The Start of the Garden

One of the first steps of putting the garden in is to stake out where our raised beds will be. The soil here is fairly rocky so instead of amending the existing soil we are building six raised beds which we will fill with topsoil. Each bed will be 8'x4' and the entire garden space will be approximately 35'x56'. Funding is a limiting factor, and we've been very grateful for the grant money we've recieved and donations from the community. A special thanks is also due to Robin Vogler, our boss and the Food Services Director and Wellness Program Coordinator for Somers Middle School and Lakeside Elementary School. This garden is largely her vision and she is creating a new model of a healthier, happier school cafeteria.

As you can probably tell from the picture, we're putting the garden in on a slope. This definitely presents a challenge for putting in level garden beds. We've put stakes and twine in the lawn to map out where the beds will be so we can start to dig up the grass!