I now work part time for a gardening company that sets up organic gardens for people. Most of the clients seem to be new residents to the city and they get paid a pretty good hourly wage.
The best garden that I set up was in the Mission District. That area of town gets the most sun. On my last visit I saw that the pineapple sage had grown to cover a third of the 4'x8' bed. Arugula flowers were tall and lemon cucumbers were going to be abundant. The tomato plants had crawled through the bamboo stakes and were now starting to droop with the weight of green tomatoes.
How would it look a month later? It was almost time for my visit. I was excited. Mainly I wanted to pick some tomatoes.
I got an email from my boss that there was some bad news. The landlord didn't want the tenant to have the garden because his water bill was too high. She wanted me to return my key to the garden by dropping it in the clients mailbox. This meant I still had to go back there. Maybe there were still tomatoes. I brought my new cloth tote that I won from the library, just in case. I found a parking space easily and saw the #267 mail slot which was where I was to drop the key. I went to the downstairs gate and used my key one last time to take a glimpse at the garden. Last time I checked the garden I was shocked. Some of the plants had grown at least three feet tall. Radishes were the size of golf balls. I harvested more carrots than the couple could eat in a week.
This time I was shocked again. Everything was gone. No wood from the garden beds, no drip irrigation, no strawberry plants, no arugula, no parsley, no thyme, no bell peppers,and no basil. Looking down at the perfectly leveled dirt of the former food supplier I saw a few red and green cherry tomatoes. I thought about picking one up to see if it was still good but the entire situation just made me mad and sad at the same time. I just left. I passed through the downstairs corridor and up some stairs to the front of the apartments. I looked through the glass of door #267 to see if anyone was home but I also didn't really care. I dropped the key through the slot and heard it "klunk" on the wood floor.
