finally a landowner
 

just a little. temporarily.

we attended a meeting for the community garden down the block (we met the owner at last week's earth day clean-up) and ended up purchasing two beds. we got the code for the gate and can garden any time of the week; there is a little greenhouse with tools and seeds and soil or we can bring our own.

now we finally have a place to bring our compost (and a reason to compost in the first place; we recycle but it always feels like a waste tossing food trash). we initially were going to buy one bed, but thought it would be a good idea to have one for ornamental plants and one for foods.

the cost was only 25 for each bed (so 50 for a whole year of ownership) and then 10/month on top of that. there are around 15 - 20 beds for use and a communal herb garden. every bed owner is expected to contribute at least 3 hours a week lest they forfeit ownership of their bed.

after the meeting, we sat around talking about the neighborhood and junk and had some pecan turtle cheesecake. i even walked an extra piece home.

v excited to get some seedlings started and have something to do in the neighborhood. pics to come.

You can't own land, man.

But seriously, that sounds cool.

it is cool

:banging:

gardening is pretty great, actually. i hope everything grows!

Do you get enough rain in Chicago or do you need to water a lot? Gardening in Australia was ridiculous. In NZ it's OK because you can chuck a bunch of seedlings or even seed, into the ground, and even though you get a lot of weeds, in amongst the weeds your carrots and onions and spinach etc will still be growing, because the air temp isn't too brutal and there's good rainfall. So neglectful gardeners like me who only weed every week or two and hardly ever water, can still grow stuff (in good soil, which we just bought). In Australia, if you don't keep watering, everything just dries out and dies. It's total bullshit.

And even when I kept it alive, the chickens found a way to eat it before I could get to them. Delicious salad greens are high on the list of chicken's favourite foods. Basically, meal worms, any kind of starch, salad greens, in my experience. Those feckin chickens, man.

For some reason your gardening reminds me of this 70s UK TV show that I watched as reruns on Saturday afternoons as a child. You and Tim might enjoy it now that you're living the Good Life

LEASE OWNER WOOHOO

it rains a surprising amount in chicago; we don't get droughts in the summer like we did in texas where the ground dirt starts splitting apart. this is good for me because i'm pretty sure i'm the type of person who would forget to water plants.

i don't have much experience with gardening beyond potting plants indoors and even then my record is hit or miss- no rhyme or reason to any of it; some plants just insist on dying.

which district is that community garden in, yoso? I forgot in which part of Chicago you guys live.

I wanna find one, too. Not so much for the garden part, but for the community part.

the only plant we've ever successfully kept indoors is a cactus. Even parlour palms die on us. We throw them down the rubbish chute and shell out another $12 for a new one from IKEA every few months. I'm really embarrassed to admit that, but it's the sad truth.

we live in east garfield park

Community gardens are something I have never seen in Europe, I fell in love with the idea while in NYC and visited one after the other.
I figured Chicago must have "at least 2 or 3, maybe I can get to one."
wow I am an idiot, there is one directly in my future neighborhood (Bronzeville) as well.

I will shamelessly rip you guys off, please keep me informed on how-to-garden-and-not-kill-eveything here, thanks!

wait...

pecan turtle... cheesecake?