While my mom adopted and lovingly tended her new guerilla garden in a park near Rosedale Subway, I found a location for my next tiny garden.

Pape Avenue north of Danforth is a bustling community featuring small shops, schools and a community centre where our kids used to swim. Homes are a mix of high-rise rentals and post-war houses. It’s grittier and perhaps more vibrant than the popular Danforth Avenue nearby.

But the busy intersection at Pape and Cosburn had fallen on tough times after the closure of Crow Cleaners, a dry-cleaning and laundry shop where workers once starched and steamed shirts on big machines in the window facing Cosburn. Situated on the northwest corner of the intersection, the once-thriving shop was now boarded up, its paint peeling, a target for graffiti.

Despite its forlorn state, many people continued to congregate on its broad steps to catch some shade, await a bus or meet a friend. Each day nearby, a crossing guard with his orange vest, whistle and stop sign would ensure safe passage of hundreds of school kids and citizens at rush hour times.

So I decided to brighten up this neglected corner — with Tiny Garden #3.

Planning the mission

Tiny garden #3 started with a large green pot discarded by my neighbor earlier this year. The pot seemed sturdy enough. It was reasonably light and had a big hole for drainage. Next was a nice arrangement of sun-loving red and white geraniums for this south-facing garden. I came across a basket arrangement on sale for 15 bucks at a garden centre and pounced. Finally, I prepared some home-made triple mix consisting of earth from my garden, well-rotted compost from our kitchen veggie scraps, and some peat moss.

On an early May morning I parked on Cosburn Ave. and walked my materials over to the corner. My heart rate spiked a bit as I approached the site — not from the exertion of hauling a heavy load, but because of the nature of my guerilla gardening mission itself.

I was about to install a tiny garden in the concrete jungle, with no permissions and likely contravening at least one important municipal bylaw. Not to mention I had cheaped out by not putting money in the parking metre.

I felt like that guy in the movie Platoon, who was on what could be his last military mission. “I got a bad feeling about this one,” I told myself. But I carried on, as my late Dad would say.

I got organized, set up the garden quickly and emptied a watering can on it.

A ray of sunshine

The spring sun was shining, school kids were babbling as they crossed the intersection on the way to school. The red and white geraniums in my pot were in full bloom. I had high hopes for Tiny Garden #3.

As every gardener knows, planting is the easy part. It’s the ongoing TLC that can be tough. But for today, Tiny Garden #3 had landed.

Mission accomplished.