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Take-away, give back
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Editor's note: This article and photo were contributed by Liz Kirchner of Manchester, UK. They feature an inspiring man, Shorker Tashek, who grows apple trees by the thousands in a modest garden tucked behind his take-out restaurant, giving the seedlings out to his customers and anyone else he can. Through his trees and his life, Shorker reminds us all that one person can make a difference.
Standing hunched in a sleety drizzle, Shorker Tashek surveys his orchard.
The back garden of Kyae’s Pizza and Curry Take-away in Bury, UK is crammed with yearling apple trees, hundreds of them, maybe thousands. They're gushing from fruit boxes mounded with compost. They're sprouting from milk crates stacked in racks. They're stuffed in plastic pots. They're clustered shivering around our ankles in nooks of soil with no pots at all. A forest of cherries trees, head-high, in rows of rusting tomato puree cans huddle against a shed full of restaurant supplies - fat bundles of onions, stew pots, bright yellow tomato puree cans, sacks of chiliis. A white cat is sitting on a stack of burlap bags. Beyond the brick wall, a bus roars past spewing gravel and exhaust down Tottington Road, but in the rain, the garden smells sweet, cold, and soggy, like compost and cinnamon.
We hunker in the rain looking at the little trees. "I can tell you just the time I started planting," he says. "When my son was born. He is seven. I knew that if we don’t do this, the next generation will not respect us. They will say, 'How can we trust you? You have ruined the planet.'"
Your child's disapproval is strong motivation, surely, so. Tashek, 34, set about matter-of-factly greening the planet. In his native Bangladesh, he worked with volunteer organizations planting mangoes, bananas, and jackfruit to reduce hunger and bolster flood protection. In the UK for five years, he continues.
A giant hoarding above the gardens in brilliant blues and greens encourages passers-by to "Save the Planet. Save Yourself". People come everyday to take trees, he says.
His is the no-frills, no-nonsense "Grow trees. Give trees." approach. Tashek buys fruit-bearing trees, but plants apple seeds simply to produce plantable trees. Then he gives them away. One-by-one they go in little bundles along with the naan and cucumber salad to customers, neighbors, and friends at the take-away.
By the thousands they go to organizations like the Red Rose Forest, neighborhood Green Streets efforts. Elementary school classes replant barren fields with them. Garden centres hand them out at the till. "I grew 2,000 this year. Five thousand all together are in the gardens",
says Tashek.
There’s no knowing how many actually get into the ground, but the huge scale suggests quite a few. When it’s suggested that 5,000 trees is a lot of trees, he says, For one person it is a lot. For a country, it is nothing.
In from the cold, we drink hot chai on teal plastic couches under the take-away menu for pizza and poppadums, and newspaper clippings about Tash’s trees and his recent nomination for the prestigious Unilever Dragonfly Environmental Award.
"What he’s doing is to be commended", says Bury Councillor Dorothy Gunther. "Some of the trees are very small, but, you know, tall oaks from little acorns grow. Everything’s got to start somewhere. "
Saying good-bye and walking to town on that wintery afternoon, the lights are coming on in the houses, and I realize, there are apple trees in the gardens all along Tottington Road.
Story and photo copyright of Liz Kirchner of Manchester, UK.
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10 steps to planning your organic garden
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These straightforward tips come courtesy of Charlie Nardozzi, senior horticulturist and spokesperson for the National Gardening Association. Follow them and you're sure to have great results this season.
1. Find the Right Spot. Like real estate, a successful organic garden is all about the right location. Find a spot in your yard with full sun (at least 6 hours), well-drained soil, and one that's within easy reach of the house.
2. Beef Up the Soil. Add organic matter such as grass clippings, leaves, compost, manure, hay and straw each fall. In spring, apply a 1/2- to 1-inch-thick layer of finished compost on beds before planting.
3. Raise it Up. Create raised beds (8 to 10 inches high, 3 feet wide) by mounding the soil and flattening the top. Soil in raised beds warms up and dries out faster in spring and is easer to work. You can reform the beds each spring or make the beds permanent by framing them with rot-resistant wood, plastic or stone.
4. Grow What You Like. Although it may seem obvious, grow crops you and your family love to eat. While bush beans, lettuces and tomatoes are some of the easiest vegetables to grow, if your family doesn't enjoy them, why grow them?
5. Select the Right Varieties. Grow varieties of vegetables and fruits adapted to your area. Check with local garden centers and fellow gardeners to find the best varieties to grow.
6. Start With Transplants. For the beginning gardener, purchase as many vegetables as possible as transplants from the garden center. Seeds are necessary for root crops, such as carrots and radishes, but transplants of most other vegetables are more likely to be a success.
7. Design Properly. Design your garden with a mix of flowers, vegetables, fruits and herbs. A mixed planting is less likely to get completely destroyed by insect, animal or disease attacks.
8. Plant Correctly. Follow package directions and plant at the proper spacing and depth. Thin seeded crops to the proper distance. Crowded plants become easily stressed and don't produce well.
9. Mulch. Maintain constant soil moisture and keep weeds at bay by mulching. Mulch cool-season crops such as strawberries, broccoli and lettuce with a 2- to 3-inch-thick layer of hay, straw or grass clippings. Mulch warm-season crops such as tomatoes, melons and cucumbers with plastic mulch to heat the soil.
10. Check for Insects. Inspect plants every few days for any insect activity. Handpick destructive insects and drop them in a can of soapy water.
Text credit: The National Gardening Association
Photo credit: Keeeps
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