Audio by artist amy_gariff-adams_and_colin_adams

Gariff-Adams said their plot has been a success. “We’ve tried shallots for the first time and they look great. Swiss chard took a little while to take off. Lettuce was awesome--pulled out but will be replanted in the fall. The mint is taking over. The tomatoes look lovely. We’re very pleased.”

“We had some trouble a couple years ago with Blossom End Rot. This year we don’t seem to have that…We’re hoping for the first time ever to can tomatoes this year.”

Her husband Collin explained the garden’s beginnings. “This all happened by sheer accident. Aaron (Carmack) asked the landowners here if we could throw in a few tomatoes and the landowners ( Frank Elmer and Ruth Glass ) said ‘why don’t you just start a community garden?’”

Adams said many of his fellow gardeners strive to be organic in their methods, but that he doesn’t. Referring to his tomatoes he said, “I Miracle-Gro the hell out of these things. And look at the bumper crop I’m getting this year.”

Earlier that evening I had marveled at the prolific clusters of tomatoes. As someone who considers himself an advocate of organic gardening and farming, hearing Adams attribute that burst of tomatoes to Miracle-Gro surprised and--for some mysterious reason-- amused me.