The new growing season

(this pic is from last week doing garden cleanup)

A year ago, we sat and looked out the diningroom window at a vacant lot. Somehow, we got it in our heads that we could turn it into a garden.

For those of you that don't know us, I have a degree in horticulture and my future hubby is a man with boundless energy.

So we approached the owner of the lot and he agreed to let us farm on the land. We pay him in vegetables, though I think he's just happy to have someone take care of the lot.

We set up an elaborate propagation area in a little "sunroom" we have complete with grow lights and a professional heat mat and started growing seedlings like crazy.

The excess plants were sold for a dollar a piece at a plant sale we conducted in our front yard and the proceeds went towards 15 yards of Amish mushroom compost to enrich the soil.

We grew more vegetables than we knew what to do with. I learned to can from a real pro(Thanks, Marianne)and we had to buy a freezer.

Our neighborhood is primarily elderly folks who have been in their houses for at least 50 years and none of them are what you would call rich. They are mostly too old to even attempt their own gardens.So we started giving the surplus vegetable to them. The smiles on their faces when they saw the bounty was so rewarding. It was so great to know that they were getting fresh vegetables.

And another funny thing happened. My neighbors that had never set foot on my property started coming over to inquire about plants they saw in our garden. And people came out of their houses and talked to each other. So, while we didn't create a community garden per se, we had actually created a community that didn't exist before the garden.

So now it is January again and we have another big idea; Continue on what we began last year, expand a little, and take it to the next level.

Wish us luck!