Tendril Loving Care
Mulch Obliged: Missoula Volunteers Vow to Plant 1,000 New Veggie Gardens
A homegrown network of do-gooders is plotting to bring organic eats and “100-foot diets” to town, a gardening project that could win a national prize -- and seed money.By Amy Linn, 6-25-09
All they are saying is give peas a chance. Photo by 1000newgardens.
Got lawns? Yep, most homeowners do, in Missoula and nearly everywhere else. Thanks to a national lawn obsession that has roots deeper than leafy spurge, America holds about 40 million acres of lawns and turf, a vast green carpet that’s a huge source of wasted water, CO2 and air pollution (thanks to gasoline-powered mowers), and toxic run-off from pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers.
Enter former Missoula Redevelopment Agency director Geoff Badenoch, who had an idea this February during a meal with Max Smith, a freshman at the University of Montana: Why not get a group of gardeners, a generous bunch at heart, to help other people grow foods instead of lawns?
The notion took root and grew. By April 26, dozens of volunteers for a new group, 1000newgardens, held a “Dig Day” and helped transform 10 local backyards into food plots, building raised beds, shoveling dirt, and giving advice to homeowners about what to grow where.
Today, the group has about 150 people, from master gardeners to newbies, who offer services for free. Their shared mission: to get healthy food on local tables in the most planet-friendly, affordable way possible.
“The idea is to redevelop the community, grow nutritious foods and create a beautiful place that we can be proud of—a true “garden city,” Smith said. Lawns, he added, are “senseless and unoriginal and unsustainable. Down the line, they’re freakin’ crazy.” (The group’s bywords are “vegetable collaboration in action, reminding you to get off the grass.")
Next year, 1000newgardens hopes to plant 50 gardens; in subsequent years it hopes to get 1,000 gardens in the ground, if not more. But first, there’s money to be won.
The project is one of eight across the U.S. eligible for a $10,000 prize as one of the nation’s best ideas at ideablob.com; the idea with the most online votes wins. (To vote for it, click here; you’ll be asked to register first.)
According to the group’s website (and nicely explained in the above video by Greta Rybus), the money would go to establish “tool and canning libraries, plot sharing, Dig Days, seed ordering and vegetable harvest potlucks, and garden workshops.” It would also support gardening for low-income households and help maintain an interactive blog for all gardeners to share ideas, questions and information.
But prize or no prize, the group intends to flourish, and anyone in Missoula can ask for assistance. If you’d like help this fall or next spring turning a lawn into a vegetable (and fruit) garden, email .
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However, what I find objectionable is this idea of 'grass is bad.' If homeowners prefer having a lawn instead of a garden, that's their business. I suspect as cap and trade is passed and unemployment rises, more and more people will find the time and incentive to raise their own food. In the meantime, they're keeping farmers in business.
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The real message is that eating large quantities of meat has a lot of negative impacts--bad for human health, bad for the land, bad for the climate (methane releases from cattle).
So go for it Missoula, plant a lot more lawn to gardens.