Garden project delayed briefly by hail

By Sam Waller

Weather postponed the first attempt to install a vegetable garden at the Ben Richey Boys Ranch Albany location and brought work to a halt during the second try on Wednesday, May 3.

A group of about 40 residents, staff, and volunteers had to take shelter as hail pelted the facility, but the gardening was eventually completed.

“We took a brief break for the hail storm that came in,” organizer Alicia Burton said. “The weather that week was pretty wild.”

But with plenty of help on hand, the work was soon completed once the weather cleared.

“We had close to 40 people,” Burton said. “We had a lot of youth from community churches. MMPC’s Sallie Matthews Circle donated money to help fund the project.”

The garden will help provide the Boys Ranch with a steady supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. Burton said crops planted included green beans, purple-hull peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a variety of herbs in a plot measuring about 50 feet by 60 feet.

“We put down three pallets of mulch to help with water retention and fixed the drip irrigation system,” Burton said.

In addition to the garden, Ben Richey Boys Ranch also contains a fruit orchard.

“We did not replant any trees this year,” Burton said. “We just checked on the irrigation system.”