habitat for humanity gardening

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY GARDENING
over the last few years while volunteering
at the williamson county habitat for humanity house builds
i have put in an organic square foot raised garden
for the home owners interested in having a garden

not all of the owners expressed interest
but
if they do
as we build the houses i scrounge around
for left over boards that are appropriate
cedar ones are the best
sometimes i am able to accumulate enough concrete blocks
that i find left at the construction sites
or
sometimes they are just given to me to use


this is the first one i did on the first house i worked on
its a single mom with two kids
i wish i had a garden to grow fresh vegetables
well she spoke to the right person
luckily for her

i had left over cedar boards that i had saved
so
i built a frame
filled it with the best organic garden soil all ready to go
with everything in it like compost fertilizer minerals
ready to plant it is

in this one i added a central composter
i quit doing that since i found a lot of the folks
werent using it much
so it allows another plant to be planted
this garden has 16 one ft squares to plant in

now i give them a list of things to plant in the spring
and
then a list for the fall

all they have to do is add compost and an organic fertilizer
plant the garden
keep it watered


this is the next one i planted
again scrounging some cedar boards
adding a central composter
the owner is a single mom with 2 kiddos
her mother is a gardener so i knew the garden would be
in good hands


another one i did was for a single mom with a son
i had accumulated a lot of concrete blocks so i made
this one for her
i also was given two rainwater tanks for her to use
for water for the garden
she was proud and her young son was a happy camper
having never gardened before

then this last house
a fellow worker volunteer
said they sure would like a garden
so i asked the young couple with two kids
yes they seemed excited to get a garden

so
as we built the house
they had these two big ole 2x12 boards that were slightly warped
that couldnt be used on the house
so
i dug it out of the trash trailer
to make this
5 ft x 3 ft raised square foot garden
with
15 one foot squares
one i had already planted with a juliet tomato that i planted
in a pot back in early july
this juliet this weekend was loaded with green juliet tomatoes
if warm weather holds up this next month
they should get some fresh tomatoes

myself the husband the wife the two kiddos
then planted their garden this weekend
it was cold but the kiddos were out there all excited
to plant their garden
having never done this before

we planted
sweet peas  4 broccoli  4 strawberries
carrots  lettuce  spinach covering 6 one foot squares
i talked them into planting a swiss chard
since its an almost full proof plant for beginners
recommending they keep it cut back using smaller
leaves for their salads
leaving a few squares left for them to plant other
things or more lettuce or spinach

now i recommend they cut the spinach and lettuce
with scissors when they get larger
leaving a 2 inch or so stub so they will regrow
you can get weeks of lettuce and spinach this way

so
today
at the newest house
the owner said to me
wish i had a garden
so i will use concrete blocks that i have accumulated
over time
to build the frame of the garden

hopefully another habitat home owner will be able to
walk out their back door
to pull up fresh veggies

makes it worthwhile
it does

the organicgreen doctor