Tue 22 Jul 2008
Briana and I have started with the gardening. We have long wanted to take an active interest in growing our own food and we did grow a passel of herbs in the old condo but there was no space and when the real-estate bug hit, the nascent flora hit the bricks.
I our new place, in the West End of New Westminster, we have more space and we have tried some first steps. We aim for a true Victory Garden and we plan to be exemplars of sub-urban self sufficiency in some way or other. So far we have some kitchen herbs, tomatoes planted, squashes and zucchini, onions and chives and a few other tid-bits. There seems to be a massive movement gaining speed towards self sufficient urban farming but it could be the “hey, there sure are a lot of Honda Odysseys on the road” phenomenon, they day after you buy one.
So I have been reading some cool blogs and other blogs and wikipedias. And Briana has read a slew of super books including The 20 Minute Vegetable Gardener and Michail Pollan’s In Defence of Food.
Recently we attended a meeting with the New Westminster Parks horticulturalist and management staff and a super group of interested gardeners with the aim of establishing a community garden in the city for the benefit of all city gardeners. My first plan is to use the two vacant lost close to my house. In the satellite photo below, the houses still exist but the two houses closest to the south-east corner of Grimston Park.
The space is not really suitable for much other than a parking lot or a community garden, and we all know what Joni Mitchel thinks about parking lots.
More to come.
That is a wonderful idea! I hope you can get the city behind you in promoting that.
In the meantime, try other herbs like Rosemary — it is almost like a decorative bush and is a perennial too. Basil is a must for all the Italian cooking. Don’t plant too many zucchini — or you’ll be overgrown. Maybe 2 plants is enough. It will be fun to help you in your garden!
Love, Mom