The Lovelady Center Victory Garden

4 May '08 8:26 pm

We call them railway sleepers, too, and have just checked with the human in-house encyclopaedia (Stephen) as to whether or not they are treated in New Zealand. He doesn't think they are, and thinks that NZ ones are made of Totara - which lasts for 500 years, and the rest.

I've heard stories about ash from treated wood being put innocently on a garden and killing everything. It's really important to 'know your enemy', environmentally speaking.

4 May '08 10:58 pm

Do you know for sure if the railway sleepers were treated with anything? I remembered another undesirable chemical that has been used for sleepers is pentachlorophenol or PCP. I googled and found this.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts51.html

I've been trying to remember what else I've heard of in the way of budget garden edging and all I could come up with was straw bales, which have their own drawbacks in terms of longevity and possibly other things I haven't thought of. Maybe it's an idea though?

I hope you won't let these details get you down. You are doing a wonderful thing.

5 May '08 3:42 am

Dear Jack, how kind of you to move my post to the proper place for me.

Unfortunately, I do know that in this country they used to treat railroad timbers/sleepers with creosote. I don't know for certain that these particular ones were treated. I really should do some checking with the source (Norfolk Southern Railroad)who is generously supplying "all we want" free of charge. I know I wouldn't want to use them in my garden, but since the price can't be beat and they will not have contact with soil we will work out the problems associated with the toxic materials as best we can. I have done a lot of reading on this subject over the years and do know that some plants are safer for growing in proximity to toxic materials. The ones that are least safe are those where you eat the foliage or roots (lettuces, carrots, etc.) so we may want to plan something different for those types of crops. As for the things like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, etc. I believe if we grow a catch crop of flowers around the edges of the beds nearest the timbers, they may help to "suck" up any contaminates that may escape before they get to the food crops. This will have an additional benefit of beautifying the gardens and attracting beneficial pollinators.

I really appreciate all your interest and suggestions. This is such an awesome project and I certainly cannot take credit for the plan. A power much greater than me has pulled this all together. I am just a tool here.

Here are some pictures of our work day on Saturday, May 3. We had some rather bad weather come through early in the morning, but by about 10:00 a.m. the rains stopped and we were able to get our crew up and running laying the timbers out to form the beds. Of course they were very wet by that time, thus even heavier. We were very fortunate to have a huge number of teen volunteers from our church who bravely tackled whatever task was set before them.

5 May '08 8:57 am

Yipee! Now it's really started. In no time there'll be flowers and vegetables and growing things - and the volunteers will get such joy out of seeing a project making progress.

It's true - the best way to get started is to start!

Well done, and warm regards to your NGP. Hope his cycling legs are going well.

14 May '08 1:11 am

I worked with the crew from Lovelady Center installing our first plants in their new garden on last Saturday. I took several pictures, but only posted one because there is still a lot of cleaning up to be done where all the rocks, grass roots and trash were thrown out into the aisles as the beds were prepared for planting. It's only a start, but at least we have tomatoes, peppers, beans and lettuce (and a few marigolds) growing. We will be planting seed for other crops this week. Also, we are still planning on installing bench type seats on the tops of the timbers, which will dress up the beds nicely and provide a place for sitting while working on the beds.

14 May '08 5:46 am

But I think you should post the pix of the resulting mess, as this shows the work that was done. An honest mess is a good mess. Wink

Do you know what I would do? I would get two boards, each one would be 2" x 12" x 10'long. Then I would place them across from side to side, making a temporary bridge to tend the center without walking on the soil. Move it around as needed (as it wont be needed all the time, but will come in handy). One plank would be enough for some jobs, but the 2 of them can be placed side by side to make it easy and safe to sit on with out touching the soil.

Your on your way now. Tell your crew there is a garden gnome watching and he's very curious as to what's going on.

Christopher

14 May '08 8:06 am

Hi Christopher. It's nice to know that a Garden Gnome will be keeping an eye out for us. Your idea of the boards is a great one, and that is actually what we did while planting. We used two 2x4 boards placed side by side across the width of the bed, then we moved them down to the next place when needed. Our long term plans are for stepping stones down the middle (longwise) of each bed to give a firm surface to walk or kneel on when working in the garden.

The first day we were to plant, when I arrived the women were standing in the middle of the beds digging, raking and hoeing to break up the clumps and distribute the soil. I quickly told them why it was better to work from the outside of the beds rather than standing on them because they were packing down the soil they were trying to prepare for planting. Once they understood what was meant, they agreed that it was easier to work from outside with long handled tools.

There is still so much to be done that it is almost overwhelming. We are making progress little by little however. I just need to stay focused on the end result. Thanks for taking an interest.

14 May '08 11:08 am

I'm familiar with that overwhelmed feeling. Don't worry, you ARE making progress. I couldn't believe you already have things planted. And now they are they should really take off. The supermarket tomatoes especially can't compete with ones you grow yourself. Very Happy

14 May '08 7:06 pm

wow!I have been absent for a week and it is so interesting to catch up with everything-what an amazing team you have there.Tell the young ones that their NZ Aunties are proud of them.Looking forward to more of the story.
dixie.

1 Jun '08 6:46 am

Hello Faith and NGBill--how are things going in your project? I hope it is all okay for you and that you haven't worn yourself out.It is such a huge undertaking.
dixie.

The Lovelady Center Victory Garden

Thanks to Jack and everyone else too

Yippee!

First plants in

Looking good

Stepping stones, etc.

Great progress

how are things going?