A Call for Edible Gardens in Mountain View CA

Residents of Mountain View CA, I need your help!  I have been given the challenge of finding gardens with edible landscaping in Mountain View, for next year's Edible Landscaping Tour, 2011:

This year I volunteered with Common Ground as a tour organizer (see my previous blogs). This year's tour was a great success and a lot of fun, however, as a resident of Mountain View I was disappointed that we did not have homes on the tour in my city. The homes in this year's tour which took place on July 24, 2010, were mostly in Palo Alto with one home in Menlo Park. The previous year, 2009, there were a couple of homes on the tour in Mountain View, including my own. So for next year's tour in 2011 I'm determined to have Mountain View participants.  My colleagues on the tour team said it was difficult to find homes with edibles in the front and backyards south of Palo Alto- I would love to prove them wrong!

Photo: 2010 Edible Landscaping Tour: a recently remodeled backyard in Palo Alto; the photo above was taken in the Spring, the photo below is of the same bed taken during the tour in July. 

Therefore, I need your help in finding  homes with eligible gardens  that are willing to participate in the tour scheduled for July 2011. I enjoyed participating so much in 2009 that I became a volunteer with Common Ground. If you enjoy gardening with vegetables and fruit around your home, and enjoy talking to others about edible gardening then you will love this tour. The people who sign up to visit the homes are very appreciative to have the opportunity to visit home gardens to gather ideas for their own landscaping projects, and to learn from other gardeners. We have received enthusiastic feedback about the tour, and it has become a very popular annual event and fundraiser for Common Ground.

 

Photo: A home in Palo Alto with friendly chickens; several homes had chickens, and one had  bees (below).

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact me by posting in the comments field on this blog. I would be very happy to visit your garden if you would like feedback on whether it is appropriate for the tour. Features we look for are:

• Edibles preferably in the front and side or backyard
• Organic and/or sustainable practices (for example: composting, wise use of water, and other resources, etc)
• A willingness to share your enthusiasm for gardening with edibles with visitors to your garden (the tour is one day only in late July, 11am to 4pm)

 Photo: A backyard in Palo Alto CA: artichokes, fruit trees and vegetable beds, with a chicken coop in the background.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you and meeting other gardeners in my community!