  of  beans. Over the course of  the Summer we hope not to only plant more plants but also harvest plants that have already been planted in our garden space. Though our Ambitions are big and our garden is tiny, we hope that throughout the summer we shall lay the seeds (Pun intended) for more plants to come, and maybe an expansion of a second garden bed.    

Link to the application is here.  If you have any questions, contact George Hinds.

Our Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment crews are doing a TON of outreach today! Check them out at the Main Library and 344 Broadway!

April 16: Applications available  (at CRLS in the Main office and Room 2101) April 28-May 9: Applications can be returned July 7: Program starts     August 15: Program ends