For all you gardeners and garden-lovers, there is a self-guided walking tour of West End gardens this Sunday from 11 to 1:30 p.m., sponsored by Urban Greens, which aims to provide affordable access to healthy, natural and sustainably produced foods to the community. This tour is in the area of the Cranston Street Armory.

The tour begins and ends at the West Broadway Neighborhood Association community garden, at the corner of Westminster and Bridgham street, where you can pick up maps.

As a West End resident, I can tell you that the gardens are funky and fun -- not your average pruned-to-perfection Edens. Many artists and otherwise creative souls live in this neighborhood, and the gardens reflect that.

The garden owners will be hanging around to chat with the visitors. Some members of the Stilettos (a women's kickball team league) have a plot in the community garden. They stopped by my yard sale a few weeks ago, and they're really fun to chat with.
Please visit my friend's sidewalk garden at the corner of Harrison and Westminster. It draws a lot of passersby, who love to stop, look and talk.

Against my better judgment, my garden is on the tour, despite the fact that that it is undergoing some radical and temporarily untidy changes. It includes an "under construction" corner where I've demolished a patch of creeping Jenny that snuffed out part of the lawn. (Actually "lawn" is far to kind a term). It's on Harrison Street. I promise to have lemonade on hand.

There are some really sweet gardens on Dexter Street, fronting on the Parade Grounds. And others across the park.

For more information about the tour or Urban Greens, call Max Gitlen at 401-222-0860. And please pass the word!