Community Garden update

Woo hoo! We were offered a larger plot and we took it!

The new plot is at least twice as big as our former plot 8. In a community garden at the opposite side of Potrero Hill, now we face the Mission neighborhood, Twin Peaks and the Sutro Tower, parts of the Civic Center and you can even glimpse the upper parts of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands on clear days. But our Bayview is lost. I think this garden might get more sunlight too. Like the last one, it was a wreck when we got it! The former gardener apparently moved to a house in the Mission with a big yard. She had planted a lot of interesting things like cabbage, various herbs, strawberries etc. but had been gone for a while. The garden was overgrown, full of weeds, and disgusting snails. Ewuh!

Steven and I spent a couple of days over a course of two weekends weeding it, killing snails, and then building a fence wrapped with chicken wire. There was lots of digging and hammering and stretching in funny directions, which in turn led to lots of body aches and excessive use of ibuprofen. How did pre-technological peoples manage?!? After all that, it was time to plant. That took about twenty minutes compared to the three-day preparation. This time, I planted a bunch of collard greens, Italian and Russian kale, cauliflower, oregano, artichoke and Swiss chard. (Our fellow community gardeners seem to be very successful with artichoke and Swiss chard in particular, as you can tell from some of the pics.) Our plantings are pathetically small right now but I’m happy and full of hope that we will be harvesting some veggies we cultivated ourselves in late Spring! This experience has been very gratifying and we both feel humbled. Growing your own food is not an easy task. You put a lot of energy into it with no guarantees. (Already something has been nibbling the Italian kale!) We’re full of doubt with our hope: will the plants survive or not? So many variables come into the game… well, at least the promised once-in-thirty-five-years snowstorm failed to materialize. That’s something.

Of course, we had to leave behind the collard greens, parsley, cucumber and radishes from plot 8. But that’s alright since someone else can go to that spot and try their hand at urban farming.

Meanwhile, at home the heirloom okra sprouts are reaching an inch tall! The eggplants and peppers have all sprouted too. They’re all at the two-leaf stage. I feel like a kid in science lab when I saw the baby sprouts erupting from the ground. It’s a magical moment.

More to come! Keep your fingers crossed for us.