Community Gardening

Community gardening is a wonderful thing. You can grow yourself some veg, help out the environment, and hopefully make a few new friends all at the same time.

My good friend Emily recently called me up, and said, “Nathan, I want a plot at the local garden this year, but I need a partner to keep me motivated and help split the work. Are you interested?” Well, anything to do with food, of course I’m interested, so here we are, sharing a double-plot at the Curtis Park Community Garden in our neighborhood.

When I say you'll make a few friends, I mean that it’s inevitable that you’ll run into a other people at the garden during the season only to swap some friendly advice or just share in the camaraderie. Just on my first weekend alone I met Jeff, Aaron, and Meredith. Jeff was kind enough to tell me that Pacific Mercantile, a local Asian food store, had a number of seedlings on sale for $.89 each. Naturally I had to rush over to pick up a few jalapeño and Anaheim plants.

I should tell you that I don’t have a lot of gardening experience, so the opportunity to share the load with someone who does have experience is a great way to work through my first real gardening season. There are a load of online resources, but sharing the work with a friend is preferable, even if neither of you have a clue as to what’s going on.

Though we’re starting a little late in the season (planting three weeks ago might have been ideal), we’ll still yield hundred of dollars of produce, even with a few hundred invested in our elaborate set up (willow wigwams, bamboo fencing, etc). Dismiss our frivolities and Keep in mind that this can be simply done with just minimal start up costs.

Most if not all community gardens will charge a fee for your plot, usually based on the size. If you’re just starting out, you should ask for a starter plot just to get a feel for how this all works out. Most vegetables can be grown from seeds or seedlings, without much more investment. Things like peas, squash, tomatoes and such might need some specialty items like trellises to grow. Even given all that, you’re still spending far less for the late-summer early fall harvest than what you would probably spend at the grocery store.

Because we have a double-plot and can share the work, we’re growing a lot:

• ·     Two different eggplant varieties
  
• ·     Two peppers
  
• ·     Two chilies
  
• ·     Two different thyme varieties
  
• ·     Three mint varieties
  
• ·     Two basil varieties
  
• ·     Marjoram
  
• ·     Fennel
  
• ·      Four lettuce varieties, with two more in a second planting (red leaf, green leaf, mixed Asian greens, bok choy, chard, kale, etc)
  
• ·      Snap peas and English shelling peas
  
• ·      Lemon and English cucumbers
  
• ·      A variety of squash
  
• ·      Carrots
  

Many of these plants will mature in about 60 days. If you happen to get a plot with healthy soil, your upfront costs really are relatively low. Even if you need to buy a few bags of compost, you’re still saving money in the long run.

For the most part you can follow the directions on the seed packets or on the sticks in the seedlings. It’s not too late. If you’re local garden or backyard still has space, consider grown a few items, easing yourself into the process. It’s easier than you think. Really!

I’ll continue to update you throughout our growing season, and in the meantime, good luck with your own crops!