By Tom Rieman
This time of year is often thought of as the giving season. We are thinking of gifts to lavish upon friends and family during the holiday season. Perhaps you volunteer to prepare or serve meals to those in need. We receive appeals from charities and even the accountants extol the tax benefits we can reap from making cash donations to our favorite non-profits. However, I am sure you will agree that the need is year-round, and acts of kindness should not be a seasonal event.
As I have reflected on my own giving habits, I have become more intentional in my giving. I budget for it and donate to causes that best reflect my values. I began to think of the abundance of gardens as well and how it can be shared with others. I do not have enough sun for a vegetable garden, but I do have a few spots to grow a tomato or two. At the height of the season there is more than we can consume but not enough to bother with to preserve so it is shared with neighbors. If you are blessed with room and enough sun for a vegetable garden, you know what I am talking about. The first zucchini of the season is prized but by midseason you have grown fat on zucchini bread, zucchini casseroles have grown old and spiralized zucchini noodles as a pasta substitute just does not cut it. You find yourself leaving bags of squash on the neighbor’s doorsteps overnight, so they do not have the chance to refuse your offering. Yes, gardens can be abundant and produce more than you need.
The Giving Grove is a national effort to plant berry brambles, fruit, and nut trees in food insecure urban settings, often in vacant lots, to be tended by local volunteers with the produce available to be harvested freely by area residents. Memphis Tilth has established 13 of these groves in Memphis. I love this idea and want to translate it to something I could do in my neighborhood.
In a little patch of dirt between my sidewalk and the street I have plenty of sun and thought it would be a beautiful place for a tiny herb garden. Many herbs are perennial and evergreen but you only need a tiny bit for an occasional recipe so I thought this would be a great garden to share with my neighbors. I put up a little sign and have had many folks stop by to clip some fresh herbs to take home. In addition to the perennial herbs, I plant seasonal items like basil and dill. It is also a wonderful way to introduce children to gardening as they can take some herbs home to use for pizza or spaghetti sauce.
But my garden also offers other gifts as it is a home to wildlife. Tiny bugs, pollinators and their caterpillar predecessors, fish, frogs, toads, evil squirrels, raccoons, possum, and birds. I also like to share the gift of my garden with friends and strangers by opening it up to visits. If you walk by and make a kind comment about something you see in my front garden, I will be dragging you
into the back to share that as well. I will be sharing my garden as part of “Experience Memphis Gardens” The six-week series of garden tours across the city on Saturday June 22, 2024, which is the date chosen for gardens in the Bartlett area. Of course, I will also be visiting gardens during this extravaganza enjoying what others have created and stealing ideas.
Perhaps you would like to participate and open your garden to visitors for one day during the “Experience Memphis Gardens” 2024 tour. There are no requirements or vetting of gardens. If you love your garden others will too. Just type, Experience Memphis Gardens, into your browser go to their website and scroll down to the bottom where it says showcase your garden and click on the ‘submit application’ box. Do this even if you are unsure or may have to cancel later. It is far easier for them to take you off the tour than try to add folks at the last minute.
During this giving season, think of how you can share your garden’s abundance with others throughout the year.
