Group Gathers to Discuss Growing Food in Yards
Cleveland Heights native hopes to create network of people devoted to community gardening
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Rows of pristine, grass-covered lawns disturb her.
Mari Keating, a Cleveland Heights native, grows tomatoes, sweet potatoes, collard greens and other food in her yard. She organized a meeting at Lee Road Library on Sunday for people to exchange seeds and talk about growing and sharing food.
About two dozen people attended, including Michael Jerman, president of Sustainable Landscaping LLC in Cleveland Heights, which developed and installed the vegetable garden at Lee Road Library, and Jody Lathwell from Beyond Pesticides Ohio, who spoke about her concerns about the ramifications of and alternatives to pesticides.
Seeds were spread out across the table, and Keating encouraged people to take as many as they wanted even if they didn’t have any to swap.
She said she hopes that eventually the group will exchange produce and gardening tools, and discuss issues surrounding growing food in the suburbs.
People threw out ideas to talk about at the next meeting, including donating some produce to local food banks, optimal dates for planting seeds indoors and outdoors and making food gardens aesthetically pleasing to neighbors.
Cleveland Heights native Laura Marks said she grows her own carrots, blueberries, strawberries, spinach, lettuce, onions and garlic, to name a few, and 95 percent of what she eats comes from her yard or nearby farmer’s markets. And she likes to share with "species other than humans."
“I can’t tell you how much pleasure it gave me to host the party,” she said of the nine birds that filled a bath under the berry tree in her front yard recently.
Keating said that her goal is to create a community in the suburbs through gardening and food-growing efforts, and she was inspired by the book Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community, by Heather Coburn Flores.
“What I’m hoping is that this will evolve into a Cleveland chapter of Food Not Lawns,” Keating said. “I can’t grow everything I eat. I’ll plant tomatoes, and my neighbor can plant potatoes, and we can all share.”
Meetings will be every last Sunday of the month. The next meeting will be Feb. 27, time and place to be determined.
Susan Miller
6:56 pm on Monday, January 31, 2011
Let's see, basil, chives, marjoram, tarragon, mint, parsley, dill, lettuce, tomatoes, chard, beets, radishes, peas, pumpkins, potatoes, nasturtiums, blackberries, raspberries, hot peppers, mustard, garlic, strawberries. It's not perfect yet, but every compostable food item goes in my compost bin, and I return that to the beds each year. Other gardeners are way ahead of me. I manage to eat a lot from my tiny shady yard on Berkshire for now.
Two years ago I began gardening in the yard next door - the house had been vacant (except for a renter for 9 months) for 7 years. By summer's end it was sold. My new neighbor doesn't know about gardening and asked me if I would continue to grow food there. Yes, I will. She has two lovely south-facing beds that are backed by walls of warm yellow bricks. They get almost full sun. I've been working on that once dead soil for two years now. Next season should be pretty good there. We share the produce. My neighbors were skeptical until I started leaving pints of cherry tomatoes for them in their milk boxes and on their porch steps. Now they stop to talk to me when I'm out there toiling. :)
Michelle Simakis
9:18 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
That's wonderful you were able to form relationships with your neighbors through gardening. Thanks for listing the food you grow — it's interesting to see the variety of food people can grow in their yards. Thanks for sharing your story, Susan.
Cheryl Whitner
7:21 pm on Monday, January 31, 2011
I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, greens (collard), squash, and green and jalopena peppers.
Michelle Simakis
9:43 am on Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Thanks so much for sharing, Cheryl. As I wrote to Susan, it's fascinating to read the different kinds of vegetables and fruits people are able to grow right in their yards.
linda jenkins
11:43 am on Friday, April 1, 2011
gardening,yes i love it,i have a vegetable,herb ,cutting,friendship and rock garden,my garden was part of the heights home and garden tour 2001,and was featured in the plain dealer 2000,i recieved my first communiy award in 1987,okay ,i shared this information with you only to let you know how passionate i am about gardening,and it has inspired,me to launch many gardening ideas and projects,so,on that note,i would like to share one of the longest projects still in progress,SOW,SEEDS,SEEDLING,SOIL FOR SENIORS,this project allow we the gardeners to share seeds with seniors that are able to garden, for the seniors that are unable to sow seeds,those who are house bound,nursing homes,assisted living ,etc.,we give them potted plants with color, just another way of gardening from the heart,with your neighbors,SHARE!