In the spring of 2015, the neighbors of Euclid Terrace came together and decided to start a community garden. There was one issue: where would the garden go? Luckily, there was an extra plot of land that was 25 feet by 75 feet right next door to neighbor Janice Zavitz’s house.
Zavitz owns a house with four apartments that she rents out and an extra plot of land at the top of the hill. This plot of land was perfect because it could fit about 8 garden beds. The land hadn’t been used in over 25 years, with the exception of a dog pen, and was overgrown with trees and weeds. It would have to be cleared in order to cultivate a garden. Zavitz agreed to contribute her land to the project.
“It will make my property more attractive and I will not have to maintain it. Double win!” Zavitz said.
A group of neighbors began clearing out the land so it would be ready for vegetables and flowers. Scott Gross, a very enthusiastic neighbor was happy to help because he loves getting dirty and using tools. They put him in charge of clearing out the big stuff.
“I’m in charge of chopping down the trees and making a big mess,” Gross said.
There was a positive feel in the air about having a garden. One neighbor was happy about the idea of attracting butterflies and honeybees.
“I think it would be really good because not only could we get some fresh produce of our own,” Ernest Son said, “but I’ve noticed with all the things we’ve been growing, we get butterflies and bees and things like that. I think it’s good for our neighborhood.”
Not only will the garden produce fresh and healthy food, but it will be a way to bring the neighbors together.
Now, the garden has six full beds. In those garden beds, there are two types of kale, yellow squash, zucchini, jalapenos peppers, lipstick peppers, arugula, spinach, French thyme, Italian sweet basil, cilantro, spearmint, sweet mint, peppermint, flat leaved Italian parsley, curly leg parsley, garlic, chives, green beans, broccoli, okra, green leaf lettuce, red butter lettuce, marigolds, wax beans, cabbage, and Swiss chard.
The marigolds, which lie in between the tomato plants, act as a natural repellent toward bugs and insects such as tomato hornworms. One problem the community had with the tomatoes, was finding tomato cages to keep the plants up straight.
To get the garden project completed, it would need some cooperation from everyone involved in the neighborhood. The community decided to split up jobs and costs. Terri Smith was in charge of getting the plants. Scott Fleming designed the gardening beds. Scott Gross picked up the wood. The three of them got free compost and topsoil.
Everybody pitched in to clear the ground. Scott Gross and Walter Brown mainly did the tree removal and the heavy-duty stuff. Walter had been harvesting the greens and distributing it to the neighbors for the past few weeks. Margaret Thompson set up a Sign-up Genius to figure out a schedule for when certain people would do the weeding and watering.
“Whenever I need something that I believe is sitting in someone else’s garage unused,” Thompson said, “I go on [the app] Nextdoor. So, when we needed tomato cages, I sent out a notice in the app and within 24 hours, I had more tomato cages than we needed.”
“I did not put as much time [clearing the plot] as I would like,” Ernest Son said, “but I have put in at least 4 or 5 hours and I know my wife has put in 5 or 6 hours as well.”
Walter Brown is primarily in charge of harvesting and packaging the plants.
“Once a week,” Brown said, “I take a pair of scissors and I trim the top third of each of the lettuce plants, cilantro plants, parsley plants, and kale plants. Then, I clean the greens and bag them for each of the garden committee members.”
“I took a poll on what everybody wanted and then I went to Home Depot and got the plants.” said Terri Smith, “I did a lot of the planting, but a few people from the neighborhood helped out too.”
In the future, the community plans on growing new produce including more tomatoes and garlic. Thompson plans on planting wildflowers in the garden.
“I want it to be functional, but it needs to be pretty too!” Thompson said.