Our Community Garden

I think I may have mentioned awhile back that I missed out on planting a garden at my home because I moved right during the prime planting time. Well, I was pretty bummed about this but I ended up finding a great way to plant my veggies and eat them too. :) Some friends and I ended up starting a community garden. Four families all congregated at one member’s home and dug up a large portion of their backyard (they have a couple acres) and we worked for several days planting our dream garden.

On the list of things we planted were onions, 4 different radish plants, turnips, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, carrots, 6 different bean plants, cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers, hot peppers, herbs, and 6 different tomatoes. I am sure there is more that I am forgetting. We put newspaper and/or straw down between the rows to keep weeds at bay and keep the ground moist. The garden is looking incredible!

After only a few weeks we harvested some peppers, daikon radishes, and zucchini. One zucchini was HUGE. And of course everything tasted delicious. It cannot get fresher than this…picking it in the afternoon and eating it up in the evening.

This has also been a great experience for my kids to work with other people and build a sense of community and of course share the excitement with them too. It makes me want to start a community garden on a larger scale. According to the American Community Garden Association “community gardening improves the quality of life for people by providing a catalyst for neighborhood and community development, stimulating social interaction, encouraging self-reliance, beautifying neighborhoods, producing nutritious food, reducing family food budgets, conserving resources and creating opportunities for recreation, exercise, therapy and education.”

I can see this in action on a small scale already. To see it on a grander scale would be a true blessing.