Deb has happily acquired a community garden plot.

It’s not far from where she lives. The garden is in full sun on a north slope. Because she was late in applying for the space, she has a center plot. She hopes that it will be protected from marauding critters.

But to be prepared, she’s installing stakes around the 23x15-foot space to hold fencing on her perimeter.

Already, the garden has been tilled. Now she’ll rake her area, smoothing it before sowing seeds of cool-weather vegetables. At the same time, she’ll gather stones and small rocks from the space, carrying them away from the community garden.

She learned that when we lived next to a neighborhood vegetable patch. One group of new gardeners plucked out rocks and stones, carefully arranging them at the edge of their space. Each following spring, the same stones were plowed back into the soil, only to be weeded out again and set along that plot’s margin.  

Next, she’ll calculate where each vegetable should grow. Using stakes as end markers, she’ll string lines to guide where she’ll make seed-planting furrows.

At the same time, she’ll make sure there are paths between those furrows, because she’ll want free space to walk around her garden. Later, she’ll use grass clippings, bark chips or even strips of worn-out carpet to cover the paths as defense against vigorously-sprouting weeds.

Peas grow well in spring-chilly soil. She’ll be putting in bush peas this time, not Tall Telephone types. Following the old adage, she’ll “plant peas thickly” in their furrow. Later, she’ll be roaming the countryside for brushy branches to support the new seedlings. To one of those stakes, she’ll attach a rain-proof label with name of the crop and the date it was sown.

Snap peas may be eaten with or without their pods. They deserve a row, long or short, and otherwise are treated like the bush peas.

Deb will plant other vegetable seeds that thrive in cool soil: spinach, lettuce (a short row), Swiss chard, carrots, beets.

Other vegetables will be planted when soil and air grow warm.

Nothing to do? Shortly, she’ll be thinning seedlings of early-planted crops.