By CHARLES NICHOLS/For The Herald — Eleven volunteers showed up Saturday to refurbish the Salmon Creek Community Garden plots in a project sponsored by the Oakridge Westfir Area Chamber of Commerce as part of the Headwaters Harvest Festival.
And since the ground is a former river bottom, there was plenty of work to do digging rocks from the plots and pathways.
The rocks were separated by size into large and small. The large rocks were placed in piles in the pathways to be used for borders around the 9-foot-by-9 foot plots. The small rocks were carried by wheelbarrow or bucket and placed in a hallow near the levee where they can grow into big rocks.
Then the plots were worked over by Jason Nehmer, chamber vice president, on the rototiller and others with picks and shovels to turn the grass and weeds and soil. A team of hard-rock experts reduced the piles of large rocks into neat borders defining the plots and pathways.
A layer of garden compost from last year’s garden debris was then added on top of the plots and then covered by black plastic film. On sunny days, the plastic will cause the soil to heat up making it nice and comfortable for bacteria and fungi to grow, breaking down the grass and weeds in the process.
Although the plots are available now for gardeners, the plots will benefit by keeping them covered for the next month and making them ready for planting around the time of Oakridge’s average last frost date of April 24.
Saturday was a beautiful day, and some in the work party were happy to rest in the shade after the work and drink some homemade grape juice from last year’s crop grown in the garden.
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