Garden Faerie: Plant a veggie garden as part of 350 Gardens project

On October 10, the 350 Gardens project will create new food production gardens and highlight existing ones throughout Washtenaw County.

The project encourages creating veggie gardens on front yards, apartment patios, school and church grounds, and business premises.

Whether you want to plant one tomato in a pot or create a community garden, this program encourages you to do it.

350 Gardens is a county-wide project that brings together citizens, organizations, businesses, media and civic leaders to improve access to healthy, fresh, local food. It aims to:

Create a healthy homegrown food supply.
Cut greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the distance food travels.
Support local businesses through purchasing of local materials and resources.
Build community and beautify our neighborhoods.
Check out photos of food gardens (or submit your own).

You can participate in the Washtenaw County 350 Garden Challenge in several ways:

Create a new veggie bed this fall or next spring.

Join a work day to help install gardens in your neighborhood.

Join a bike ride starting at 10 a.m. on Oct. 10 to view some of the gardens in the city.

Celebrate gardens at a picnic at Hunt Park at 3 p.m. on Oct. 10.

You may be wondering "Who the heck starts a veggie garden in fall?!" The idea is to get the beds ready by filling them with compost and leaves for the winter, so they'll be rich with nutrients and ready for production next spring.

Growing Hope was selling raised-bed kits to help make installing a veggie bed easier, as well as delivering compost, but unfortunately that deadline has passed. But don't despair. If you can't create a veggie bed yet this fall, you can certainly create it next spring! And the Growing Hope raised-bed kits will be available again next spring, too.

The national 350 Garden Challenge was created by iGrowSonoma.org and inspired by the 350.org international campaign to find and implement solutions for climate change. Worldwide on Oct. 10, people in 183 different countries will take part in 6,000 different actions that address climate change solutions at a local level.

Locally, 350 Gardens is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Ecology Center, Growing Hope, Project Grow, and Transition Ann Arbor.

Monica Milla, the Garden Faerie, is a master gardener volunteer, garden speaker, garden coach and author of "Fun with Winter Seed Sowing."