Community Garden

A few months ago I was sitting with some community members brainstorming things to do with the kids in our summer day camp program. We want to have fun like a normal summer camp but we also wanted to be able to give kids experiences and lessons that could be practical to their lives. One of the ideas was to have a gardening class where  kids could work in local gardens doing everything from planting, to weeding, to harvesting,  to finally eating the fruits of the land. From this meeting I was inspired to start a garden of my own.

Last weekend was a big day in the life of our garden. After many hours spent digging; tilling; picking out: glass, bricks, sparkplugs; and organizing we finally planted seeds in the soil. It has been amazing to see a grass field transformed into a vegetable garden. The most surprising thing in the whole process has been the amount of broken glass that is in the earth. I guess that is what you get when you garden in the inner city.

We have planted:potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, radish, various herbs, sunflowers, peas, beans, squash, and cucumbers. I was a little disappointed that, I had invited a handful of kids to help us plant, but we happened to be planting on the hottest day of the year.The kids said the 90 degree temperatures kept them away. I am sure there will be plenty of work for them to help in the future so I am still hopeful that they will learn with me.

Our first bud was a potato I took from my kitchen and planted a few weeks ago. It is looking great!

Getting ready to plant

Best view of how big the plot is. When we started the land was no different from the grass you see around it.