Here are some scenes tracing the development of the 'Generations of Hope' Community Garden from Mar - Sep 2005.

 

March 22, 2005:  A few Williams and Tufts students come to the vacant lot during their spring break urban plunge.  They remove large objects, rake rocks, etc.
April 2005: The Boston Project Ministries and some neighbors come to continue cleaning the lot.  TBPM staff and volunteers start to build raised vegetable beds and a pathway from front to back.
Ming got a passing forklift to move the big stone block.
Then Ming ordered large quantities of soil.  Sized against John and Zoe.
With some money from a grant that we applied for, we were able to pay neighborhood youth a stipend for an internship for 8 weeks.
Ming spent a LOT of time in the garden.  She loved planting roses and other flowers in the front 2 raised beds.
Then others got into the action.  Here's our housemate Leslie. Other youth from the neighborhood...
Some young men working on the path.
Ming used a technique called square foot gardening
Marigolds are a natural bug repellant
After a few weeks, this is how the garden looked from the back.  The posts of a fence are going up.
June 2005: the fence goes up around the vegetable beds to keep the raccoons out. Our friend and former housemate Chris, with some of his kids from his junior high class
June 24, 2005 Newspapers help weeds not grow.  Here's the pizza toppings bed:  basil, peppers, eggplant, along with corn, tomatoes, cucumber, watermelon.
One of our first neighborhood meetings led to good discussion about the garden and some sign ups for bible study and other activities.
This was an African dance and drums class taught by our friend and pastor Paulea
One bummer:  someone came by and stole 7 of Ming's rose bushes.  Here is one of the holes leftover. But here are some of the other flowers blooming.
July 30:  Three trees (2 cherry and 1 oak) planted.  The pizza toppings bed: peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, basil, along with corn, cucumber, watermelon
Just look at all those tomatoes! 

By this time, we helped Nuestra Comunidad get a grant for $20k!  But how the heck were we going to spend it in time?  And who was going to help?  There was a deadline, and also Mako needed to start IVCF work on 8/15. 

The corn measured against Zoe
Bushes planted along the side Check out that cucumber and melon!
Nice murals!  Our friends and neighbors helped design these.
August 13, 2005: The Boston Project Ministries folks come back this week to help us lay bricks into the path and patio.  It needed to be done on 8/14 and was done 1 day early!
September 10th, 2005:  Nuestra Comunidad, the non-profit that owns the land, threw a community party celebrating the garden.  Mayor Menino sent a representative from his office since they contributed with the sizable neighborhood development grant.  The rest of the grant money went towards a light and water source, by the way.  They thank the many people in the community who helped, including Ming. 
friends Bob & Joan McCoy and Ma Mooney sitting outside the gate Ming getting a chance to thank everyone who helped
Paulea and sons doing some drumming for the party. John and Zoe enjoying the garden
Check out the fresh salsa, made from the garden!  These were served at the meeting.
Then we celebrated John's 5th birthday in the garden on 9/24/05.  His real birthday was on 9/26/05.  Notice the nice green grass that's growing in the garden now? 
Here's the before and after pictures.  The picture on the left is March 22, 2005, when we began work on the garden.  The picture on the right is September 24, 2005, when we celebrated John's birthday in it.  Both pictures were taken from roughly the same spot.  What a contrast!  Praise God.  The money and labor came together just in time.  A true miracle.