Gardening

Observer: Estella Yee
Date: 11-7
Location: Kaneko’s community garden, north of the sky bridge
Time: 1516-1546
Weather: Overcast skies, 60˚F

When I had walked across the sky bridge over 12th street toward Kaneko in the past, I had never realized a small area of the land adjacent to the buildings. Usually, my eyes would be attracted to the lines of the buildings and their modern designs. Far too easy to be swept away by the crimson buildings, I had neglected a rectangle of land known as the community garden. South of the Tokyo International University of America building, six rectangles of dirt mounds were flourishing with greeneries. The soil was damp and dark as I walked over a hose lying in between the sections. Many crops were still producing. My eyes drew in sight of ripe sugar snap peas, green beans, small 2-inch buds of broccoli, vivid red Swiss Chard, and lacy cilantro. Few people seemed to bother picking the food when it was so convenient to purchase meals in the cafeteria. Yet, my friends who I met there today were intent of utilizing fresh greens in their food, endeavoring to incorporate them into a meal that they knew would eventually find its way into college students mouths through their purchases. If only others were as intent on doing so, the garden would mostly likely not had fallen into its slight neglect today. There was minimal maintenance; the peas were bursting full, zucchini’s 6 inches long, and broccoli infested with aphids. I think introducing a natural repellent or biological control would be beneficial to the community as a whole.

Uppermost picture (taken sometime in the earlier seasons) courtesy of http://tiua.edu