My Gardens

When I first moved to Portland, I lived downtown southwest in an apartment that was located in an old historical building that at one time, around the turn of the century, housed cowboys as they had brought their cattle to Portland from varias places around. The apartments themselves were remodeled with wainscoting and claw bathtubs. The old building itself, very rundown and the plumbing and electrical work was lifethreatening. That was 1997. During 2005 the building was purchased, apartment dwellers thrown out and the place was gutted and renovated and sold for condos. If I had kept driving for Tri-Met, I planned to buy one of those condos. One on the second floor to be specific. And to live out my life there, as I like the feel of the city and the noise and the derelicts. But no land, no place to garden!

At that time also, I rented a garden in the Reed College community garden area. Now, that was a beautiful place-many of the gardeners had grown their vegetables for up to 20 years. Well, the college decided that they needed the land for buildings so we were thrown out and I went to Brentwood Community Garden on 57 se portland. Also the same neighborhood where I eventually lived with my daughter's family. But, that is another story. Living with my daughter.

My garden that I now work on 57th street opened up added plots for the Reed gardeners. Not good soil, rather needy. The second year I worked some sawdust into my plot which loosened up the clay, but the carbon absorbed the nitrogen and last year every time I went to my garden I felt as if I was accursed. My sunflowers were the size of silver dollars. They were sad.