Time to Garden?

Yes, I know, we have snow on the ground. So why am I blogging about gardening? Well, I want to spread the word that SoCo will soon have a community garden at Fenton Street Urban Park. The park is obviously located on Fenton, just east of downtown at the intersection of Fenton and EW Highway.

According to an article in the Gazette, the County Dept of Parks is accepting applications through Feb. 10 for those who would like to rent a plot of land. On Feb. 11, a third-party will choose the lucky winners who will be notified in March.

I guess the County believes we have a lot of gardeners in the 'hood looking for land to cultivate. If you live within .5 miles of the community garden you will have first dibs on a plot. And those outside that radius will have to wait till the second round of the drawing.

This does not seem particularly fair to me. I guess the assumption is, if you live more than .5 miles away you're not as likely to tend to your plot. But why? Isn't it about interest in growing great plants not just about proximity? I could see after the first year and an analysis is done and if there was evidence that those who lived farther away didn't tend to their plots sufficiently. But this seems premature to this gardener.

Anyway, two plot sizes will be available to the lucky winners -- a 200 sq foot plot will cost $30 per year and a 400 sq foot plot will go for $50. The Fenton Street location will have 27 of the smaller plots and 15 of the bigger ones.

If you're interested in throwing your name in the hat, you can go to
http://www.montgomeryparks.org/permits/find/community_gardens_program.shtm and scroll down the page till you see the lottery application for Fenton Street.

I hope to see something terrific garden plots this year. And since you asked, my recommendations on what to grow -- tomatoes of course, but also look for some exotic pepper varieties (mine have done quite well over the last few years), like Japanese, Spanish or Italian peppers. Also, spring peas are to die for, my okra has been doing great, and you need greens, so throw in some chard, arugula, bibb lettuce, you know what you like. And, try to save room for some herbs such as parsley and basil. It seems criminal to me what the grocery stores charges for this when you can grow them easily yourself.

OK, get growing!