Not having my own home in
years and years I did not know what it was like to tend to the soil. To have
the desire to establish and grow a garden. When Justin, Tamika and I moved into
our first home together, when I was six months pregnant with Jarvis, I faced an
overgrown unmanageable yard that was basically inaccessible.
In the two years we lived at Burn Street I
fought that yard, I fought... until I leant to yield. It was then I learnt how
to become a gardener.
When we moved into this house
the backyard was just a large dirt strip. In the three and a half months we have
lived here I have been working with the earth to grow a sustainable garden. One
that is aesthetically pleasing, yet more importantly, one that provides us with
food.
Each time I plant, I learn
new things. New things about food I have not grown before. New things about old
favourites. But more importantly new things about myself.
I have landscaped this yard
with the knowledge it is a rental and one day we will have to move. But I also
plant it for the now, knowing it provides a haven for Jarvis and food for our
bellies.
Anyone can do this. Yes, even
renters. Obviously I have go to the furthest point a renter can go, but most,
if not all of my food can also be grown in large tubs or containers.
My financial outlay has been
minimal in regards to the food side of the garden. Bar for seeds, seedlings and
a few wooden stakes, all has been scourged and recycled.
The image you see below may
not be the most interesting image. But for me it is the highlight of my garden.
Grass clippings dried and used as bedding in the chicken pen. Then when the pen
is cleaned out each morning the clippings, and poo, go onto the garden bed as
mulch. Mulch that keep the soil moist, the weeds at bay and the poo nourished
the dirt. Which in turn then will grow tomatoes.
You do not need much 'stuff'
to grow a garden, just the desire. Oh and chicken poo helps as well!
