Benches & Tuxedo Cat

When we got to the Gaynor garden today a surprise was waiting for us:  benches!  The Lyons Community School's Urban Workshop made four beautiful benches for the garden:  

Garden Club had a low turn-out again this afternoon, which led to a discussion on how to reschedule meetings to attract more students while still fitting into Sprout's schedule.  Ideas included meeting Monday afternoon to include Lyons students, and meeting before school.  We discussed how many mornings Garden Club should meet and decided to create a morning checklist.  The checklist will include plant growth, watering schedule, and any potential concerns or changes in the garden that should be identified.

The discussion turned to labeling the raised beds, which will happen after the (trans)planting on May 4th. We will have a painting day to finish signs (which were started by volunteers on April 21).  One of the Lyons teachers, Rob, and his his ESL class offered to translate these signs in order to best reach the surrounding community.

We spent time thinning the radishes and kale today, now that their true leaf sets have emerged.  The afternoon ended by planting sugar snap peas in the north-west most bed, and covering them with row cover in hopes of keep the birds at bay.  It's a bit late to put peas in the ground, but we're hoping this cool weather will humor us.

On the way to the spigot we spied a tuxedo cat; he's been seen in the garden before.  Our fingers are crossed that he (and his friends) will keep the rats out and not mistake the raised beds for a litter box.