Guerilla Gardening In Uptown Charlotte

There’s something immediately refreshing about the COOP the second I walk up onto the concrete slab. Maybe it’s because right away I can tell this place isn’t the quest for aesthetic perfection that most of my garden design projects are.







Raised beds nailed together with wood scraps salvaged from pallets form two casual columns down the center. Salvaged building materials, containers, and garden tools in varying states of decay sit patiently until they’re needed for the next project.  A small lean-to structure shades a work station that sits behind a simple plastic greenhouse.



 

The sprawling site centers around an abandoned concrete foundation in a forgettable gravel parking lot, just behind the train tracks in Uptown Charlotte. On the other side of the tracks, Greyhound buses lumber in and out of the station. The COOP is sanctioned, but not funded by Johnson & Wales University. Culinary students Mark Vesel, and Kelly Slade head the unofficial JWU guerilla garden club of 50 members, and began building the small urban farm about two years ago.





“We just put in the greenhouse last month”, Slade says, opening the salvaged French door they picked up from ReStore, and ducking inside. “We’re growing micro greens along this wall,” he continues, “and over here, we’re growing Ghost Chiles - some of the hottest peppers in the world.”  The peppers looked dangerous, the kind you keep away from eyes, pets and children.



Just like the shipping pallet raised beds outside on the slab, their PVC cold frames, the five gallon food service buckets with plastic bottle irrigation systems,  and 60 gallon syrup drums turned rain barrels, the greenhouse was loaded with the same ‘DIY with whatever you can find’ charm.  And the plants seemed mighty happy.





“Our goal is to get more of the culinary students at JWU involved,” adds Vesel. “Of course we want to raise awareness with the entire community about how productive urban farming can be, but we think that anyone who plans to have a career in the food service industry will  get a lot out of actually growing some of the food they’ll prepare.”



Outside, COOP President Kelly Slade peels back the plastic from a simple PVC cold frame to reveal  thriving rows of spinach and radishes. “A local farm donated the soil for our raised beds,” explains Slade, “and a hardware store not far from here gave us a lot of the materials to make the greenhouse.”







As I survey the spread once more before it’s time to go, I see mountains of cleverness and creativity in every dusty nook and cranny. It’s inspiring. Two toilets peer at us from across the concrete.



“We rescued those from the dumpster,” Vesel says, smiling. “ We’re not sure exactly how we’ll use them yet , but we’ll figure something out.”

Comments

[Mike Alt]

This is such a great project. Is it possible to become involved? I'd love to come by the COOP sometime and exchange ideas.
Cheers
Mike