Working The System

I shall confess something, mon amies: I am new to the whole gardening gig. There. Now you know. But what I lack in know-how, I make up for in enthusiasm and BOY! I am enthused. Want to know why?

Because there are so many projects that the DCGG is looking into that my noggin' is a-swirlin' with the possibilities. For I have a dream, people! I want our fair city to be the greenest in the country, and I want D.C. residents to love what they see when they look out their windows.

It's that last one - the loving what you see when you look out the window - that has my heart so wrapped around one project in particular. A NE neighborhood contacted the D.C. Guerilla Gardeners and asked for help in turning an ugly abandoned lot into a community garden. They want a place where they can sit and play chess. A place where neighbors can meet and talk and pass time in that special way that only happens in a garden.

My fellow guerilla gardeners, we are SO ON IT.

Only this project isn't very guerilla-esque. I'm doing my best to keep the sneakiness and illegality out of this one. "But why, Theresa?" you may ask. "You're a guerilla gardener!" you may exclaim. "GUER-I-LLA," you may emphasize. And you're right. Absolutely positutely correct. I am a guerilla gardener.

But that doesn't mean that I can't garden on the up-and-up from time-to-time, does it?

Because I really hate to see plants die. Really really. And I'd like to make sure that our green, leafy friends at this project location get to live as long as they possibly can. So if I can prevent them from going towards the light by asking permission first, then I'm a-gonna.

But y'all, the asking-of-permission is tedious and pretty much fruitless. Negligent property owners that don't return calls, a local government that doesn't respond to letters... It's all very As The World Turns. When all is said and done, this may end up being a guerilla garden after all, simply because people wouldn't call me back *grumbling*

That being said, the DCGG needs many, many volunteers to help with this community garden project. There will be some clean-up and clear out work before we get to the actual planting. There's even a dead tree that needs to get cut down. Also? This project will span seasons. SEASONS, people. We're starting in the Fall and will finish up next Spring.

Prepare yourself for some hardcore gardening, folks. Start working out those green thumbs! I need y'all in shape for this one.

Interested in helping out? Email me and I'll give you the scoop.