It Smelled Bad - by Levi Bilderback, Garden Intern 2016

Hello everyone!
I had another great week at Songaia. It smelled bad at times, but other than that I feel really accomplished this week. We had a lot of big tasks and made a lot of progress.

​On Sunday we spread wood chips around the Life Song Commons landscape where Jacob and I live. The soil here used to be bad, but since Patricia has started working on it, it has started to look like healthy soil. After lunch, we learned how to make potting soil and transplanted tomatoes into larger pots. The varieties I remember are Momotaro, Black Prince and Peace vine. They all looked healthy and strong.

We did more transplanting on Monday, but it was into the ground this time. We planted three lettuce varieties which are Salmon, Fred’s Red Sail and a Butter or Butter Crunch. I also planted a row of Cilantro, and seeded two rows of Cilantro, three rows of Scallions, and three rows of Arugula. Jacob and I received the “go ahead” on operating the weed eaters and we mowed down the grass and weeds in the food forest, which was fun.

Friday came along and we did a lot of bed prep. We pulled out that pesky Buttercup and Bindweed, and then turned the soil from the pathways onto the beds. Then we planted corn in 4-5 plant clusters, with a little space between each cluster. Soon, we are going to plant a pole bean next to the corns so it will climb up the corn stalk. Also, we will be planting winter squash in between the corn and bean clusters.

The reason I say it smelled bad is because on Saturday, we ground up the compost material from food scraps from the kitchen into bits. It was nasty, but definitely worth it. But we didn’t just grind up food scraps, we also dug up some invasive blackberries. Jacob dug up the biggest blackberry root.

Overall it was a great week, and I learned so many things. I’m excited to see what becomes of our transplants! I’m ready to patrol the lettuces to guard them against those evil Slugs. Just give me a pair of scissors and I’ll get to work! ​