photo credit: Greensboro Daily Photo (www.greensborodailyphoto.com)
Back in the day there were called Victory Gardens. Today some have called them Recession Gardens, which grates on my optimist’s ears.
Let’s call them our Getting Back To All That’s Good And Taking Back Control of Our Lives Gardens.
By any other name, the tomatoes are are as sweet – and prodigious in their output. Mint, onions, blueberries, squash, cukes and zukes. Many people are planting vegetable gardens in their front yards or next to the driveway. Five gallon buckets can be seen, wooden poles sticking out, with all manner of vines climbing skyward. Downtown, uptown, on roofs, on front stoops. Herbs on window sills or on patios. People are keeping bees in their yards. Making compost bins out of huge plastic drums or discarded wooden pallets.
There are large scale urban gardens in Greensboro, where dedicated and creative folks are putting there hands – and shovels and rakes and trowels – where their mouths are, community involvement-wise. [UPDATE: The folks over at Greensboro Daily Photo just posted info about another community garden on their site. And you can read about their personal garden in the comments section for this post]
So, the topic for this week’s poll: Are you growing food at your house?
Hope so.
[UPDATE: This story was just posted on Public Radio Station 88.5 WFDD about this very topic and an urban garden in Winston-Salem (just about 30 minutes down the road from Greensboro). There's audio if you'd like to take a listen]
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Casey:
Thanks for the link and the sharing of our photo. We finally had a chance to read your blog and you offer a WEALTH of information for staying abreast of the Greensboro Real Estate Market!
As for growing food in the back yard, we always try to plant edibles. So, when it is time to plant a shrub/bush, we think blueberry as opposed to nandina! We have tomatoes, chard, eggplant, peppers, squash, okra, blueberries, cucumbers, green beans, lavender (yes, it is edible) and a little more. Every year, we try to add a little more.
Today (8/18/09), on Greensboro Daily Photo, we feature a community garden in Glenwood neighborhood. Recently, the Aycock community was featured for starting a neighborhood garden. We drove by the other day and it looks WELL LOVED! The community garden is a great option when you don’t have room or time for a personal garden!
Have a great rest of the week!
Mr. and Mrs. GDP
Thanks for the kind words and for use of the photo! And I envy you for your garden. We suffer from little sunlight and poor soil, so haven’t had a good year. But next year we might just move everything to the front yard where there’s at least more sun.
Keep up the good work!