The Day I Return to a Riot of Growth in My First Community Garden

I stand before the Snake River
at Oxbow Bend in Jackson Hole, WY

In full sun on Friday, June 8, I visit the Bible Street Community Garden after taking a soul-inspiring trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks in Wyoming. The scale and majesty of the two national parks are humbling, with breathtaking beauty around every corner. The wide open spaces differ dramatically from the tree-lined perspectives, dense development and heavy traffic in Connecticut. People from the west say they get claustrophobic in the east. I feel that way, too. When I go west, I feel as if I can breathe. 

My first view of the riot of growth

After two weeks away, my garden bed at Bible Street Community Garden is a lush riot of greens, tomato flowers and weeds. I am thrilled -- more accurately, shocked -- to see the overflowing garden bed. Everyone should leave for two weeks and come back to this! All the plants were tame when I left for my trip on May 25. When I visit on June 8, they are out of control -- and I mean that in a good way. 

• Huge radish greens rise in my first row, a tangle of immature carrot greens surrounding them. 
• Hybrid bush cucumbers grow healthily in the second row. 
• Four patty-pan squash mounds in the third and fourth rows are sprouting. I must train them to grow up rather than spread out. 
• Green beans are growing. I can't wait to see the pods.
• My four tomatoes are growing and starting to flower! We can never have too many tomatoes, as my husband reminds me.
• The basil seeds I planted before my trip have not yet sprouted. I will grow the seeds at home next year, then transplant them to the garden.
• Three giant unknowns I did not plant are starting to act like umbrellas in the garden, blocking the sun for plants I do want. Out they go. (Community gardeners, can you identify the tall greens in the lower left and top right of my garden bed in the photo above?)

Trimmed and thinned a bit

Leaning on my knee pad, I move block by block along the edge. I trim the delicious arugula and pledge to plant more next year, lots more. I try to figure out why the full block of beet seedlings I planted in April now yields only one rose-colored beet. I thin out the radish greens, admiring the gorgeous red globes and wincing at the ones sacrificed to critters. (Note to self: Plant radishes deeper next year.) I snip my vibrant parsley. Then I liberate three healthy scallions I started on my windowsill, transplanted in the garden and will reroot on my windowsill in the next few days.

I bring a big bowl from home to collect my bounty and quickly discover the fresh greens overwhelm the bowl. (Gotta say, I'm loving this!) I grab a large box from my trunk and head back to the garden bed. I now have ample room to collect scallions, which I will cut into pieces and put on salads and chili; radishes, which I will clean, trim and leave on the counter for munching; parsley, which I will wash, trim and chop for chimichurri; and arugula, which I will wash and rewash before mixing with EVOO and balsamic for a peppery home-grown salad. (How does arugula get so sandy in topsoil?)

The garden manifests on my counter 

I feel like a schoolgirl coming home with her report card and wanting everyone to see. Look, mom, I got an A+ on my garden! I wash the greens in the kitchen sink and then lay them out -- so fresh, so colorful. Very exciting! To fellow newbie community gardeners, this is the thrill we wanted, right? To experienced community gardeners, I get it!

Final note: I've been meeting new people through this blog. So glad to know you, and pleased to have you join the conversation of community gardening! Give me a shout out in the blog. Let me know who you are and where you live in the community garden.

Until next time, I leave you with two photographs of Yellowstone National Park, both shot within the past week. Scroll down. Blow up the snaps on your screen to get the detail. I also add a reflection of the grandest Grand Teton mountain as my new blog background. Enjoy! 

-- Ciao, Diane Tunick Morello

Rainbow shines over Yellowstone National Park's
northern entrance in Gardiner, MT, June 1, 2018 

Minutes past sunset on the northern shore of Lake Yellowstone, June 5, 2018