Secret Gardeners

One of the best-kept secrets in Baltimore are the seven small, city-owned, citizen operated urban farms scattered throughout the city. And to think I've been trying to grow veggies in my shady postage-stamp yard this whole time!

The farms appear to be a resource that I think many city-dwellers would like to take advantage of, but of which few may be aware.

Locations of all 7 City farms. Larger Map. Let me know if the druid hill location is inaccurate.

The mystery began to unravel when I discovered a mysterious farm plot tucked inside a chainlink fence as I was walking in Roosevelt Park, in Hampden. Luckily for me, a local farmer had left the gate ajar while he was gardening and upon my questioning revealed that I (or anyone in the city) could rent a small plot for a modest yearly fee!

This site answers some questions and has contact information for interested parties.

Some small details are not up to date, however.

Here's a selection from the 2010 farm plot application:

(which you can request by email from the coordinator by following the link above.)

1.To qualify for participation in the program, you must be at least 18 years of age and a resident or employee of Baltimore City. An adult must sponsor anyone under 18.

2. New gardeners are permitted to rent only one plot in their first year. Gardeners will be considered for additional plots in subsequent years at the discretion of the coordinator. Each household has a three-plot maximum.

3. Plots are @ 10’ x 15’ and are marked by a numbered stake. Make sure the stake number matches the number on your contract and receipt.

4. Rental cost for 2010 is $30.00 per plot; there is a one time non-refundable key fee of $10.00 for new participants. Prices are subject to change through written notice. Do not make copies of your garden key – extra keys can be obtained through the City Farms office.

5. Gardening hours are dawn to dusk. For your personal safety and to prevent vandalism, make sure the gates are locked at all times.

6. Wood chips and leaf compost are provided by the Horticulture Division for use in the gardens. Water will be available from early spring through late fall.

7. At the City Farms, trash is separated into two categories – organic garden remains, and garbage. Organic debris consists of pulled weeds, spent plants or anything that once was growing in your garden. Organic debris is kept in a separate pile at designated areas in each City Farm. Garbage is trash that has not grown in your garden, and goes in the trashcans provided. Do not put garbage in the organic waste piles, or bags of pulled weeds in the trashcans.

8. At each City Farm there is a Garden Representative who can help with problems or questions.

For some reason the yearly rent for a plot increased in 2010 from 20$ a year to 30$ a year. Are they running out of land or something?

Hopefully, knowledge of the City Farm program will increase in the future, leading to more farms, lower costs and greater community involvement!

I've just requested a plot at Clifton Park and am expecting my key to arrive in the mail any day. Let the farming begin!

Tree City

Spring is here...

The flowering cherry trees around Baltimore are coming into bloom as the warm weather arrives, spreading their perfume across the city.

As I consider the lovely springtime aroma, I am moved to make a romantic statement:
A city can never have enough trees.

Even someone who knows nothing about environmental science can easily list a handful of human-scale benefits provided by urban trees.

Trees in the median of W 33rd, Baltimore.

I was more than a little sad, then, to hear that as a result of the city's 100+ million dollar budget shortfall for 2011, the ongoing effort to plant more city trees has been halted (Link missing, Same story Here.) for 2011 .

This whole no-money-for-trees situation brings up three questions for me:

1. How many trees does the city already have?
2. How any should we have?
3. How much would it cost to meet that goal?

~o~

Our Current Urban Forest...

According to Examiner.com, Baltimore city has about 2.5 million trees. That's about 3.9 trees per person. Collectively, this forest removes 244 metric tons of "ozone pollution" from the atmosphere. [each year?](*)

~o~

Money Trees...

A tree provides services to the city, and therefore has a calculable monetary value. Maryland has a REALLY COOL tree value calculator here, which estimates the value of these services.
Some quick calculations, for fun:

• A mature White Oak, 24 inch diameter trunk, growing in front of a single-family home in my neighborhood provides $389 worth of cooling, air cleaning and storm-water abatement per year.

• A young Magnolia tree growing in a nearby park provides $54/similar benefits/year.

• An average sized American Sycamore tree growing across the street from my apartment building (Note: this one isn't hypothetical!) provides $194/benefits/year. This breaks down as 4,700 gallons storm-water absorbed, 166kWh electricity not needed for cooling and 591 pounds of CO2 removed from my air.

~o~

Urban Forests...

Before the current budget crisis, Baltimore had set a progressive agenda for repairing the city's relatively deforested landscape:

In March of 2006, Baltimore City adopted a Tree Canopy Goal of 40 percent coverage within a 30-year time frame, thus doubling the City’s existing 20 percent tree canopy coverage.(*)

This has now been put on hold.

In comparison, here are some other urban canopy percentages for similarly sized cities:
An ideal coverage of 40% is borrowed from here. I believe this is considered a 'dense' coverage.

~o~

The Green Future?...

So it seems Baltimore could use another 2.5 million trees, to top our tree-population up to 5 million.
With tree-planting on hold in Baltimore, it seems that for the moment, the effort is left up to private citizens and organizations, which is a challenge people should become aware of.

Today...



Future?...


Planting trees is a great investment. I don't know how much it costs the city to plant a tree, but even if, for the sake of argument, planting a single linden tree sapling cost them 2000$ each (including initial labor and upkeep for 5 years), the calculator shows that it pays for itself in 20 years--after that it "turns a profit".

Now consider that a private person can plant and care for a tree for less than 100$.
(coupons for $25 off that tree here)
I hope Baltimore can continue greening- without breaking the bank.