First Guerrilla Garden

The first Guerrilla Garden will be located on I-10 between Campbell and Voss behind the old Academy sports store and behind Bailey-Connor Catering. The garden will be done in two stages. The first stage is an add-on and improvement of an existing garden behind Bailey-Connor and the second stage will be the creation of a garden behind the academy store.

Currently there is a small vegetable and herb garden that someone started but did not complete.

The garden consists of four raised beds that contain basil and a few horseradish roots. Both barely made it through this year's scorching summer. I have already begun the improvements to the gardens by moving one of the beds so that it faces south and will receive 6 hours of direct sunlight throughout the winter. ext summer it should receive a minimum of 8 hours of direct sunlight. Two other beds are currently against an east facing fence and receive minimal sunlight in the winter with the southern most bed in almost complete shade all day long. The fourth bed sits on a north facing fence and is in full shade year round. This bed has been turned into a compost pile. The fruit and vegetable scraps from the catering kitchen go into the compost pile each day. The pile has already yielded one batch of composted material that has been added to the beds to increase the soil depth and add lacking nutrients.My plans for the expansion of this area include the construction of three additional raised beds and an expansion of the compost pile to a small wooded section of the property. The current compost pile area has reached it's capacity and a new, large compost area must be built.

The crop for next spring and summer will consist of Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, garlic, cucumbers. The varieties of each vegetable are undetermined at this point as I am still researching which ones will yield the most produce with the space requirements. Additionally I will be planting Italian parsley, cilantro, tarragon, mint, and separating the basil plats for a better yield.

The compost pile is in need of a great deal of help. Currently the pile consists of mainly fruit and vegetable scraps. There is very little "brown" matter in the pile which means that the pile does not decompose properly and yields a large of fruit flies. I would gladly accept any donations of grass clippings or leaves. If you would like to donate some brown material just leave it next to compost pile and I will take care of it.

The second stage of the garden is a small, round patch of dirt and weeds that probably once held a tree and some decorative grass.

I hope to install a birdhouse on a tall pole surrounded by wildflowers and sunflowers. Giving the birds native plenty to eat and the bees pollen for honey.

More details on that in the next update.