Back in the Garden!
The Parc Baldwin garden, looking south toward rue Sherbrooke. In the absence of plants, you can see some of our characteristic details: the aqua water barrels, the black compost bins and white sheet-rock buckets we use for toting water and plant scraps, green recycling bins that we used for planting, the tennis balls that mark the edges of our plots.
Two days ago I went to the community garden for the first time this year. The "official" opening day is Sunday, but some of us couldn't wait. It was the first really warm day we've had -- it actually got up to 70! -- and you could smell the earth and practically see the plants becoming green. I took some photos and made this wash drawing, and think I'll keep sketching the garden as it changes over the season. It's funny how the manmade onjects dominate the scene now, with their strong colors and size -- before long we won't even notice them.
When I got to my own plot, I discovered that someone had left me a message!
It was my friend Michel, who's a neighbor and a master gardener. He was there on Wednesday too, so we caught up on all the news as well as checking out our plants. My yellow rose made it through the winter in great shape, and has strong stems with lots of leaf buds - it was an experiment last year; the peonies are sticking their red noses out of the soil, and daylily's green leaves are growign strongly in everyone's plot. Montreal's climate is actually a bit milder than Vermont's, where Zone 4-5 plants like roses and lavender were pretty difficult. I feel encouraged.
Here's Michel, cleaning up along the fence. As you can see, the garden is right in a residential neighborhood.
The social aspect of the community garden is one of the parts I like the most -- we have lot of fun. But I also like going there early in the morning, with a little thermos of coffee or tea, when I can be alone with the birds and the plants and the day as it arises. After such a long, grey winter I'm really looking forward to this season and can't wait to get my hands in the earth! That will have to wait a few days though -- it's rainy and the temperature in Montreal is back in the low 40s again this morning. Patience!
