Urb Ag Gala Tonight

Tonight (Friday April 17 2009) marks the first annual Urb Ag Gala, hosted by the Baltimore Urban Agricultural Task Force. It's at St. John's Church (2640 St. Paul Street, 7 pm-10 pm).


The event is pitched as a chance for Baltimore's gardeners to share gardening stories, tricks and songs, and to get silly and excited about the growing season. I can't attend, but if anyone from Hollins Market does, you should mark the Boyd Alley garden on their large map of Baltimore gardens. For more info, visit the Baltimore Urban Agricultural Task Force's website.

And remember... tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm we're having a Boyd Alley garden clean-up/weed fest. Bring your gloves!

Spring cleanup day this Saturday

This Saturday, April 18, at 2:00 PM, there will be a special Earth Day volunteer garden cleanup at the Boyd Alley Community Garden. Whether you are interested in signing up for a plot, or want to help out with weeding and other tasks, or want to meet some neighbors, this is a great opportunity for all of the above.

Yes, there will be plenty of weeding to do, but also some trash pickup, and possibly some soil preparation and planting. There will be informational materials on gardening tips, as well as info on signing up for a plot of your own.

Boyd Alley Garden layout

This afternoon, I sketched a map of the Boyd Alley Community Garden. Nothing is to scale, of course, especially considering my tape measure fell apart halfway through my attempt. It's also only a rough estimation of where the actual plots exist-- some of these individual plots could probably be two or three, in reality. In some cases, plots that look very small are actually quite large. At the moment, a number of these plots are being used, but there are some available for this season. Stay tuned for more details about signing up for a plot of your own.

Spring is here

The Boyd Alley Community Garden has been hibernating all winter, but it's coming back to life, as you can plainly see.

Tulips are in bloom, as are the tree blossoms.

Some very diligent gardeners already have their soil tilled, and we may see some seedlings coming up soon, getting ready for a summer harvest. Here in Maryland, we're lucky to have such a long growing season that one can reap a good harvest well into the fall.

Looks great, no?

Of course, with new life comes... new life. Weeds abound, and too many for any one person to handle (many kudos to Edwin for all his work over the years cultivating and caring for this garden- he and Billy have done great things with this space). Stay tuned for details on a big spring garden cleanup. More info coming soon.