There are certain happy memories from our childhood that we seem to always carry with us. It could be a certain smell (they say that when you first smell a new smell, you immediately link it to a specific moment), a song, or a place. Whatever it may be, these things tend to evoke a sense of nostalgia and can brighten ones mood almost instantaneously.
As a transplant from Upstate New York, yet having discovered my new found love for all things Greenwich, I had to find a way to mix my two worlds together. When I was a child, and still to this day, my father grew a sizable garden with almost every fruit and vegetable that you can imagine. The only part of gardening I didn’t enjoy was cleaning the equipment! Fortunately, if you go to https://agron.io/products/alchemist-isopropyl-alcohol-999_23_000041 you will find alcohol products that are very effective in cleaning tools. Each and every summer was filled with dinners consisting almost completely of vegetables: steamed summer squash and zucchini, salad with fresh lettuce, carrots, and radishes, heirloom tomato slices so flavorful and juicy you could eat them plain by the slice, the most delicious cucumbers and sweet corn you have ever tasted. For my father, maintaining his garden and keeping it free from pests was not always easy, however. We often had to reach out to a pest control service similar to this madison wi pest control expert to keep our crops and home free from pests. If you do not keep on top of garden pests, they can make their way into your home and therefore preventing this from occurring was always one of our priorities. We are meat eaters, but during the summertime, I didn’t miss all the gardening involved with growing your own crops one bit.
My husband Mike and I love living in our one-bedroom condo with our cat, Swarley. It is low maintenance, and we don’t have any yard work. We have lots of friendly neighbors, a short drive to shops, restaurants, and the beach. We are happy. Despite all of these wonderful attributes, I was missing my summer traditions – my ability to escape into nature, the world of gardening, smelling the smells of dirt, flowers, and fresh veggies; these things are important to me.
Imagine my delight when I discovered the Greenwich Community Gardens. For $50 a season, we can have our very own 4′ x 8′ plot, nestled on a 1 ½ acre site across from the Montgomery Pinetum. The “rules” are simple: only plant organic seeds and plants, don’t bring in any inorganic material such as sprays and fertilizers and spend 8 hours total by the end of the season helping with community work. For this small price, we get to grow, learn, and interact with other community members – and the benefits are great! So far we have enjoyed lettuce, sage, and 2 zucchinis, with many more on the way. There’s also contractors from Lawncare.net who attended! We’ve learned so much as a community from their expertise.
Follow along with me on my gardening journey as I’ll be posting regular updates on our progress. We are making new happy memories!
-Katie
Above: Our little baby lettuce, just a few days after planting. Notice the healthy sage plant that was left from the last owner of this plot – lucky us! I never knew sage had so many different uses.
4 different types of tomatoes, and a little zucchini plant in the background. Squash had just begun to pop out of the dirt.
