genesis

I either lucked out, or I’ve made a huge mistake. I’m now the official inheritor of plot 63P, one of many garden plots at Gabriel Park Community Gardens, but the only 400 square foot plot available for takeover in 2024. Back in ye olden days when I was but a wee lad (last summer) I was just getting my feet wet in a 200′ plot (21J). After throwing some seeds in the ground and muddling about, I managed to grow a handful of average-looking produce of which I picked proudly, holding my 14 snap peas in the air and exclaiming to the heavens “I am ready for mooooore square footage! I CANNOT be TAMED!”. Well, the Garden Gods have granted my wish and, well, now here I stand posing proudly on my wooden fortress surveying my seven new garden beds, a drip irrigation tower, abandoned hoses, and hundreds of cubic feet of soil space thinking to myself “uhh what have I done…”.

Sometimes it takes a swift kick in the pants to start something new, and I’m hopeful that this 400 square feet of garden space is the boot to my butt that I need. The surface of this gardening thing has been only slightly scratched. Two years ago I got my first garden plot at the Buckman Community Garden, not knowing anything about gardening. I enjoyed it enought to transfer to Gabriel Park Community Garden when I moved nearby, getting my foot in the door with a 200 square foot plot. Here I’ve transferred yet again to plot 63P, doubling my square footage to 400. I’ve never had two seasons of continuity in the same plot thus far, which has given me somewhat of an undercurrent of “senioritis”, where I haven’t felt the desire to improve a plot due to the notion that I may move somewhere else next season.

That all changes here in 63P. I believe this plot is a gold mine that lays the foundation with some interesting raised bed designs that I’ve inherited, plenty of room for experimentation and finally having in my possession the largest available plot size in the community garden. It’s winter now, and I’m currently in a state of panic, excitement and analysis paralysis over how why where when and what the heck I’m gonna do with this plot. It’s a blank book and I’d say officially a hobby. My intent is to document this blank book page-by-page here on this blog, for both myself and for the millions of my future fans. Cheers.

AA