Near Rae’s yarn shop, there is a wonderful nook which has been made into a small city Eden. The man who lives above a storefront has maximized his farming ability with almost no soil at all. It is inspiring.

In fact, I saw this garden about 4 years ago and saw the beautiful red tomatoes, shining colorful globes decorating the cityscape. I decided then that I would also try tomato gardening in containers at my house. I don’t really like fresh tomatoes, although I love them cooked. I didn’t care, the look of the plants was all it took to convince me. I have really enjoyed my tomato plants over these last years!

One day I was going to Rae’s on a Sunday and got to talking with the gentleman who has created this lush space. I was with Melinda, and he gave her a few peaches (yes really) he had just picked, and gave me a generous handful of grapes.

I boiled the grapes in water (they are small green ones that smell like concord, but with big seeds so they are not pick-and-eat grapes). I then crushed the grapes, strained out the fiber, and made a sort of gelatin dessert with it. It was light and refreshing.

The grapes grow up the handrail on the second floor; the peach tree looks like half a tree, squooshed up against the wall of the next building next to another fruit tree. At the point I took these photos, all the tomatoes for this year were already gone and things were starting to slow down or wilt.

I think it’s an amazing artform, this niche in the middle of a parking lot, which is now a lush Eden for one man and lucky acquaintances passing by. Isn’t it wonderful?

Just for reference, here is my own back step garden. The three pots at right are tomatoes. To their left is a sage plant that was given to me but which never was very happy there. At the very left in the colorful pot, was a cilantro from seed that only grew about an inch before being drowned in rainwater. I also have a small plot next to the garage which does well with parsley and nearly nothing else, though I tried basil again this year.

And there is always the rhubarb! Plants with ancestors on the Minnesota farm where Mom grew up always do well, the others struggle and never quite die but never become strong enough to pick for pie.

I have a lot more soil than this man, but I can’t compare. He just has the touch.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 7:49 pmand is filed under Lansing, Miscellaneous Artforms, Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.