I live in Baltimore, MD and like many neighborhoods here my block is plagued with abandoned/vacant houses and associated decay. Several years ago I started urban gardening to beautify my block. I tried to get a few of my neighbors to start gardens as well, but no takers, so I just started mine. Then my neighbors got excited by the success of my garden and began their own! We got a lot of positive
feedback from neighbors and random pedestrians and the block became much more pleasant! Last year, I decided I wanted to expand to the vacants on the block because looking at boarded up houses covered in weeds and garbage every day is depressing. Again, the neighbors were skeptical about the idea, so I just went ahead and started clearing off nearby vacants, putting out plants and living art gardens. And again, people became interested and I could rely on a couple people to help me execute my projects. Also, a cafe up the street started giving me their used coffee grounds to deter certain pests and one of the corner stores supplied empty product containers to recycle as pots and seed starters. Now, not only do we get a lot of positive feedback from pedestrians, but people who drive by often stop to admire our plants and ask questions. With the help of my neighbors, my goal is to green the whole block. The majority of houses on my side of the street have gardens in front of them and this year I have been able to expand across the street. Eventually I want to be able to use more professional materials put to their intended use. Currently I use as many recycled, scavenged, and inexpensive materials I can get my hands on since I live in an urban environment with almost everything growing in containers. I would love to see residents in other blighted neighborhoods begin to beautify their spaces. It also increases people's investment in their community. Concerns my neighbors had when I started ranged from insistence people would just destroy it, steal it, or stash stuff in the pots, to even questioning whether we had the authority to put anything in an empty tree pit or on the sidewalk. My philosophy is, I'm going to do what I want and address any problems as they arise. Fortunately, there haven't been many problems. We have a right to live in a beautiful, peaceful space and a responsibility to create such spaces.
