My “four-corners” jogging route in the Danforth neighborhood takes me past a forlorn block on the east side of Broadview Avenue.

It looks to be a former grocery store or other retail establishment than went belly up years ago. The sign in the window says a dollar store is coming, but I’m dubious.

At the north end of the storefront there’s a cute little brick patio full of weeds and trash. It will be the site of my first guerilla garden.

I got the inspiration from my Mom.  After she and Dad moved to a condo in Don Mills, Mom maintained her passion for gardening by carving out three small circular gardens in a nearby public park.  Two of them surrounded trees she had dedicated to her parents Arthur and Ruth, each with a small plaque. The third surrounded, and filled, an old hollow log stump.

Many walkers, joggers and cyclists would remark on the pretty pink geraniums she grew. I donated some perennial pink mums that also did well in her little plots.

The parks department people respected the territory she had carved out — they neatly cut the grass around the edges.  And when three police officers on bikes dropped by once to ask her what she was up to, she indicated that these gardens, in fact, belonged to her, as she had paid for the trees dedicated to her parents. Duly noted. The police wished her well and hopped back on their bikes. After all, she was the guerilla gardener of Norman Ingram Park.

Mom lives downtown now and has been known to practice her guerilla gardening tactics on any geranium in the Davenport and Yonge area. This includes a nice flower arrangement outside a condo building that gets attention on her daily walks from spring to fall.

Now it’s my turn.

I’m still a proud member of one of Toronto’s oldest community gardens in the Thorncliffe Park neighborhood.  And I’ve got high hopes for my veggie and flower garden there this summer, and for some special projects. But on that forlorn little patio on Broadview Avenue, my first guerilla garden will rise.  I’m calling it Tiny Garden #2 — to imply that it is, perhaps, the start of a movement.

I’ve set myself a few conditions for my first guerilla garden:

— it has to be pretty — there are many folks walking that stretch of sidewalk each day and I hope that Tiny Garden #2 will brighten their day

— it has to be low cost — I’ve already acquired a suitable planter pot left out by a neighbor: free to good home. My sources of soil and compost are close at hand and free.  I may visit Home Depot for some potted flower arrangements in spring.

— it has to be maintained. I will be a steward of my Tiny Garden #2, but also be open to the stewardship of others.

— I need to be prepared for both miracles and disasters at my guerilla garden, and be ready to tell its story. I need to be prepared to defend or relocate my garden if the promised Dollarama store does not take kindly to it.

The guerilla gardening torch is being passed, be mine to hold it high.

Wish me luck.