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!
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8 comments:
.5 miles makes sense to me. It's quite a large area (reaching north past wayne/fenton and west past 16th) and includes the vast majority of high density condos and apts in the area (the obvious demographic targeted). Also, any further than that and you'll have people driving to their plots - not exactly "green" or logical.
Agree, .5 for walkability and becuase waiting lists are already long.
BTW it is Rt 410 but it is not East-West Highway. That name ends at Georgia Ave and picks up again at the PG border. This section of Rt 410 narrows to 2 lanes and is mostly residential, it is Burlington Ave then Philadelphia Ave then Ethan Allan Ave.
My tip to grow are herbs - talk about high-priced and I always have way more to share than I can ever use.
Well I would argue that the radius should be more like a mile. That's still walking distance to me. I am actually .5 miles away (just checked on that), but folks one block north of me or a little farther east would be out of the zone, but still certainly close enough to walk. And also, if the waiting lists are long, if you don't live in the .5 radius, I take it you're gonna be out of luck to get in.
I donno, I think you're probably in the minority of people that would walk 2 miles (one there and one back), possibly carrying equipment (I don't know what you need to bring v. what's provided) on a regular basis.
On a different note -- recommendations on where to buy exotic pepper plants -- brick and mortar or online? We go to Johnson's, Home Depot, and Hardware City, but generally only find jalepenos, habeneros, cherry bombs, banana peppers, and mexibells. We bought a book on hot peppers this year and realized we're missing out on some good ones!
For pepper plants, I'll put in a plug for the awesomely-named Hung Phat grocery store in Wheaton. Once early summer arrives, they usually have pallets of vegetable plants for sale in front of their store, mostly obscure kinds of asian vegetables. They never have any signs on them telling you what they are, but the cashiers there are pretty helpful as long as they aren't too busy. Even without going there for plants, Hung Phat is an interesting food expedition just up Georgia Ave from Silver Spring.
Thanks Wheaton Calling, that's good info to know. What I've done the last few years is simply order seeds on-line. I have used www.kitazawaseed.com for my Asian varieties, but there are other ones out there. And then there are all kinds of sites for other types of organic seeds. However, growing from seeds takes time and patience, but you do then get the option of a huge pool of seeds from which to choose. I actually need to get my extra bathroom/ greenhouse ready for my grow lights and seed trays in the next few days. I'll post a pic of my handiwork.
Thanks for the tips! Will check out Hung Phat for sure -- love Nava Thai right next door.
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