Antwon Fowler’s garden as shown: Mustard greens, collard greens, and pineapples.
BY LORI CASTELLANO
NNB Student Reporter
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Most days you will find Antwon Fowler sitting in his front yard relaxing with friends and family and enjoying some of the fruits and vegetables of his labor.
Fowler’s garden is located on 3rd St. and 20th Ave. S. in St. Petersburg, Fla., and while it might not look very big, it packs a wallop feeding his family for two growing seasons.
Fowler, who grew up in St. Petersburg, has only lived at this location a year but knew when he saw all of the earthworms, it was going to be a perfect area for planting his crop.
“I knew I had a good garden to plant,” he said. “When I started, I planted cabbages, but right now I have mustard greens, collard greens, and pineapples for the cooler season.”
Fowler grew up appreciating the importance of growing your own food from his father, and he wanted to teach this to his family.
“My youngest granddaughter helps me the most in the garden. She likes to keep the other kids out,” he said. “She’s very protective of it.”
She’s not the only one who is protective of the garden.
“Cocoa, my Chihuahua, stands guard and chases any animals away, if there are any brave enough to venture close enough,” he said.
There usually aren’t.
The food from the harvest not only feed his daughter and her three children, all of whom live with him, but friends as well.
Garfield Anderson, a friend and fellow gardener, can be seen often sitting out front with Fowler talking about their plants.
“I have a small garden, but since I am from Jamaica, I like to grow yams, bananas, collard greens and sugar cane,” Anderson said.
Fowler does get his share of curious visitors.
“I just had a couple of people who just stopped by and asked how to grow plants in the sandy soil. A lot of people stop by to talk about the garden,” Fowler said.
Todd Pardoll walks up to ask Fowler about it.
“I have been riding down here and checking this out for at least a year and wanted to stop by,” he said. “I am trying to grow a garden myself and would like to get some ideas.”
Fowler’s outdoor area is usually a gathering place. Marcellus Morris drops off some mangrove snapper he just caught.
“My dad and Antwon are best friends, and I have my garden in pots,” he said. “I have four boys, and they all plant with me. It absorbs into them.”
Pardoll is taking pictures while he is talking to Fowler.
“It’s really good for the community. If you nourish the earth, you get repaid with the seeds from the garden. We take that with us,” Morris said.