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<\/p>\nstarting the ride from Duncan St Miracle Garden<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Fueled by cherry tomatoes and lemonade, three-dozen bikers (this blogger included) hit the pavement last Saturday afternoon for a seven-mile tour<\/a> of seven great community gardens in East Baltimore. <\/span>We started the ride at the 22-year old Duncan Street Miracle Garden, a one-acre fruit and vegetable haven. <\/span>Along the ride I was searching for secretes to a successful community garden, but it turns out there are no hard-and-fast rules; gardens are themselves heirloom varieties, each unique and charming.<\/p>\n Some community gardens had neatly arranged raised-beds, such as Montessori gardens beds built from old book shelves, or the checkerboard pattern beds of the Homestead Harvest garden. Montpelier Orchards, the newest garden on the tour, had a neatly mowed lawn between rows of trellised young raspberries plants and a small olive tree dwarfed by a tall garden gate with arbor. Others took a wild and free-form approach with natural reseeding tomatoes and sunflowers, making every step a delicious adventure.<\/p>\n \n Montessori School Garden; raised beds made from old bookcase<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I had always believed Robert Frost\u2019s line \u201cgood fences make good neighbors,\u201d that is until I learned that many community gardens benefit from the opposite philosophy. Participation Park steward Scott Berzofsky said \u201cthe fact that there is no fence was important from the beginning\u2026 <\/span>we wanted to have a commons.\u201d <\/span>Brentwood Gardens also lacks a fence, and encourages neighbors to glean on a regular basis. <\/span>Cucumbers were free for the taking; just one example of the \u201cgift economy\u201d at work.<\/p>\n Several gardens gave animals a prominent role, such as the chickens and bees at the Montessori School garden. <\/span>Apparently playing with chickens during recess is a favorite activity. <\/span>Brentwood is preparing for chickens this summer by building a coop and purchasing permits from Baltimore City. <\/span>For more on chickens in Baltimore see my previous post<\/a>. Brentwood also raised goldfish in modified rain barrels to eat mosquitoes. <\/span>I\u2019ve never heard of this use, though I didn\u2019t get a single bite while standing next to the barrel in ankle deep grass.<\/p>\n Our last stop was Real Food Farm, where three hoop houses sit peacefully in a grassy field in Clifton Park.Head farmer, Tyler Brown, gave an impassioned pitch for urban commercial farming that grabbed the crowds\u2019 attention.Leaving the farm hungry and tired, the bikers headed back to the Duncan Street garden for a great spread of food donated by leading Baltimore restaurants, live music, and lively conversations with new acquaintances and old friends.<\/p>\n sunflowers at Participation Park Garden<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gardens in the tour:<\/p>\n Congratulations Parks and People<\/a>, the Community Greening Resource Network, and any other volunteers for turning a hot, muggy Saturday into a memorable event!<\/p>\n – Dave Love<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Montessori](\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/screen-shot-2010-08-27-at-31948-pm-300x224-1.png\")
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