Year One was a reasonable success, in that:
– We fed ourselves a little bit,
– We learned that gardening is a lot of work that requires constant vigilance – from weeds, deer and other critters
– The family gardened together
– I’d like to think I’m helping my little corner of the world by growing local, eating a bit local, and hopefully setting an example for others.
– We learned that spacing of plants matters. Just because I think I have room for sixteen tomato plants in the bottom right corner doesn’t mean they’ll grow. In fact, they’ll likely die.
– Order and planning seem to be reasonable foundations for success in gardening; I’ll let you know if that proves to be true.
– I want a bigger garden (and chickens)
– I’m never going to be as sustainable as Will at Revolutionary Soup (perhaps my favorite place to eat in Charlottesville)
Bringing this back to real estate … more of my clients are gardening. More of my buyer clients have gardened, and many more want to have gardens; “I’d like some space for a garden” is one of the more common questions/criteria I am hearing, and I don’t think this is a self-selection whereby I am attracting like-minded buyer clients … I think more people want to garden.
The Charlottesville area is known for being “progressive” whatever that means … we have a lot of CSAs and other options for shopping locally, cool garden stores and nurseries and generally a desire to try to do what’s right. I’m wondering if this “wanting to garden” trend is prevalent in other markets.
![Before we planted our garden This is where we started](https://i0.wp.com/realcentralva.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2011-04-17_14-01-10_372-tm.jpg?resize=480%2C358)
![Now, if can just nurture those "green shoots" This is where we ended](https://i0.wp.com/realcentralva.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2011-04-17_16-34-56_162-tm.jpg?resize=480%2C358)
We’re not going to feed the family, but if we can get a few meals and teach the kids the value of growing your own food, I’ll mark this experiment down as a huge success.
If you’re like me and are getting started in gardening and haven’t had time to plant, may I suggest a visit to the Virginia Cooperative Extension’s website? It is, in a word, useful.
* I haven’t asked the HOA’s permission. 🙂