Let me introduce myself. I'm an experienced gardener in zone 7 without appropriate gardening space.
I share a yard with another duplex mate and her dog. Because of this I cannot completely control my gardening space to suit my needs. As a renter in the past ten years I have had 3 gardens that have been destroyed by people who's needs and interests superseded mine. The painting of a fence was the first horror. The landlord's worker took no notice of the border garden's perimeters and mowed it down in order to access a fence for painting. I was disappointed by carried on. Next a house mate decided to take some bulbs with her when she moved. Her sister misunderstood her instructions and dug up the entire garden. Sigh.
My next location was the rental I am currently in. The dog presents a problem because of her digging and the lovely treats she leaves behind. And the garden in front and on my verge was dug up when my landlord needed to refinanced this house and decided to make it more like suburban landscaping than the free form flower and vegetables I had been pursuing. I watched in despair as his workers removed two huge mats of creeping jenny that had taken 3 years to spread. My dianthus plants followed next, replaced with four inches of bark mulch.
But all was not lost. I had a community gardening patch just around the corner from my house. As one of only two community members I had a great deal of space. 23 different varieties of vegetables and herbs in rich soil I spent two years developing and cultivating. A bounty.
But I face another disappointment. The land for this garden is being sold for houses. One is half constructed and encroaching on my allotment. I may get one more year out of it but that is risky.
But all is not lost for me. Because two doors down from my house is the new location for my next garden.
A secret garden.
You see the city I live in made plans for an alley which they subsequently abandoned. 30 years ago.The land lies next to my next door neighbor and a rental property owned by a local ministry. It belongs to no one. The city doesn't care for it. It's too small for anything to be built on it and neither neighbor has any desire to pay taxes on a piece of property that is beyond their fences and useless to them.
So I'm going to build a garden on it. An urban guerilla garden of sorts in the form of a formal English garden. It's blocked from view by a large ornamental grass on the south side, some bushes on the north side and fences on the east and west sides. It's about the size of a small British allotment and has 7 to 8 hours of direct sunlight passing over head.
Month by month I am going to tackle this project. There are a few restraints. I can spend almost no money on it. I don't have much at any rate and because I don't own the property I am reluctant to invest mush cash on it. But also I am very adept at finding supplies for either nothing or very little. I have all my tools and notions and potions and seeds and I will trade with other gardeners for plants. I don't expect to accomplish a completely bountiful garden in just years time. There will be set backs and mistakes. I expect 2015 will be when I truly see the results from my effort.
Please,join me in my new adventure!
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