Urban gardening

it's alive and well, flourishing in the alley

The aforementioned neighbours continue to make good use of their growing space: two of the four plots I saw them prepare earlier grew into lush patches of carrots and mula, though the latter was harvested sometime recently while I wasn’t looking. The other two sections contain, as far as I can tell from my vantage point: potatoes, some sort of alliums, and maybe danya?

Rather than a designated compost heap, they continue their system of making holes for the contents of their buckets of biodegradable scraps; I wonder how they keep track, if they keep track, or is it random?

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M—, my other neighbour and proud owner of the largest, most bountiful garden in the area, has acquired several hills of dirt from further up the alley, probably from the areas where construction is underway and soil has been displaced to make room for the foundations of a new house. A break was made in the hedge that marks one of her property boundaries, and wheelbarrowfuls of soil tipped in.

Most is now spread out, surrounding the papaya and other assorted trees, bringing the height level of that whole part of the garden up considerably, and already the fresh, loose soil is home to some very prosperous looking squash plants—I’d say seedlings but there’s nothing diminutive about these plants, they are lush and getting bigger every day, faithfully watered and properly spaced. In fact every day now I spy new and different seedlings in her garden, spaced in neat rows, and, as it’s dry again, distinguishable by the wet patch around each one.

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A few houses away is another attractive garden. It’s only partially visible from my rear balconies but from what I can see, half is neat rows of produce and the other is a riot of flowers, including a hot pink bougainvillea, the vibrant blooms drowning out the few green leaves. There’s another on an adjoining house rooftop, too; in fact, its pink is almost everywhere I look, including on my own balcony. It really is such a rewarding, cheery plant to grow.

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Speaking of my balcony, that’s where you’ll find my own miniature urban vegetable patch: a black rectangular container that once grew basil and is now home to spring garlic, some self-seeded tomato plants, sprouting avocado seeds that I pot up once they get to a decent size, some chard that I’m letting go to seed in the hopes of eventually gathering said seed, and several healthy squash plants of indeterminate origin.

While I do consciously plant some things, I’m very much a fan of the if-it-sprouts-let-it-grow school of gardening. Case in point: I recently moved one of those avocado seedlings to its own, large pot; not long after, a plethora of tomato seedlings sprung up around it; from my compost, I guess. More likely it’s from the scraps that I, like the neighbours, also stuff into the soil whenever I pot up new plants.

They look pretty good, and I’ve decided to let them grow.