Savage Garden: Week… 12? 13? Screw it, I’m going to Greensgrow

I have kind of failed at my project of growing plants from seeds in my apartment. Sad face. I’ve accepted that there’s not enough light for them to grow up strong, and furthermore I have a tendency to go out of town for a couple days and not want to be that “Oh, uh, can you maybe come over and water my plants this weekend? I”ll bake you cookies!” girl.

So I went to one measly wedding in Southern Virginia and that basically signed my already-sickly seedlings’ death warrants. Sorry, guys. Sun rolling high, sapphire sky, great and small on endless round, etc. If it’s any consolation, I feel really bad about it.

Anyway, I got another batch of seeds going which are doing much better because I can put them outside where the sun is. But just in case I mess those up too (and there’s a high probability that I will), I decided to hedge my bets and headed over to Greensgrow, the 3/4 acre urban farm post-industrial land smack in the middle of Kensington. I had heard many good things, and it’s also the only decent-sized nursery not out in the burbs or down by IKEA. From their website:

Greensgrow is THE nationally recognized leader in urban farming (don’t just take our word for it…) and is open to the public from early spring through Thanksgiving. A small but dedicated staff runs a multifaceted operation, including a nursery, a farm market, and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, proving that abandoned land is only abandoned if we choose to leave it that way.

Their CSA, in which you pick up a bunch of produce grown on the farm every week, filled up way back in March, but the farm stand will be opening May 28 if you’re in the mood for some locally-grown stuff; and of course there’s tons of pretty flowers and grasses and little teenager trees. I thought I’d post some pictures I took, because I had heard a lot of press about this place but had no idea what an urban farm actually looked like (hint: pretty big, with lots of bright colors).

And for those of you who don’t live in the area but visit occasionally, it’s a 15-minute walk from the Berks stop and about two blocks from Memphis Taproom. The address 2501 Cumberland St. kind of delayed my going for a while; I’m not super familiar with Kensington street names, and all street names I’m unfamiliar with sound way far away to my lazy ears. Placing it near a landmark removed my “But it’s faaaaaaaaaar!” excuse, and perhaps it will remove yours.

They’ve been around since 1998 and have been doing the farm stand since 2002. But before you shout OLD!, I’d just like to say what the heck, my friend who recently bought a house less than a mile from Greensgrow had never been there accompanied me yesterday and is now in love. Here’s a couple of pictures, more after the jump.

You can see rowhouses all around...

...on every side

I went with Mr. Stripey tomatoes because that's what my cat growing up was named, seemed as good a reason as any rational ones I could think of

Growing foodstuffs for the CSA

My visit took place during what seems like the one sunny hour of the past week, but it was definitely ominous

Cheery checkout counter

That's way less than a box of strawberries

Bearded dudes at work

I wish I could buy all of these and put them in my room

Veggie starts!

Hummus: slightly less expensive than compost

The corner of Cumberland and Almond streets

My selections: three eggplants, three tomatoes (heirloom because why the hell not, they cost the same), two strawberries I have no idea how to grow, parsley and basil. We'll see how fast I ruin these bright-eyed young plants.