Grow Your Own Produce Sustainability Scholarship

My family told me I was too ambitious to start a garden in the middle of the city in Upstate New York where the snow is higher than the Kodak building. And I too had my doubts, but in the end, all I needed was a little bit of sunshine and some faith. I started my garden as a homage to my grandfather. He grew up on a farm in rural Rochester, New York, and worked out in the fields as a little boy. My great grandparents pulled him out of school to support the family. He told me stories of biting into juicy tomatoes right off the stem and riding tractors through grassy fields. After he was diagnosed with dementia, I wanted to find a way to keep his memories alive. So, I created my own little farm in the backyard. The first time around, I ran into many challenges. One of them being rodents. In the city, we have raccoons, rabbits, mice, suspiciously large squirrels, and stray cats. I was working on a budget, so I built my raised garden beds myself with plywood, barely an inch off the ground. The only thing protecting my plants was a clear tarp that I draped over it. At first, it wasn’t an issue until I started burying kitchen scraps like orange peels and eggshells in my soil to generate more nutrients. The smell of citrus must have drawn them because there were burrows everywhere! I realized later that I didn’t bury them deep enough, and I needed more soil. My second challenge arrived with the rain. One week was especially stormy, and the wind blew my tarp away. The downpour completely waterlogged my vegetables, and the buds on my green bean plants shriveled up just as they were beginning to sprout. Even weeks after, they still weren’t producing fruit, so I pulled them up and planted a new batch. However, my biggest challenge was the heat. Once June came around, every day was almost eighty degrees, which wasn’t good for my lettuce. Lettuce needs cool temperatures, between sixty to sixty-five degrees or they will wilt like flower petals. I noticed this when I discovered the lettuce planted next to my zucchini plants were thriving, while the others were not. Anyone who gardens know zucchini is a monster of a plant, and the huge leaves were providing shade from the sun. Despite all these setbacks, I did have some wins! After the first few weeks of planting my seeds, I noticed my plants were slow to sprout-- either they didn’t have enough sunlight or I was simply impatient. So, I took a trip to Walmart and bought live worms in the fishing section. I buried the worms in my garden bed, and my plants started growing at a rapid pace ever since. Then, I noticed my zucchini plants got too heavy at the top and began to tilt, so I added clumps of dry leaves to give them some support, and they never fell over. Lastly, I noticed my tarp got heavy when it rained, and squished my plants. So, I hammered some nails to my fence and hooked the tarp to it, so it created an awning over the garden. They got more airflow and it no longer stunted my plant’s growth. And of course, the biggest accomplishment was the delicious produce I got to share with my family and knowing I made my grandfather proud.