Welcome to the 2012 season of the Flerra Community Organic Garden.

Thank you very much for showing up this weekend for setup, those of you who could. It made a huge difference, and the garden looks wonderful.

Almost ready for work: Fence is up, plots are marked.

Below is the garden "toolshed," with items available for everyone to use. We have four new watering cans this year (yay!) to increase the chances that you'll be able to get all your watering done in one haul. Back is the handy-dandy cart, and there are also some tools on their way over that will be available for everyone to use.

The garden tools section, first area on the left as you enter. 

The fence is complete, and all of the plots are marked off. Look for your tag, in the front right side of your plot. You can keep these tags or discard them. If there is any problem with your plot, you must let me know as soon as possible. I'm not able to move other people once they've started working.

Marked-off plot with ID tag. 

What remains to be done:

• Water: The pump handle has been installed, but the pump has not been charged. We'll be working with the town to get this accomplished, and we'll let you know when it's ready for use. For now, you can haul water from the pond, or carry water from home. 
• Composted manure: We should be getting a shipment of composed horse manure soon, donated from a local farm. Jesse's been trying to reach them, and when he does, we'll arrange delivery. It will be set right across from the tool area, on the right side. Anyone is welcome to use it as needed, but please keep in mind that it needs to be available for several gardeners, so don't overdo! Also, you can plant now and enrich later with manure, or you can wait for the manure before you plant -- up to you. The manure will be there for a set amount of time, then it will be spread into the corn patch.
• Corn plot: The area just after the composted manure area will be for the comminity corn. Please think about whether you'd like to participate. It won't cost extra, but you're responsible for keeping your row(s) weeded. You can do corn in your own plot only, but corn is best done this way so it can cross-pollinate. (We'll have assigned rows.) We'll only allow the butter and sugar corn variety in the garden for this reason. We'll let you know when planting time draws near. 

One more thing: Some of the regulations may seem unusual; but they were created during a long process to reach a balance between parties and to ensure the land is used properly and the property is treated respectfully.* These two are of particular note -- please follow these rules exactly, and let us know if you have any problems:

• Parking: Please park parallel to the road on the garden side, and make sure you don't park on the grass. Vehicles aren't allowed on the grass for any reason. You can run the cart between your car and the garden, though. 
• Colors: You can't leave anything at the garden that is not a dark earth-tone. If you have to leave something at the garden and have doubts about its appropriateness (like a big white and yellow and green and blue bag of potting soil), we've left some brown garden fabric in the tools area, and you are free to use and hide your stuff (temporarily) on your plot. 

You're welcome to go on over to the garden and get started! Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or problems. We'd love to hear from you!

* Edited for clarity and tone, 5/29/12