monikasalden's Profile

Rochelle, I read your other blog and love it.

I am on the cusp on Gen X & Y. I live in Minneapolis and it seems to me that TONS of people here are into gardening and urban farming. I don't know if it's this area or the neighborhoods I frequent, or because we're such an agricultural area, but gardening is a very hip thing to do.

I got started in my mid-twenties and learned via trial and error. At the same time, I was helping my mom plant huge gardens at her new house--with crazy restrictions: she lives in Zone 3, everything had to be deer resistant, and perennial--and it couldn't look like she had a suburban garden. That creates a very short list. :) With those restrictions, we both started doing lots of research...and I fell in love with plants and gardening.

My first successful garden was a container garden on a patio of a suburban townhome--that spring I learned heartbreak and tragedy (a 10-minute hail storm that broke every single tomato plant and crushed all my herbs, flowers, and seedlings) but also joy--my garden was beautiful lush, abundant--rabbits actually built a nest in my container garden. I had created a place of such beauty that other creatures wanted to dwell in it. Gardening became a living metaphor of love and beauty to me.

Next year, when I moved, I moved my containers with me. They followed me to some degree or another in the next 4 houses and apartments I lived in. Finally I ended up renting a house with some friends, and my pal Brian and I undertook the task of transforming our grassy city lot backyard to 100% garden. We were 2/3 done when we moved out. Now i live in an apartment with not even a balcony. But I am able to have a garden on the land at work. I am so lucky!

For these generations, my two favorite books:
Alys Fowler, Garden Anywhere
James and Adam Caplin, Urban Eden

For Minneapolis gardeners, some great resources:
Columbia Gardens on Central in NE Mpls
Tangletown Gardens on Nicollet in S Mpls
Hunt & Gather Antiques in S Mpls (crazy selection of succulents)
Tonkadale in Minnetonka
the plant sale at the co-op in NE
Northern Gardener magazine