Beauty lies in the unexpected, like the singular flower in a jam jar on the table or a hint of green outside a windowsill. And in larger more hidden places too, like the garden off Glen Ave in my neighborhood. Lemon balm, verbena, mint, borage, and pole beans thrive there. Tomatoes and basil and wild arugula reach for the sun. It is where a cucumber plant and a Meyer lemon tree work their magic.

This verdant arrangement bursts forth in pots, bags, boxes, and soon to be an old wheelbarrow, in a small neck of Piedmont Ave, just around the corner from Issues, behind a friends flat, and belonging to his neighbor, Ingrid. A few snips here, pinches there, and daily watering amount to her routine. She’ll grow in anything she told me as I admired the thriving tomato plant growing out of a soil bag; last year she saved their seeds and ended up with so many that she gave some away, leaving them out front her home.

Over the years, I have watched Ingrid’s garden grow, slowly climb up and over the fence that divides the courtyard area of her place with my friend’s, and into the parking area which is adjacent to the backside of many Piedmont Ave shops. Each year she seems to add little bit more to her growing scape, a few new plants, a unique variety of something, perhaps wild strawberries tucked in the elbows of a larger plant.

She continued pinching as we talked; we tasted stevia, nature’s sweetener, and smelled lemony scented verbena; we talked about the flourishing gardening movement happening across the country; we moved to the back steps and drank wine and ate cherry tomatoes. I told her about Novella Carpenter’s farm city project, and the recent article in the NY Times that describes a young gal who planted a flower garden in a small patch out front her studio that has attracted a throng of supporters. People now stop to leave her cuttings, seeds, and occasionally notes, other less desirable things too.

It’s what is being called guerilla gardening, finding that little patch of dirt wherever you can and making it yours. It’s all a part of a bigger crusade of taking back to the garden and the farm but in your own urban way; swapping seeds and sharing produce; listing trades on places like Craigslist (want worms or chickens, anybody?); growing food on rooftops (check out the new MOMA gardens), in portable containers, apples espaliered on walls. It’s a burgeoning movement, with even the Obamas getting in on the act, planting the first White House organic garden since Eleanor Roosevelt. It’s as much about growing your own food as it is about building community and drawing out your neighbors and making new friends; exchanging resources and lending a hand.

Photos by  my friend Doug McKechnie