Downtown Community Garden - Des Moines Iowa
Growing Together @ the corner of E 6th and Scott Street.
Where to put a berry patch? And other thoughts about expanding additional garden areas.
Hi friends,
Below are two images to refer to. I have some thoughts to share about expanding our garden.
My girlfriend Emily has some plants waiting to find a home (hopefully here at the Downtown Garden). She has Rhubarb, Iris, and Raspberry Plants. Here are my suggestions for where we could put these plants that would be community plants open for anyone to harvest.
Area (a) on the plan below would be great for many of our communal plants - example pumpkins, corn, or other plants buts generally set aside for communal space. The thing to caution about this area is that it will eventually face the SE connector street and the trail along it. It would be in our best interest to keep this area looking sharp and not invite complaints about a "messy garden".
Area (b) on the plan below would be great for the raspberry plants or other berry bushes. Just so long as we keep them in good shape and back from the edge of the main walkway. I think this spot would be great! Keep in mind that the water tank was located here last year and we'll need to either leave space for that again or relocate it.
Area (c) on the plan below would be great for the Rhubarb and Iris. We set aside this circle area during the planning phase to serve as a communal space for flowers, herbs, and other communal plants that fit in the space provided. I can envision a great rhubarb patch in the labyrinth area and the iris having a home in the rain garden area. I believe having these spaces is a real blessing that makes our garden so special. Allowing the garden to truly be a garden where people can learn about and plant all types of "growies" and not just a space set aside for individual plot leasing. I hope that the group recognizes the potential for these areas and we really make the most of the labyrinth area this summer.
Does anyone have other suggestions before we put any plants in the ground?
3D View: Suggested raspberry planting area in the triangle space on the left. Additional or relocated communal area in the bottom right.
Notice the four tree's shown with red check marks. Those are already planted. We had some great suggestions for planting Cherry, peach and other trees for the next row! See this discussion: http://www.gardendowntowndsm.com/forum/topics/additional-fruit-trees-at-the
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Drew Matthew Maifeld on -
PS - here's a side note...
Last year we only mulched the main pathway through the plot areas before we ran out of steam.
The main pathway that bisects the site is aligned with true north while the plots are aligned with the city grid. (Which by the way is based on the Des Moines River).
I hope this year we can get the pathway mulched further North to the Gate opening in the bottom left corner of the 3D image above.
Maybe we can get a sod cutter from the city to pull up the sod below the pathway and replace some of the areas that have bare spots in the commons open space area caused by heavy equipment last spring.
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Permalink Reply by Emily Zach on -
I like all of your ideas for where we should plant this stuff. It is my understanding that the raspberries like a little support (i.e. a fence), so I think your suggestion about putting them along the fence is great.
Because these plants are sitting in boxes in my garage and are desperately begging to be put in the ground, I am going to bring them down this afternoon at 4:00 in the hopes that people can help me get them planted. If we receive objections about placement, variety, etc. I will remove them immediately.
I also ordered some strawberry plants and hope to receive the go-ahead to put these in somewhere. I ordered the Ogallala variety, which is known to do particularly well in our area. It is an ever-bearing variety and I think would be a great addition to the garden. Any ideas on placement?
Looking forward to seeing everyone this afternoon! :)
ez
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Permalink Reply by Drew Matthew Maifeld on
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The strawberries are a low creeping plant aren't they???
I think one place would be inside the labyrinth areas and would be great.
Emily Zach said:I also ordered some strawberry plants and hope to receive the go-ahead to put these in somewhere. I ordered the Ogallala variety, which is known to do particularly well in our area. It is an ever-bearing variety and I think would be a great addition to the garden. Any ideas on placement?
Looking forward to seeing everyone this afternoon! :)
ez
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Permalink Reply by Sandy on -
I think it sounds fabulous! Do it! :)
One note, I do like where the water tank was last year. I felt the water tank being under the tree helped keep the water cool, but still gave easy access to the city in filling it up.
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Permalink Reply by rebecca behrens on
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I think your suggestions are very good and I have no problem with the placements. I'd like to help out after work, but I already have plans. Thanks!!
Rebecca
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Permalink Reply by Peter Michael Sherinian on -
Emily Go for it. As for the strawberries the outside edge of the labyrinth is good for those. I will be there tuesday and I will do some work on the Labyrinth so we can make it happen. Thanks Drew and Emily for your good Ideas. And Drew Its good to see that your back in the game, Just try and keep an eye focused our way. After all you are the remaining Architect of this Garden. We need to have your voice added to the conversation.
