Rock Meadow Community Gardens

Exciting happenings this weekend: We are the proud gardeners of a community plot in the Rock Meadow Community Gardens in Belmont, MA!

Our plot is not stellar -- We had last pick, literally, but just having a square of dirt to attempt to make things grow out of is awesome! The photograph to the right is actually a view from our plot. We are on the edge of the gardens with great proximity to the meadow.

Rock Meadow is in the beginning stages of a project to restore it as wildlife habitat. I was particularly impressed by a fairly large group of cattails apparently not impeded by invasive phragmites or purple loosestrife. It's a beautiful spot.

I'm looking forward to seeing our garden grow and also watching how Rock Meadow and the gardens change through the coming growing season.

See another gardener's blog for many more images of Rock Meadow Community Garden including photos from last year's growing season.

Park Profile: Rev. Thomas J. Williams Park

Williams Park -- also known as Cedar St. Park -- is just what any park embedded in a highly populated neighborhood should be. This is a park that is fulfilling it's potential.

Located on the corner of Cedar and Dudley Streets in North Cambridge, Williams Park boasts a basketball court that's constantly in use, a rope playground for big kids, a fairly extensive 'toddler area,' and a play fountain during the summer. For a small park, it was packed: A group of mothers and their children were having an outdoor pizza party. Children of all ages were playing on the swings, playgrounds, and basketball court. On one of the many benches, a man was working on his laptop (apparently, the park also boasts free wi-fi), and I sat under a tree and soaked in the last of the evening sunshine.

This 'pocket park' is well connected with entrances on Cedar and Dudley as well as a path between a couple houses on Norris and leading straight to North Cambridge Catholic High School. Also, it's a well-known spot by fans of the web comic xkcd for an odd gathering last September.

Photo ID

This is the "cute little blue flower that I can never remember the name of".
Can anyone help?

A walk to Porter Square

Yesterday was a perfect spring day. Temperatures were well into the 50s and the sun shone brightly, and every urban creature seemed to be emerging from its winter nest. Dogs were bounding down the sidewalks, children playing on the slides, and teens playing b-ball of both varieties. I too found myself awakening to walk the long route to Porter Square.

I traveled via the relatively new Yerxa Road Underpass, which is lovely shortcut when wandering car-less. I'm delighted whenever I find a new little place like it and hope that someday an online map program will be designed with foot and bike travel in mind. It's possible that not having to discover these mini places every time I move to a new neighborhood would take the joy out of them, but I really don't think so. I would probably even be able to discover more of them!

I continued through the neighborhood down Raymond Street and took a closer look at a lovely 'pocket park' and then rambled down Upland Road. Walking down this brick-walked, tree-lined street is as much an urban green experience as walking through a city park. The tiny front yards are blooming with delicate snowdrops, crocuses, and those cute little blue flowers that I can never remember the name of. Hopefully these April showers will let up soon for another brilliant day!

Wouldn't it be nice

I received my first newsletter from the Project for Public Spaces a couple days ago. Of course, being April 1st, it was entirely fake and, also of course, I fell for it. Somehow, I'm easily fooled on the internet (gmail got me big time this year), nonetheless, one of the fakes hit close to home.

The farticle (new word, anyone?) announced, "Protestors take over Boston City Hall Plaza demanding better public spaces". Why they didn't just walk the half-mile to the Common is beyond me, but this article highlights a couple things that would be very nice indeed: First, wouldn't it be nice if public space issues mobilized people in this way? And second, a petting zoo in City Hall Plaza would greatly improve the space's 'fun factor'.

Keeping Grass Green

An article published in the Boston Globe this March 20th announced, "Large events may become uncommon at city's beloved park". At a City Council hearing last Wednesday, Antonia Pollack, the head of Boston's Parks Department said that large events that have taken place on Boston Common in the past should relocate to City Hall Plaza to protect the park's lawns and walkways, including the newly-established turf on the Parade Ground.

[First a note: Although I feel very strongly about this issue, I've been struggling to put my full thoughts into words for all too long. Please bear with me as I make my first attempts at a form of writing that is very new me. I'm sure that this article will barely even brush the surface of my thoughts on the subject. (Next time I will also take extra precautions so that a glitch in blogger doesn't delete half of my work.)]

The Globe article cites Henry Lee, president of Friends of Boston Public Gardens, as saying, "The basic problem of the Common is it has been at all times all things to all people". This is not a problem. Boston Common should strive to continue to invite an enormous diversity of activities and people onto its lawns. After all, it is at the heart of the city, where the worlds of residents, tourists, students and businessmen collide. I personally love that a visit to the Common usually brings a delightful surprise, either in the form of an unexpected bit of nature, people-watching, or event to participate in.

The Project for Public Spaces (one of my new favorite websites) names Boston Common and Public Garden one of the best parks in the world stating:

Both park spaces were the first of their kind in this country and have been centers of public life and civic virtue since their inception. Full of activity, the Common offers some of the city's best people-watching. With its grand sweep down from the majestic State House, the Common provides an uninterrupted view of green expanse, historic city buildings, and people. The parks host concerts, plays and other sorts of gatherings and offers facilities and amenities that support a wide range of more spontaneous uses and activities.

So, why worry about keeping a perfect lawn in a park that is clearly well-used and enjoyed? Events should not be moved away from a space that is serving people well to a City Hall Plaza, a space that clearly isn't. In contrast to the Common, City Hall Plaza tops PPS's list of worst squares in the world. Moving large events (particularly those that fit better in a park to begin with) to such a bleak and uninviting space will not enhance the rarely-visited plaza, and will only lessen the community atmosphere of the Common.

In the words of the Globe Editorial published March 22nd, "The Common is not a decorous parlor where the plastic never comes off the furniture". Let the adjacent Public Gardens have frivolously tidy lawns and paths, but the Common is -- and should be -- Boston's living room.