Murray Hill Row-by-Row Project
There is something about the energy of youth that is, well, exhausting.
My garden column today in The Sun describes Eliza Toomey's Row-by-Row project in the Annapolis neighborhood of Murray Hill.
She will be planting a single crop in small garden patches located in the yards of 21 of her neighbors.
The 25-year-old middle school teacher, who will have more time on her hands when school ends for the year in June, hopes to go from garden to garden, hauling a garden cart behind her bike.
She will cultivate each garden - the homeowners will water and she welcomes their help with other chores - she will harvest the crops and then distribute them in equal amounts to her 21 new friends.
My friend Jane, who first told me of Eliza's plans, will have a watermelon patch in her backyard.
I will be checking back with Eliza throughout the summer, and I will let you know how her project is going.
And I told her she is welcome in my Annapolis neighborhood next year.
Eliza is also blogging about her project. You can read her updates and see her pictures here.
Comments
My grandson would love to volunteer our yard for watermelons and/or pumpkins! Really, I wouldn't mind one plant of each. but it's a really small yard to be overtaken fast-growing vines! (I'm picturing a real lower-than-B movie, here!)
Posted by: Eve | April 23, 2009 9:41 AM
I can hardly wait for my watermelons to be planted in the Row-by-Row project! Actually, my daughter-in-law Lauren is the gardener behind my participation - she and my son moved in with me in my Murray Hill home over a year ago when they relocated from her hometown, Yellow Springs, Ohio - no work out there. They both found jobs here, but now Lauren's Starbucks is closing today, so it appears she'll have more time on her hands to help Eliza with the neighborhood gardens! Thanks to you, Susan, for featuring this really unique project - it is succeeding in bringing together disparate parts of Murray Hill in a garden community! And it even has somebody with NO GREEN THUMB involved in an activity that can only serve to improve my gardening IQ!
Posted by: Jane | April 24, 2009 8:45 AM
Jane,
Sometimes you don't need to BE a gardener. You just need to know one...It's like that with sailboats, too.
Posted by: Susan Reimer | April 24, 2009 10:06 AM
Jane! You absolutely MUST post regularly, to let us share this from your perspective! (I hope the daughter-in-law finds another job soon, though!)
Posted by: Eve | April 24, 2009 11:55 AM