May 6, 2011

How these gardens grow

This past weekend, Bread for the City’s rooftops completed their transformation into gardens.

We’ve already been hard at work over the last several weeks; building garden boxes, weeding, transplanting sedum (hardy plants that will grow into lush groundcover in between the beds and walkways). Our Southwest Center has been collecting growing containers like tires and even old barbecue grills. See this video of Community Resources Coordinator Sherita Evans giving us a tour:



Meanwhile, in Northwest, the rooftop was full of empty beds as of Sunday Morning. Now, thanks to dozens of clients and volunteers and dc greenworks and a giant crane, our roof is full of lush vegetation -- everything from strawberries to kale and heirloom tomatoes.



And we also want to give special thanks to one new partner in particular:

Old City Green, a gardening supply store on 9th and N st NW, has come on board as Grow for the City’s newest sponsor. OCG founder Frank Asher stopped by in the morning to provide a planting workshop for our volunteers. A10-year veteran in the container gardening biz, Frank is one of our most resourceful new partners. So we are thrilled to announce our ongoing partnership with Old City Green.

“Our missions are really aligned in this project,” says Frank. “Bringing people and plants together. And it truly is a community building project, so I’m excited to be a part of this.”

Old City Green has already donated seeds and planters and their expertise -- and now they’re opening up to you by creating a garden gift registry for our Grow for the City garden initiatives!

Now you can support our rooftop garden while shopping for your own gardening supplies. When you swing by Old City Green, ask for our registry list -- and you’ll be able to directly purchase donations from a list of seeds, flowers, and planters. All donations will go on our NW and SE roof gardens; and we’ll use surplus donations to supply our clients with home garden-starter kits.

Here’s what we have on our registry:

Registry Items

1. Organic potting soil
2. Hanging pots for growing herbs on our walls
3. Large, free-standing pots for berry bushes and tomatoes.
4. Client-approved seeds
5. Flowers for our bees

Our first wave of planting is done but we are still working on the garden! We’ll gather again this Saturday and next Saturday to build trellises, label beds, hang pots, construct stools and benches, and other fun projects. We’re in need of handy people who want to get to work! Email Erin at eholmes@breadforthecity.org to sign up.

Let’s make this garden grow!

1 comment:

All Cats are Grey in the Dark said...

This is such a great opportunity for the community. Not all for individuals to have the experience of community gardening, but also for those who will benefit from these food items. This was so much fun and I cannot wait to continue to work and see the outcome.