Technically, year 3!
Welcome to the garden log ^^ I had been wanting to make one for awhile, but just getting around to it now, this early spring... My journey for growing began in 2020 when I did some volunteering at Cherry Hill Urban Community Garden and Hidden Harvest Farm. After a couple months, I decided to fully join the Hidden Harvest cooperative, and continue to contribute as much as I can since moving out of that neighborhood. I'm very fond of my co-co-op members, as well as the neighboring studio Blue Light Junction and its garden that grows indigo and other plants for natural dye. It's been a great learning experience, and I appreciate the generous and strong urban farming communities of Baltimore.
Last year, I moved in with some friends and we started a backyard garden together in May 2022. That summer we got seeds from H-mart and grew lettuce, bok choy, Korean peppers, and chives, as well as arugula, perilla, mugwort, and holy basil that I got from Kitazawa Seed Company. I also had some holy basil that I grew from seeds that I collected from the holy basil at Hidden Harvest in 2021, which is why the photo above is technically 3rd generation seeds from plants that I collected from in fall 2022. My partner also grew cut flowers like marigolds, dahlia, and more. We got a random peppermint seedling from the curb, and tomato, basil, and borage seedlings from a larger local farm called Two Boots. Altogether it was a successful independent first year of gardening!
Today, I added some more mugwort seeds to the only box that reseeded itself in our garden. I'll get a pic of that mugwort next time, so sweet to see it come back. Our raised beds this year will have some of the same: lettuce, bok choy, arugula, chives, many varities of tomatoes, and Korean peppers, as well as new crops like leeks, black nebula carrots, watermelon radishes, Chinese eggplant, and patio snacker cucumber. A lot of the same herbs, and many new flowers. The sprouts are already coming up, both in the beds and in the trays we're trying indoors with grow lights.
If you love to see things grow, I hope my updates will be of interest, as I look forward to keep better track of our progress and notes on what works and doesn't work. Our main challenge so far was determining the sun's path and where it hits and doesn't hit in the backyard, so that will continue to be observed this year. Part of my reason for growing is simply passion, but part is also because climate change will only continue to become more challenging to our survival. My household is all disabled and queer trans artists of color. I love us and I love our communities. Thank you to the Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians, First Nations people of so-called Maryland who can be supported with their #Landback campaign on their website, to Black Yield Institute for what they taught me and advocating for Black food sovereignty, and to you for reading! More to come...
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