By Bill Hamilton; photos by Don Palmer, Ron Gray, and Maria Wawer
Want to raise your own herbs and vegetables, but find the wee plot behind your house too small and the sunshine blocked by your neighbors’ lush trees and brick walls?
Baltimore City Farms, a Recreation and Parks program, may be your path to gardening bliss, offering garden plots for rent to City residents. Several Bolton Hill residents already participate, including Don Palmer, Ron Gray and Maria Wawer.
For $30 (plus a one-time application fee of $10), residents can rent a 10’ x 16’ garden plot for the growing season in one of several locations around town. Plots are fenced and in secure spots with access to water and sunshine unhindered by trees or buildings. Two adjacent plots may be had for $60. The city provides water hoses, wood chips and mulch. City farmers share community tools and wheelbarrows. Some locations have raised beds in wooden frames.
In the 21217 zip code City Farm gardens are available at Druid Hill Park and at Bruce Street Park, in the 1300 block of N. Bruce Street. Nearly a dozen City Farm sites with 800 plots altogether are scattered in parks throughout the city.
For further information contact Harold McCray, City Farms coordinator at Recreation and Parks Department, 410-396-4850 or BCRP.CityFarms@baltimorecity.gov. Applications and additional information are available online. Apply by the March 1 deadline and be ready to plant seeds and sets as soon as the weather warms up.