Rain, rain and more rain – It’s Spring! Lately it’s been raining quite a significant amount here in Pocahontas County, which makes for happy verdant flushes across the mountains, but also makes it hard to garden. Between the rain showers, we planted peas, carrots, and spinach. We weeded and mulched strawberries, loaded and unloaded manure to till garden beds.
We hosted another workshop, Garden Maintenance, where our participants learned about fencing and irrigation. We learned how to setup and assemble a drip irrigation system, from mainline to drip lines and remembering to clean the filter system if water pressure gets low. We also had a hands on activity where we fixed a shortage in an electric fence to demonstrate electric fencing options for gardening. At this point in the season, we have been able to give our participants gardening tools, irrigation supplies, fencing supplies, fertilizer and seeds to start, build, or grow their gardens.
In other exciting news, High Rocks has been approved through the NRCS grant for a high tunnel! This means we will be able to extend the growing season for our gardens. We can start seeds and plants earlier in the year and also plant later in the year. Earlier crops mean more delicious healthy foods in the mouths of our High Rocks participants, staff, interns, and Board members.
Finally, we can’t stop praising our participants this year, they are engaged, enthusiastic, and excited to learn and share anything about gardening, which is really great for building a strong garden community. Some if not most of our participants have even volunteered after workshops to help in the High Rocks gardens. Thank you!!
Fixing the short.
Locating an issue.
Examining the fence.
Karline talking about watering and drip irrigation.
Using the handy manual in our workshop. One of our participants brought peanut butter cookies to the workshop! 🙂
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