Lumberton Community Garden
This year we added several new gardeners and now 14 plots are occupied. Barry Cyphers assumed the Coordinator role, taking over from Richard DeCou. Over the course of the year, the garden tool shed was totally reorganized, new flexible hoses were installed and a barrier was built around the perimeter of the garden to minimize encroaching invasive grass from the adjacent lawn.
As is usually the case, Mother Nature made her presence felt on a weekly basis in the garden. Both gardeners and pollinators reported to work a little late this Spring, due to an April featuring 90-degree weather, immediately followed by a hard frost that shocked ambitious gardeners and their new seedlings.
By late summer, we were challenged by the heat, humidity and lots of rain. But the gardeners and their crops were resilient and the plots were extraordinarily lush this year. The beds overflowed with tomatoes, beans, eggplant, peppers, beets, garlic, blueberries, zinnias, marigolds, sunflowers and black swallowtail caterpillars. One of our more adventurous gardeners planted several exotic veggies with great success, including bitter melon and long beans, among others.
As satisfying as this year was, every garden is a work in progress. When we’re putting our garden plots to bed each year, we’re already dreaming about next year – new plants, new strategies, renewed efforts, and we’ll continue to fantasize about the joy of gardening in a weed-free world.