Recycled Garden

In the corner, by the fence, I planted a pumpkin seed…well actually a handful of seeds, but only one plant came up. I was so excited that I got some cucumber seeds and planted them by the fence, too. Within a week, there were six new plants growing by the fence. I was so excited that I got some sweet pea seeds and planted them by the fence, too. Soon they were growing and trying to hold onto the fence as they reached for the sun. 

I moved some rusty pails and buckets away from the fence to make more room for the cucumbers and pumpkin plants. I gathered old plastic bags and rusted tin cans and other garbage into a bag and set it by the curb for the trash man to collect. I read about fertilizer and mulching and recycling and compost. I found some piles of what I thought was just clay or dirt, but they turned out to be decomposing leaves and grass clippings. Sifting through them I discovered earth worms! I took some of this compost and placed it around my pumpkin plant. It didn’t object, so I brought more for the cucumbers and sweet peas. They seemed to like it, too. 

The pumpkin plant started to bloom - huge orange blossoms. Bees started flying from one blossom to another and I imagined their happy buzzing was telling me to plant more veggies. Someone down the street advertised free plants so I went and got some flowers and some cabbages. I had to clear a bigger area on the lot. It wasn’t easy with all the old car parts laying around; boards and concrete chunks; and broken pottery pieces – plates and cups and even pots and pans! And the weeds were atrocious, too. 

When Hanna and Rhett saw my pumpkin plant and how happy it was growing by the fence, they wanted to help grow more plants. They got some gloves and garbage bags and we cleared more of the lot. I brought a shovel from my Dad’s shed and Hanna brought a hoe from her parents’ shed and Rhett found a wheelbarrow to borrow. We dug out weeds and put them in garbage bags; we hauled all kinds of metal parts, concrete chunks, and broken appliances closer to the curb; but we kept the broken plates and cups to use as borders and pretty walkways. There were so many pretty colours! We kept the boards to mark areas for new beds for different vegetables and flowers.

I showed Hanna and Rhett how to put the mulch around the plants to keep in the moisture and to give them nutrients. We had to haul water in pop bottles and laundry soap jugs so we wanted our plants to hold as much of the water we brought for them as they could.

Hanna read about recycling vegetable scraps, so we planted potato peels and onion bottoms and carrot tops and celery bottoms and soft garlic bulbs. We weren’t sure they would grow but we were experimental gardeners and were willing to try growing anything.

One Saturday, Hanna had to watch her sister and brother so she brought them down to the garden. Emily was intrigued by the colours and patterns in the pottery pieces. She decided to design a mandala for the centre of our garden. Sam wasn’t interested in pottery pieces or the plants but, he was interested in building some shelters or structures with the boards and posts in our scrap pile. Hanna went with him to borrow a hammer and saw and nails from their garage. Soon he was creating bird houses and a frame for the beans to climb on.

Rhett’s brother, Adam, wanted to help, too. He was doing a school report on bees and how they pollinate plants. He thought we should have a beehive in our garden. We thought that would be great, but we didn’t know anybody with beehives to be able to borrow one. Adam thought we could attract some wild bees if we had a hive for them to come visit. He decided to do some research and come up with a plan for us. He and Sam found some ideas for insect boxes that were supposed to work for wild bees, too. With the scraps of wood and other materials they found on the lot, they built a huge bug hotel. Soon, bees and other insects were crawling into the cubbyholes and making themselves at home.

We kept cleaning up areas of the lot and planting more flowers and vegetables. There were so many people cleaning up their yards and flower beds that had extra flower roots, seedlings, or spare seeds to give away. Soon we had paths made from donated wood chips that Mr. Brown had piled up in his yard and didn’t need anymore, and gravel from a construction site that said we could help ourselves. The paths separated the flowers from the vegetables and helped keep the mud off our shoes after a rain.

Sam and Adam made trellises for the peas and pole beans to climb on. We saw birds nesting in Sam’s birdhouses that caught bugs trying to eat our cabbages. And we reclaimed a birdbath from a curb side for the centre of Emily’s mandala in the centre of our garden.

I asked Sarah and her sister, Gemma to come and see our garden. Hanna asked her friend, Asia to come visit the garden. Rhett told his friend, Tom about the garden. On Saturday afternoons, there were usually ten or twelve of us walking through the garden, pulling weeds, checking the plumpness of the peas, discussing possible vegetables for next season, or gathering a bouquet of flowers for someone’s Mom. We would get together and clear another area of the lot to see what else we could grow. We all brought vegetable scraps and grass clippings and started our own compost pile.

Before we knew it, we were sampling that one fat pea that was begging to be tasted; we were pulling a few thin carrots that were barely big enough to taste; we were tasting tiny beans, only three centimetres long. A week or so after our sampling, there were enough vegetables ready to eat that we could each bring home a little bag to share with our families.

All of our parents were happy, but suspicious that we were raiding neighbours’ gardens and, although it wasn’t planned, we all brought our families to the garden at the same time. Hanna showed her Mom all the peas growing on the trellises and the vegetables that grew from kitchen scraps. Sam showed his Dad the birdhouses and trellises that he’d made. Rhett and Adam showed their parents the compost pile and bug hotel. Emily’s mandala was admired by everyone. Asia’s family was impressed with the raised beds and wood chip paths.

My Dad was surprised and asked,

“Who owns this lot? Did you get permission?”

We all stopped and looked at each other quietly. A voice from behind the bean trellis said,

“This lot belongs to me. And, although they didn’t ask permission, I’ve been watching as they transformed this ugly, overgrown lot into a productive, attractive piece of property. I’ve watched them struggle together to move the junk; I’ve watched them clearing and bagging weeds; I’ve watched them plant their seeds and seedlings, watering them with care; and I’ve watched them co-operating with the design of this impressive garden. Unbeknownst to them, I hired a few strong men to remove the junk and trash they gathered to the curb, and brought in more used materials that they could use in their garden. These children are an inspiration and they can garden here as long as they want to.”

Mrs. Jamison from the house next door, stepped out from behind the trellis with a huge smile on her face. Everyone cheered! We picked her a huge bouquet of sweet peas, alyssum, and daisies, and promised to bring vegetables. She shook each of our hands and congratulated us on our beautiful garden.