The Impatient Gardener: Community gardening in your own back yard

16 June 2009

Community gardening in your own back yard


The little vegetable garden off the road.

An amazing thing has happened since we build the new raised veggie garden: I'm getting to know the neighbors better. The garden is built on the far side of our property, close to the road (because that's where the sun is). It's a rural community and a private road, so although we're a pretty close-knit neighborhood, casual conversations don't usually happen because we're just so spread out. The veggie garden has changed that. I can't think of more than a couple of occasions that I've been working in the garden that a neighbor has just driven by without stopping to chat.

When we were building, there were a lot of inquiring minds.
"What 'cha building there?"
"A garden."
"That's mighty tall for a garden."

Then, before we put the screening on to keep out the deer, there were a lot of comments about how nice a drive-up veggie garden would be ... for the neighbors! I heard so many comments about sneaking a tomato here and there that I started to get paranoid about my future fruit (or should I not say that? Is that counting one's tomatoes before there are even blossoms?)

But now I get people stopping by asking for a tour of my little garden, or noticing what's been happening in it.

"Got your tomatoes in last weekend, I see."
"Your onions are looking good!"
"What's that big trellis for?"

(Following all of these questions, the conversation quickly turns to weather-related topics. What would people in Wisconsin talk about if it weren't for the weather?)

I even have one neighbor who admitted to me that she's been talking to my tomato plants on her morning walks, and another who reported seeing a deer with a puzzled look on its face staring longingly at the garden.

I suspect what I'm experiencing is what community garden proponents have been raving about for years: the social part of gardening. I think unless you garden in a tightly packed subdivision or at a community garden, you miss that over-the-fence chit-chat that is such an important part of our society and gardening. And sure, there are days when I haven't showered yet and I'm still sucking at my first mug of coffee when I'd really rather not see the neighbors, but a little humility is good for all of us. And there's nothing wrong with a little neighborly chit-chat about the weather.

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