Sharing The Garden, Briefly
August 2nd, 2009 · 5 Comments · Posted in Blog
Gardens make good friends
Every spring I am inundated with calls. Many of them are from journalists wanting to do stories about how food gardening is getting so popular. Sometimes the callers represent groups of one sort or another who want me to give a talk about gardening or composting or being more environmentally friendly. And others are people, usually young people, who are moving to the District of Columbia or recently moved here and either want a place to garden or are looking for a job gardening (wouldn’t that be nice–to be paid to garden?)
This is the price a gardener pays for publishing on the internet, or perhaps for helping start an organization called D.C. Urban Gardeners where I am prominently mentioned.
Anyway, this spring one young woman stood out. Her name was Meredith and she had recently moved here from Iowa where she had been working on sustainability issues. She didn’t know much about gardening but she was desperate to start. I put her in touch with all the usual suspects–the people I know who are prominent in the community gardening world–and she called everyone. No dice. There were no plots available at the community gardens.
But Meredith had moved into my neighborhood so she new exactly where to come to discuss her dilemma. Did I have any other suggestions? There are some gardens where you can volunteer your time, and I suggested those. She proposed maybe finding a yard in the neighborhood that wasn’t being gardened, like the one across the street from us. I didn’t hear from Meredith for a while, until she came to the house with a question about soil.
It seems she had convinced the neighbors across from us to let her grow vegetables in their yard. She had started busting sod and digging into the soil, but to her it seemed much too clay-ee. Obviously she was going to need to invest in some compost. Where is this? I asked. And she pointed a spot under a huge, spreading tree. But Meredith, I said as gently as I could. You’ll never be able to grow anything there. Your vegetables will never get any sun. Buying compost would be a waste of money. And she didn’t have much to spend.
I walked away wondering what would become of Meredith. But I didn’t need to wonder very long. Meredith also approached my wife for advice and my wife immediately invited Meredith to garden with us. (Wish I’d thought of it first. But I can’t take any credit.)
Soon Meredith and her friend Woody appeared with their shovel and I showed them a rather large bed where I’d planned to plant sweet potatoes except that the seedlings, though paid for, had never arrived. In short order, Meredith and Woody were transporting their tomato seedlings and basil plants. They planted squash and cucumbers and I showed them another vacant strip in front of where I’d planted okra and they installed more tomatoes and transplanted carrots and tiny pepper plants.
It was fun watching Meredith and Woody bring so much enthusiasm and persistence to the garden. They would show up after work and toil into the night, spreading compost around their little plants and watering, and watering, and watering. “You’re going to kill those plants with water,” I finally said one day. Meredith shrugged and said she had no idea how much water to give them. I explained that we had gotten so much rain, we might never need to water all season.
I was pretty good about not telling Meredith how to garden. But sometimes I just had to say something. “You have too many tomatoes,” I opined one day. It’s a pretty common error, planting too many tomatoes and placing them too close together. Most people have no idea how big tomato plants will get. But Meredith listened. She dug up a couple of them and gave them to friends.
Meredith and Woody were successful beginners. Their squashes grew to astonishing size. Their tomato plants are loaded with fruit. Like us, they were stricken with cucumber beetles. Like ours, their plants wilted and died. But peppers of various sort began to swell, and the carrots were growing tall.
Then, unexpectedly, Meredith announced that she and Woody would no longer be able to garden with us. Woody wanted to move to China and start a business. Meredith had not been able to find a job that would support her in the nation’s capitol. They brought us a rhubarb pie, made with some of our own rhubarb. Later they came around with two handsome bottles of their own home-brewed wine. The next day we were introduced to a friend, another gardening newbie, who would look after the garden in Meredith and Woody’s place. “I’m in law school,” she said. “I’m afraid I won’t have much time for gardening after August.”
We are sorry to see Meredith and Woody go. I had already been forming plans for gardening together next year. But they taught us a valuable lesson: Sharing makes gardening even more fun.
Food gardening is a commitment. How nice that your wife and you were willing to extend your commitment. I feel good karma headed your way.
What a great story, Ed. And you’re so right. Just yesterday, someone said, “Why would you want to have a bed in the community garden when you have your own garden at home already?’ And I said, “Because there will be 40 other families to share the experience with!”
Gardening can be a lonely thing, even though many of us are happy being alone out there. To share that passion is a gift.
It’ll be interesting to see what becomes of Meredith and Woody! And that law student may suddenly find more time than expected for the relaxing benefits of gardening.
So kind of you to share your garden! In case Meredith is looking elsewhere (or anyone else for that matter) there are a couple great sites that may help: http://sharingbackyards.com/, http://communitygarden.org/ and don’t forget to check your county park departments . Also meetup.com may have some local gardening groups. Best of luck to Meredith, Woody and the new law student gardener 🙂
It was so great to read this article. And thank you so much Ed, for the gardening opportunity. And thanks, foodperson, Pattie, and kimsikes for your support. Meredith has a way of finding treasure everywhere she goes, and this garden at Ed’s was no exception. I was so lucky to be involved. And now I’m so excited for the next chance I have to grow things.
Also, for those wondering about my plans, I’ll be blogging my adventures in Asia at http://asiawheeling.com. Right now, you can see all the posts from our last trip, which should give an idea for the style of this upcoming adventure.
Woody, good luck in your travels. Don’t be a stranger!