Perfect timing for this photo challenge topic. In my last post, I mentioned I had discovered and photographed a huge urban community garden and that I would be posting on it in the near future.
And green this garden was.
Despite getting an official ‘winter’ in this part of China (Nanjing winter temperatures will hover just above the freezing point with possibly one or two snowfalls in the mix), mid-November still sees a lot of garden activity. Food production is in full swing, and as shown in my last post, bees are still out collecting nectar and pollen.
The garden in question surrounds a small, likely man-made, lake. Along one edge of the lake is busy Xianlin (仙林) Avenue with a lovely walking path as well as one of the metro lines running parallel. There is a large complex of high-rise apartment buildings on the other side of the lake. It is the largest community garden space I’ve run across in any country I’ve visited so far. I’d be curious to find out how many individual plots there are.
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stunning photos, thanks for posting these
Thanks, Mike! Nice to hear from you. Drop me an email and let me know how your end of season is going
Very cool place. Know what they are growing ?
I’m pretty sure that the bush growing wild over the edge of the railing onto the bench was a flat pea with purple edging that I’ve seen in Hunan. The greens – I’m not great at identifying Chinese greens. They have soooo many different ones.
I’m really thinking about asking for some space on my campus – like right behind the staff housing – to grow some stuff in the spring…
Yea a trip to the wet market can be overwhelming with all the greens. Definitely go for it! That would be soo awesome to have a little plot to grow stuff. On my tiny city balcony I have red peppers , mint, and strawberries now.
Good for you! Nice choice in growables.
If you like lemon and get any kind of chance at a lemon pie, mint and strawberries are truly excellent companions.
That sounds great. I need an oven though… bleh
Ah yes, ovens. Not standard issue here, sadly. The simple task of baking up a batch of cookies ain’t so simple.
Interestingly, we do have a kitchen with an oven in my teaching building. Possibly because we have some students studying tourism and food and beverage management. But home baking? Not possible unless you buy yourself a toaster oven for small projects…
Whoa. Take full advantage of that oven if you can! I have a friend who actually has a full size oven in their place. I go for food as often as possible. I’m pretty handy with a wok but sometimes I crave an oven.
A couple of us have already done some cookies. I think there may be a plan for US T-G dinner in the works using that oven.
Lucky friend of yours! Something we take for granted back home, but a complete luxury here. Woks are great, but not so much for cakes…
Now I know a bit about China’s garden spaces! Go green!
I enjoyed your post & appreciate the pingback!
Ditto!
Yes, there is a lot of pollution and garbage and bad modern architecture in China, but I have to hand it to them – their garden spaces are often lovely to behold. Such an incredible array of leafy greens.
I would never have guessed…thanks for the China moment.
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All that green just made my brain start playing “and the green grass grows all around all around…” in my head. Haha. Great pictures!
Oooh! Thanks for the reminder! I haven’t heard those lyrics in a while.
Cheers for your comment and stopping by
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As I looked at the photos I wondered about how many people use the community garden. Such an unknown concept in my parts. And then to twist the idea of unknown, to not have an oven. Oh my. So glad you have found one and have a source for cookies. I mean, no cookies… how much is one person supposed to take!!!
Oh my goodness, yes!!! The oven is a blessing. This is the first time I’ve had access to one in all my time in Asia. In smaller places, it isn’t just the oven, but access to proper baking ingredients, that is the problem. In a large city, there are places you can go to get the basics (e.g., flour, butter) as well as specialty items.
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Such tidy looking gardens!
I have a million questions, but the burning one is in reference to a reply you made to a commenter–you mentioned bad modern architecture. You are speaking of style I presume and not safety? I know so little of China and have wondered how the average person there views all this rapiid modernization and building?
Great question. I’m definitely talking about style – cement blocks often covered with what looks like bathroom tile. I’ll do a post on architecture contrast at some point.
Interestingly, though, this modern construction is also shoddy. Things fall apart really easily here (not just architecture, but products in general). The government tried to cover up a major fiasco a few years back when a whole bunch of newly built schools failed to withstand an earthquake (the older buildings were completely fine). A few thousand kids were killed. The government blocked blogs, news reports and keyword searches on the event so that people couldn’t get information on what had happened…
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