Community Gardens Get A Late Start, But Planting is Underway

This perfect spring Saturday, we were out grocery shopping at Sunset Foods -- and picking up six reusable bags for $5 [have you bought yours yet?] -- when it occurred to us that the Crestwood Community Garden probably had some gardeners at work. 
          Needless to say, we weren't disappointed. Norman was hauling wood chips for the "aisles." Jean and Usha were preparing the ground with manure. While we chatted, the subject of which manure is the best manure came up. Apparently, it isn't cow or pig, but horse. Not too far away, there are still some stables around that will let you come out and shovel your own. 
          Meanwhile, we shot some photos of the three hard at work. We also made plans to come back every few weeks to see how everything is growing.

New steps have been installed up the hill to the Crestwood garden. 

Nicely done, but no one knows who installed them.

                          Attractive spring flowers on either side of the Crestwood Community Garden gate welcomed visitors to the dozens of organic vegetable plots warming [finally] in the welcome sunshine.

Norman was doing some heavy lifting while we were there. 

 Mushroom compost is often a favorite of local vegetable gardeners to add to their soil. 

 These tomato plants got a good start already, so we thought we'd come 

back in a few weeks to see how they're doing.

Some of the tools and plants of the trade.

 Jean takes a rest on the comfortable garden seat provided by the 

community garden to provide some relief to local backs. 

Usha is new to gardening, but she has already learned a lot from the other gardeners. 

She has embraced organic gardening from using manure for fertilizer 

to the many packets of organic seeds she was about to plant.

 This little bench is indispensable. Everyone should have one. 

 This gardener clearly got a nice headstart, starting her planting several weeks ago, 

during our polar fleece spring.

 According to Usha, the man who works this plot made that trellis by hand. 

It should be covered in vines by June.

Here's Norman again, back with another load of chips. After several trips, 

he was starting to make a dent in the pile of wood chips at the bottom of the steps. We hear that flowers will be planted the length of the fence on the outside to attract pollinators like butterflies and honey bees. [Do not confuse the stripes of a fuzzy honey bee with the stripes of an unfuzzy yellow jacket. Yellow jackets are very aggressive and give bees a bad name. You'll find yellow jackets buzzing around food/garbage. They'll even raid a beehive for the honey. Honey bees like flower nectar. Just an FYI. Meanwhile, we look forward to watching this harvest grow and flourish. We'll be returning with more pictures to keep you apprised.  

INTERESTED IN RENTING YOUR OWN COMMUNITY GARDEN PLOT? 

Here's information we found on the Village of Northbrook website --

The group is a corporation formed separately from the Village, and is comprised of Northbrook residents.  The Northbrook Community Garden, Inc. has two gardens on village land; one located behind the Village Hall, 1225 Cedar Lane, and the other at Crestwood Place Senior Living Facility, 1000 Waukegan Road.  The group is a 501 (c) 3 and is designed to foster community togetherness, create an awareness and educate the community about the ecological benefits of locally grown food as well as the benefits of food grown without man-made chemicals.

If you are interested in joining the group, feel free to call Brian Bruce, co-founder, to learn more about renting a plot at 847/498-5008.