Community Garden Update

Back in May I wrote about my excitement for my new community garden plot and my fantasies to live the life of Alys Fowler. And then I forgot to mention it ever again, even though a LOT has been happening.

Initially I was regretful that my plot was in a new garden which felt sterile and lacking in character, unlike the wild, rambling established gardens around the city, but I'm over it. Our garden is bursting with character and every time I'm there, somebody walks by and stops to chat and tell me how much they love the new addition to the neighborhood and park.

In May we had a work party to spread gravel paths and build two raised garden beds. It was hard. I wore overalls and felt like a badass afterwards (a very sore badass).

Our planting began in mid June. I decided to focus on sun-lovers that I can't grow as well at home. I dreamed of canning my own tomatoes and saving $5.00 a week on Pomi. I also planted peppers including peperoncinis for pickling, Mexican sour gherkins, flowers, delicata squash, and tromboncino squash (more on that later). I toasted my new garden with a watermelon popsicle.

It was a lot of fun to wander around inspecting the other plots to see what people were growing. My fellow gardeners range from very experienced, to first timers. Some people are like me and have a garden at home but not enough room or sun to grow what they want, and some people live in apartments without any growing space. I love seeing how resourceful people get as with this cute use of bicycle wheels used as a pea trellis.

It is now the first week of August and we just experienced our first day over 100 degrees in three years. Those raised beds that we built now look like this...

And my once tame looking little corner has turned into this jungle...

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I'm an allotmenteer!

Noun

allotmenteer (plural allotmenteers)

1. (UK, informal) a person who grows crops in an allotment.

 

Grant High School Community Garden

In the US we call them community gardens but there is no fun descriptor that comes out of that so I will hereby request that from today onwards you refer to me as allotmenteer. Or at lease until the end of Summer, should I forfeit and decide to ditch the whole thing. The first 3 people I told about my idea to apply for a community garden plot (my mom, my dad, my husband) all told me I was crazy. The fourth person I told, one of my oldest friends who hungers for her own patch of dirt to grow in, said let's do it! 

See, I already have two veggie patches at home which keep me really busy, but they are somewhat sun-challenged. I manage to grow tomatoes, but not the amount I would like. I dream of more space to grow other sun-lovers too like beans and peppers and to free up some room to grow flowers at home. 

My other fantasy for my new community garden plot is that I will have buckets full of beautiful produce, more than my family and friends can possibly eat, and that I will be able to donate the extras to local food banks.

I'm also hoping to meet some interesting garden folks and learn some new things about vegetable gardening.

The Portland Community Garden program is nearly 30 years old and some gardens have up to a four year waiting list. I was very lucky to get a plot at all, let alone one that's in walking distance of my house. In our excitement, my friend and I made a visit to one of the established community gardens in SE Portland, the Colonel Summers Community Garden. I love how ragged and full of personality it is. People are really focused on utility. I plan on visiting more community gardens to cull ideas on how to get the most out of my little 10'x10' plot. I think it's time to explore some vertical gardening ideas!

Colonel Summers Community Garden, Buckman School, Portland

I blame Alys Fowler for making me long for my own community garden plot. In the TV series Gardener's World Alys visits her allotment in the dead of Winter to talk about growing garlic, dealing with weeds, and drinking a hard-earned cuppa with her cute dog. 

Doesn't that look fun? You can see the full episode and others here.  I highly recommend Alys's beautiful books Garden Anywhere, The Edible Garden: How to Have Your Garden and Eat It, and The Thrifty Forager: Living Off Your Local Landscape as well as her terrific blog for The Guardian.

Stay tuned for more news from my new garden plot! 

Yours,

The Allotmenteer

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