Hi! My name is Adrienne and I'm the horticulture intern at Green City Growers this fall. Most of the work I do involves tending gardens- both our own Research and Development garden at our office in Somerville, and those that we've installed and routinely maintain for our clients all over Boston, the metro area, and the surrounding suburbs.
My job is really awesome, and I learn so many new things every day. I really like the garden maintenance “route” that I get to do on Thursdays, which involves three different garden sites/programs. I meet the farmer at the GCG office- either Tany or Allison, both wonderful farmers with lots of experience and enthusiasm- and we load up supplies. Then we head out to our sites, where we spend time harvesting, weeding, planting or seeding new crops, fertilizing the beds, and doing pest removal. Each week's tasks are different as the growing season progresses. In early fall, when I started with GCG, there was a lot to harvest! Every week we'd pick pounds of tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, chard, eggplants, peppers, squashes, and herbs.
These days most of the summer plants have finished and so there's less to harvest- mostly just greens like kale, collards, arugula, and lettuces. Instead we spend time pulling up mature and dying plants that have finished their production stages and then planting in some new stuff. These days we are also focusing on preparing and installing “cold frames,” which are mini-greenhouses placed directly on top of a raised bed. They keep the temperature up inside the bed so gardeners can grow crops throughout the fall and into the winter, even when the temperatures drop! It's a really cool design.
I am really enjoying working at Green City Growers this fall- I can't believe how much helpful and interesting stuff I am learning about growing in New England weather, about urban farming in small spaces, and about cooperation and collaboration with clients and other folks to grow and nourish plants. Always looking forward to learning more!
