Community Garden?

Ever since we moved here to Syracuse, I have been itching for a garden. Maybe because I assumed it was such a non-possibility where we were in Boston, with a very tiny yard and a non-cooperative (read:facist and irrational) landlord. I know now that I had a lot more options than I thought there, with container gardening and layer gardening and multiple community gardens close by, but I didn't think it was a real option. But where we are now, even though it is an apartment complex in the city, there is a lot of lawn, unused or under-used lawn. And the more I learn, the more I hate lawn...it is so often pointless and wasteful and damaging. But still, even though with spring rushing in and summer close on its heals, and my fingers itching to sink into some dirt and my body craving real foods and our budget swooning a bit from the produce prices, we still only talked about a garden as an eventual. When we have a house, when we have land, when we have a porch, when, when, when. In the meantime, we've been settling for a few boxes of herbs in the window, one little cherry tomato plant on the tiny ledge outside and some pea plants that may or may not decide to grow and join the tomato. It was pretty depressing, but better then nothing.


From left to right: top: regular basil, purple sage, pineapple sage, red basil, cherry tomatoes. Bottom: peppermint, hot'n'spicy oregano, rosemary, silver thyme.


Then Saturday, we were at the library and I was torturing myself by looking at the browse-about section on gardening. I came across a book titled "Food Not Lawns" (see it here: http://www.amazon.com/Food-Not-Lawns-Neighborhood-Community/dp/193339207X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6478509-1238407?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180974811&sr=8-1 ) and grabbed it, again thinking "when we have a yard...". On the way to finish our weekend errands, I dug it out from underneath the 10 other books I just had to have (have I mentioned I'm a book addict?) and started flipping through it. And it was like a little light went off in my head...all those "whens" can be a lot sooner than we thought. The whole book is about how to build community and support the earth and generally make your life a bit better by planting a garden wherever you are, however you can, whether its by laying out elaborate garden plans, complete with graywater recycling systems and all heirloom/native plants to randomly scattering zucchini seeds wherever you go and seeing what grows. And there is a big emphasis on community gardens as revolutionary acts of community building and, obviously, access to good, organic, affordable food.



I had thought about how nice it would be if the complex had a garden, but never seriously. But now, yeah, I think we could do it. I know there are people here who would be interested, people whose front steps are crammed with flowers and the occasional tomato plant and whose windows look like mini jungles. And there are at least 3 sites that would work well as garden spaces. So Katie and I are going to speak with the owner on Friday, see if she gives the ok to feel out the other residents about whether this is something that they might be interested in. The way I see it, if this works, it could be a selling point for the complex...its own pool, laundry facilities on site, and a community garden! Assuming she gives the ok, I'd like to hang flyers up and try to have a meeting sometime in July to see if there is any real interest. Since my knowledge about gardening is limited, I'd love it if someone who has some more experience decides to help, but whatever, we'll figure it out. If we can get an okay on the site, fence it off, lay mulch and compost, and possibly lay out beds, all this fall, we will have a good start for next spring's planting season.



I really want this to work, I want this more than I've wanted anything in a long time. And assuming we get the ok, and assuming we have others interested, next spring could be a time of planting and growing and hopefully making a few new friends here. Wish me luck!