Vegetable growing in the suburbs

Rocky vegetable garden.

The farmers or vegetable growers are resourceful here in China. The above photo shows part of the gardens near here where men tend their vegetable patches. It looks to be an old construction site - perhaps there was an old factory, or old dwellings on the site in the past. It is full of stones, but midst the reclaimed bits and pieces there is a thriving vegetable garden. The product is probably sold at a local market.

Beside our apartment is a canal. Filled with water. On the edges, gardeners have brought in rubble - old bricks, stones etc and built it up so that they can grow small vegetables here. I have seen an old man in a wooden boat, laiden with rubble, come and create a vegetable patch, where there was none before.

There is a special benefit to the gardens along the edge of the canal. There is plenty of water, and I've seen one of the women gardeners use her paddle/oar from her boat to push water up onto the growing plants.

There is a downside to this style of gardening. Once or twice a year the government workers empty the canal to clean it. And all the gardens are removed. Hardly a week or so after the canal is again flowing with water, the resilient gardeners are back with their rubble to rebuild.

Below is another view of the vegetable gardens - you might note people doing their washing in the canal.

Vegetables growing beside the canal.