Urban Gardening

TheBetterHalf®, TheKiddo™ and I live in an apartment. Most of the time, we love it. We have access to swimming pools, a fitness center, movie rooms, meeting rooms and a variety of other amenities that are covered by our rent payments.

There are, however, two aspects of apartment life that we don't really like.

1. The rent is raised each and every year.
2. We don't have a garden.

While the first remains irksome, and is likely to push us to home ownership this year, we have addressed the second. We have a plot in a community garden that is associated with Our Savior Episcopal Church and named "The Plot Against Hunger." Our 10' x 20' plot is just a small part of the Gardeners In Community Development effort in Dallas. And we're thrilled that at least 10% of our harvest goes to a community food pantry to be distributed to the less fortunate.

For a few dollars a year, and many hours of labor, we are able to harvest and enjoy our own organically grown vegetables and fruits. And when you spend as much time working your plot as we do, adding a few hours to contribute to the community garden by harvesting, weeding, maintaining the walkways or feeding the chickens is a simple thing. In fact, you'll find that you've more than fulfilled the necessary time commitment to the community garden after just a few visits.

Currently we have tomatoes, potatoes, romaine lettuce, red onions and shallots growing, while our spinach plants go to seed so we can replant for the fall.

Water jugs keep roots warm.

Blooms indicate we could harvest new potatoes in 3 - 4 weeks.

We're about to plant a broader selection of vegetables and herbs following the annual plant sale. If you're interested in gardening and want some Dallas-friendly vegetables and herbs, you should attend the plant sale this month.

Come to the plant sale!

Eating the fresh produce and working with the soil are the two most obvious benefits to our garden. I happen to think that Teaching TheKiddo™ about science and nature, and having her be unafraid of grubs, worms, beetles and other bugs are the best parts.

I may hurt from the digging at times. I may complain about the blisters on my hands at times. I may even want to sleep in some weekend mornings and not tend to my chores. At the end of the day, however, I wouldn't trade our family time in the garden for anything. It's where we grow and discover nourishment for our minds, bodies and souls.

I'm sure that even if we do become house-dwellers this year, we'll keep our plot.