Bruce Schimmel, City Paper’s ‘Loose Canon’, wrote a fantastic article titled Who Grows? about the unwillingness of city officials to choose a consistent stance regarding city gardens.  They claim to want them, but then won’t give any sort of guarantee that the garden won’t be taken away next week, month, or year.  I was talking to Mary over at Greensgrow just a few days before this article appeared about our ordeal to get the city to let us buy (at full price!) the lot next to us.  You’d think a cash-strapped city in the midst of a down economy would be willing to sell a few parcels, especially when they’re being designated for usages that they want to promote.

The RDA, for instance, is charged with turning vacant land into tax-paying businesses; the Health Department wants to put healthy food into people's mouths; and at the Water Department, farms are needed to filter stormwater.

Our Bouvier Community Garden, which has thrived under the nurturing guidance of Laura and Leslianna, is one of the success stories of land reclamation.  Our neighborhood group, Newbold Neighbors, worked closely with the Neighborhood Gardens Association (NGA) and the city to get plots swapped around so we could build, landscape, and grow with the confidence that Domenic Vitiello, president of the Philly Orchard Project, (through Mr. Schimmel’s article) points out is missing for many other gardens and gardeners.

In our sideyard garden, I have been very wary of building any sort of permanent structures.  The idea of watching a bulldozer run roughshod over months of work is too much to bear, as it is for many people who would love to invest the time to build something then can enjoy.

Oh, and if you didn’t read Who Grows? to the end, you missed out on one of many of Mary’s gems: “Just give up the goddamn land, and get it over with.”  How is she not mayor yet?