I am taking this project beyond my small fire escape garden and back to my Brooklyn roots in Canarsie. Yup, I’ll be growing a vegetable garden in Brooklyn. What?
A few weeks ago my grandmother offered up her backyard to grow what I wanted. The offer was turned down because I didn’t think that I’d have the time to tend to it, and I wouldn’t expect my 90-year old grandmother to take care of it. My gram still lives in Canarsie, which is about an hour commute from me.
Now that I’ve come across self watering containers it seems more realistic. I can handle doing that 2-3 days a week. Not like I’d need another excuse to visit my Gram, but it’ll give me another.
So I gave her a call and she was more than happy to give me some space as long as I didn’t disrupt her tomato plant. See my Gram used to grow a sh!tload of vegetables in her backyard. She no longer does for many reasons, but just has one tomato plant.
I agreed on not messing with her tomato plant and explained to her my plan to grow. She gave me the idea of going to the local bodegas and asking for the buckets since they usually wind up throwing them away. That would be great because it would cut down on costs considering I priced them out at like $8 a piece at the local hardware store.
The plan was to go to her spot over the weekend to negotiate the land space.
Also scored my first two soda bottles at work today for the upside down gardening. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I didn’t want to have to don the medical mask, trash bag suit of armor and hit the streets. I ain’t messin with them crazy old women.