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Permalink Reply by Craig Dean Anderson on -
Strawberries stay low to the ground. We will need to cover them with a black plastic netting (Bird X is one brand) or the berries will be eaten by our feathered friends.
Drew Matthew Maifeld said:The strawberries are a low creeping plant aren't they???
I think one place would be inside the labyrinth areas and would be great.
Emily Zach said:I also ordered some strawberry plants and hope to receive the go-ahead to put these in somewhere. I ordered the Ogallala variety, which is known to do particularly well in our area. It is an ever-bearing variety and I think would be a great addition to the garden. Any ideas on placement?
Looking forward to seeing everyone this afternoon! :)
ez
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Permalink Reply by Drew Matthew Maifeld on
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Thanks Peter,
You'll want to be sure to meet up with Caleb McLung. I met him last night at the garden and he is hoping to help out a lot during the week days at the garden! I'll put you two in touch and I'll try to get out there to get some bricks with you both. Looking forward to another great year.
Peter Michael Sherinian said:Emily Go for it. As for the strawberries the outside edge of the labyrinth is good for those. I will be there tuesday and I will do some work on the Labyrinth so we can make it happen. Thanks Drew and Emily for your good Ideas. And Drew Its good to see that your back in the game, Just try and keep an eye focused our way. After all you are the remaining Architect of this Garden. We need to have your voice added to the conversation.
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Permalink Reply by Emily Zach on
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Randy:
Am I to interpret your comment to mean that you object to the addition of the raspberries and rhubarb?
Do you have a suggestion as to how to reach everyone? While I recognize that this site certainly does not reach EVERYONE, it certainly reaches the majority. If we continue to demand 100% consensus on EVERYTHING, progress will be ground to a halt (case in point, the sculpture that Sandy secured....the discussion is dead in the water).
I look forward to hearing your ideas.
Emily
Randy Skeie said:While these are all fantastic ideas...some of these things should be decided by a consensus among ALL the current plot holders, not just a few individuals who participate in this "private" social network. There are many others who should also have a voice and may want to be included in these discussions.
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Permalink Reply by Drew Matthew Maifeld on
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I'm sure we could get Grant or Christine to contact other members if they agree. I believe they are the only ones with contact information for the entire group and know who does use this site and who prefers to be contacted by other means.
I would love to see FULL consensus but I wonder if that is really the only way to measure all decisions.
I'm hopeful that we can continue to work through ideas as a group and make sure everyone has an opportunity for their thoughts to be accounted for. I'll create another discussion thread for your other concern.
Randy Skeie said:While these are all fantastic ideas...some of these things should be decided by a consensus among ALL the current plot holders, not just a few individuals who participate in this "private" social network. There are many others who should also have a voice and may want to be included in these discussions.
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Permalink Reply by Drew Matthew Maifeld on
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Randy, I agree and prefer to talk with garden members in person and on site as much as possible. In fact this is why Jonathan and I worked extra hard last year to set up the Sunday evening picnics from 6-8. So that people could plan well in advance to come and share whatever was on their mind. That said, I do really enjoy putting somethings online that I think are worth keeping record of.
I'll look forward to talking personally with you about your thoughts on dividing the common areas like the labyrinth and corn patch into a few individual or privatized plot spaces rather than leaving them open for all people to use whether they have a plot at the garden or not. I posted my replies to that end on the plot waiting list discussion thread.
Looking forward to more garden get-togethers in whatever form they take... Picnic or garden meeting or website discussion.
Randy Skeie said:Some people, myself included, prefer to take a break from technology and communicate the old fashioned way...in person. Perhaps a meeting should be scheduled, ALL plot holders notified and invited to attend (by email, phone, a sign on the shed at the garden or whatever their preferred method of contact is) and everyone should be able to add topics to be included on the agenda...but in order to do that the plot distribution process has to be completed. I think this is a process that should be left up to the garden coordinators to handle. Christine & Grant have been doing an excellent job making sure the plots are distributed as fairly as possible. Kudos to them both for all the work they have put into organizing thing this year!
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Permalink Reply by Stephen Foster on -
I find it interesting that these plants were planted without everyone being asked. It seems to me that as always the few keep imposing their will on the rest of us. Clearly this is not a community garden but a dictatorship. Case in point when Peter told me today that making changes to the common spaces was not an option no matter what the gardeners wanted.
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