Urban Garden

A tiny yellow flower from our Urban Garden

Before I lived with Kevin I lived with Laura and Molly. Laura spent a year in Dakar, Senegal where she found it difficult to find fresh herbs. She started her own little pots of herbs and used them throughout her year in Africa. Last year Laura and I started a little urban garden at our apartment in Rosslyn, VA. We grew basil, cilantro, parsley and even one little strawberry. Sadly, we managed to kill most of our plants. Medical students are not reliable for watering, but our basil some how survived our surgery rotation and we enjoyed many a pesto topped with fresh basil from our stoop. When I moved, I took a part of the garden with me. The Del Ray garden has been quite successful. It started with just two planters on the floor of our balcony. Kevin came home one day with hooks to hang them which looked much nicer. A few trips to Home Depot later and our urban garden has expanded. We have our first wild flowers blooming. Our basil grows out of control and I have made pesto, topped salads, pizza and sandwiches with fresh cut basil from the balcony weekly. We even have our first two tomatoes. We both cannot wait until they are juicy and red so we can taste the fruits of our little garden.

My grandma was the one who taught me to garden. She had many interesting tools for gardening and helping her weed was an activity when we'd visit her house. I remember my hands black with dirt while kneeling on the foam pad she placed on the grass for us. I'd often put on one of her hats preferably with a large brim and sit next to her for hours while we gardened. My mom now has a lovely garden. She grows tomatoes, strawberries and herbs. She learned as a young woman while teaching in Dryden, Michigan how to can vegetables and now each summer she makes her own strawberry jam and cans the tomatoes she grows. Jars of the products of Aunt Sal's garden are often included in the care packages I still get from my mom. Her strawberry jam is delicious and I try to hide it in the back of the fridge so that I don't have to share quite as much.

Here are some pictures of our little urban garden.

Wild Flowers of Del Ray

Oodles of basil

Our first tomato hiding in the greens