Thanks to Patience Perry's class and workshops the Edible Schoolyard (ESY) is really shaping up this growing season.  I (Debbie Bauer) will be managing the garden this summer with super-intern Ben Loomis.  We have lots planned and hope to have the ESY in great shape this season.

We have seven students, staff and faculty that have joined our adopt-a-plot program this season.  Also joining us in the garden are the Master Gardeners from the Watauga County Agricultural Extension Office and Lee Ball of the Technology Department with his Living Green Community.

Lee and his crew are completing our cob greenhouse and plan to build cob cold frames this summer.  We are grateful for their hard work, expertise, and presence in the ESY.

New plantings this season include blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, asparagus, rhubarb, garlic, herbs, and many beautiful perennials.

Our ESY also has established grapes, pears, apples, cherries, raspberries, lavender, oregano, lemon balm, comfrey, thyme, and other herbs, and shiitake mushroom logs. 

This growing season we plan on having a community pickin' garden, so that folks that live during the summer at the Living Learning Center or guests passing by can pick a veggie or two and leave some for others.

I've just finished a couple of really great books you might be interested in.  My favorite was Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte.  A delightful book full of information about companion planting, home fruit growing, garden techniques, soil improvement, pest control and nice hand-drawn garden plans, as well as other subjects.  It is a must have.

I also found a wealth of information in The Organic Gardeners Handbook by Frank Tozer.  This book goes through everything you need to know: site selection, soil, fertilizer, bed prep, crop planning, seed sowing, transplanting, watering, weeds, pests and disease, harvesting, seed saving, greenhouses, tools, and more!  A complete guide for organic gardening.

Lastly, I am reading Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter (I just love her name!).  This is Appalachian State University's Summer Reading Program book for all the incoming freshmen.  I have volunteered to to head a reading discussion group in August.  This is a wonderful book.  Novella has written a great book; she's funny, witty, brave, earthy.  I highly recommend this and I'm only on page 41!

I want to thank University College, Appalachian Studies, Sustainable Development, Interdisciplinary Studies, Women's Studies, Global Studies, and Watauga Global Community for their support of the Edible Schoolyard.  It promises to be a fruitful year!

I'll be back soon with news, gardening tips, resources, etc.  Let me know if there's anything in particular that you'd like to see on this blog.

Here's some photos I took of the Edible Schoolyard in March.