To-MA-to/To-MAH-to

There are some perks to having an apartment on the 3rd floor: residual heat from lower apartments lowers our heating bill during the winter, people can't look straight into our windows, in the spring we have blossoms *right* outside of our windows, daily aerobic activity climbing the stairs... There are also some drawbacks to having not only a 3rd floor apartment, but an apartment in general: neighbours, shared walls, daily aerobic activity climbing the stairs, no garden.

Yes, I said no garden.

Growing up gardening was possibly my least favourite thing to do between bugs, weeds, dirt, and bugs. I think it might have been more of a chore for my parents to make me do my share of gardening than it was for me to actually do it. But, as evidence of the fact that it is possible for a leopard to change it's spots, I regularly day-dream about having a garden of our own so that I can tend it, and love it like my third child.

I blame Evan. He has always loved doing things, and has always loved being outside, so it is natural for him to love gardens and gardening. I also blame Michael Pollan, author of 'The Omnivore's Dilemma'. And I also blame grocery stores for having incredibly lame, and over priced fruits and vegetables. Why pay so darn much for nothing, especially when you can grow it yourself for a fraction of the price with far superior (if slightly irregular-looking) results.

So this year, not having a garden of our own, and feeling a small obligation to support our local agriculture, we investigated Community Supported Agriculture. I know in some places you can work in exchange for fresh produce, but here in good ol' Utah you have to pay through the nose for a stingy three month share (that is not only stingy in terms of duration, but in terms of overall weight too). That disagreed with our miserly sensibilities in a big way.

But then we discovered that our own little town that masquerades as a city (Provo) sponsors a community garden. Basically it is a patch of land in the middle of a large, dumpy apartment complex, right next to a railway line, that got donated to the city because it was being used as a dumping ground. So it gets sectioned off into 4x18 ft plots of land and people who do not have access to their own garden can grow food. They also have some of the plots reserved for the Food Bank.

So we have two plots, which is about 180 sq ft of rocky dirt, that we hope will produce more than enough fresh food for our little family until the end of October. Any surplus we have will go to local friends or to the Food Bank. There are also still some plots available, so we are considering volunteering to tend one entirely for the Food Bank. Oh yeah, did I mention that at this moment it is all free because there is no fence up? Yeah. Yay, us.

The kids, by the way, love having a garden, and ask multiple times a day if they can go to it to dig in the dirt. They are really helpful at making holes, but less helpful at making them in the right places. (They also have a knack for running through other peoples plots, but no-one else needs to know that, right?) 

We quickly realized on the first day of work that the kids wouldn't stand for being left out of the digging action, but that they most certainly could not be trusted with metal tools. So we recently bought them a set of plastic hand trowels to keep them occupied.

So these are the 'before' shots, that we took about a month ago when we first got the plots. (It took probably four 2-hour visits for us to de-rockify the ground and turn it over enough to where it was useable. In addition we had to wait about 2/3 weeks before we could plant anything because we were still getting snow.)

We have the two plots outlined either side of where Lena is standing in the second picture. We made them both into one big plot.

And here is the 'after' picture, which I took a few days ago, when we planted (7) tomato plants... in addition to the two we already had planted. And by the way, after all the work we out into getting rocks out, and into working in bags and bags of manure, the soil is fabulous now, even if it isn't quite perfect.

Just in front of the log are two bush bean sprouts that the kids planted in cups at preschool - we thought they would die after Ollie trampled them, and then Lena buried them in gravel, but apparently you can't kill beans, because they are thriving right now! As you can see there isn't much more to see at the moment. Really the most visible things are the tomatoes in the back, the swiss chard in the middle, and the marigolds up front.

So here's something I made earlier! Our garden plan.

Red: Tomato plants, interspersed with alliums, basil, and marigold. We have 9 in there right now... 2 hybrid early varieties, and 7 heirlooms.
Green: Patty pan squash
Purple: Yellow and red beets
Yellow: Mix of bell peppers and hot peppers
Orange: Lettuces and herbs
Turquoise: Swiss Chard
Blue: Broccoli
White: Alliums (garlic, onions, chives)
Grey: Carrots (I think it might be a mix of orange and red carrots)
Pink: Mix of snap peas and sweet peas

I have a feeling that we will have produce coming out of our ears. But my biggest hope is that by having the kids help tend our garden they will be more inclined to eat vegetables. I was reading somewhere a mother's account of growing a vegetable garden, which she had done primarily for cost purposes but to also educate her children. In it she mentioned that by far her favourite memory of the garden was watching her three year old girl, who objected to vegetables of all descriptions, wander over to the broccoli, contemplate it for a moment, and then shove her face in it and munch it like a horse! I don't expect anything quite as entertaining from my kids, but I will take whatever I can get.

Wish us luck!