August 1, 2024
Grinnellians of all ages and walks of life are again maintaining nine giving gardens this year. Those tending the gardens invite everyone to walk into the gardens and harvest the produce they want which is ripe. Gardens growing tomatoes report that the tomato crop appears to be bountiful but is ripening only slowly.
As the tradition of giving gardens grew in Grinnell, several installed stands on which ripe produce could be placed for people to take. That practice has been discontinued, the gardeners all say, because produce placed on a stand would often go to waste while Grinnellians have become familiar with the gardens and are routinely visiting and harvesting produce that is ready.
Each of the three elementary schools is hosting a giving garden, planted by the students in the spring before school let out for the summer. Davis third-grade teacher Stella Anderson says the kids love getting the chance each year to plant the giving gardens.
The Davis garden, at the school’s northeast corner, is maintained by Davis teachers and the LINK program housed in the school. It grows tomatoes, green beans, onions, peppers, and zucchini. The Bailey Park garden, south of the school and reached from Reed Street, is being maintained again this year by Girl Scouts. They are growing broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, green beans, and peppers.
The Fairview garden is on the southeast side of the building near the playground and is being tended by individual volunteers. The garden is growing tomatoes, peppers, and green beans. The Grinnell Community Early Learning Center in Ahrens Park is home to one of the two gardens in the park, located by the entrance to the center and growing tomatoes, peppers, and basil. The center’s staff and kids tend the garden in handicap-accessible raised beds and pretty well take care of the produce themselves.
The Marvin Garden on Marvin Avenue, west of West Street, is a project of Imagine Grinnell with volunteer Todd Armstrong leading the planning and work. Armstrong says the garden is “just gorgeous, worth coming by to take a look.” He adds that the garden “is a tremendous volunteer effort,” with up to nine volunteers coming to twice-weekly work days.
“We have wonderful volunteers who come from the community and are all ages and from all backgrounds,” Armstrong says. “The garden wouldn’t be what it is today without them. It’s gratifying to work with such a nice group of people to grow food together.” Armstrong gives special thanks to three of those volunteers: Boy Scout Trent Turba, who constructed three raised, handicap-accessible beds for the garden this year; Brian Olson of Olson Garden Market, who brought a tractor to fill the new beds with dirt and then contributed tomato and pepper plants for the beds; and Boy Scout Gabe Reimer, who last year built a bean trellis on which pole beans are now thriving.
Now growing in Marvin Garden in addition to beans are tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, basil, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, beets, kale, purple Japanese sweet potatoes, horseradish, asparagus, dill, berries, pawpaws, and apples. Also growing in the garden are zinnias, which the gardeners are growing so anyone can come and cut them for a bouquet, and a gourd called cucuzza. A giant version of cucuzza is growing on and about to overwhelm a trellis in the middle of the garden. Armstrong says cucuzza are best eaten when quite small, and the massive gourd is more of a decoration and worth a look.
“Take what you need, leave enough for others, and it will all work well,” Armstrong sums up about the garden produce.
Volunteers meet for tending the garden on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings and sometimes at other times if plants need extra attention. Armstrong says anyone who wants to volunteer is welcome to come to the garden or to contact him by email at armstron@grinnell.edu to volunteer.
Armstrong adds that Marvin Garden may well become part of a larger plan that is another project of Imagine Grinnell: creating more recreation trails in Grinnell. Imagine Grinnell this year has created what are termed soft trails—unpaved trails through wooded areas of Arbor Lake Park being kept free of encroaching vegetation so bicyclists can ride them. Marvin Garden in the future could be joined to those soft trails, he says.
Rotarian Lowell Bunger, leading a group of Rotary volunteers, invites everyone to visit the Summer Street Park giving garden, saying that “it’s here, and we’d love to have you use it.” Bunger encourages people to visit by driving south on Summer Street past Third Avenue, toward the dead-end at the railroad tracks. Near the street’s end is a parking lot on the east side of Summer with more on-street parking also available. The garden is just up the hill from the parking lot, and the tall tomato plants can now be seen from the road.
Bunger adds that a crew of about seven Rotarians, with tilling help from Chad Nath of the Ahrens Park Foundation, prepared and planted the garden, which now needs much less work. This is partly thanks to Scott and Julie Beach, who bring grass clippings to mulch the garden, which suppresses weeds and helps retain moisture. Growing in the garden are a lot of tomatoes which are still ripening, peppers, cucumbers, two kinds of squash, onions, both bush and pole green beans, and eggplant. All the kohlrabi has been harvested, he adds, and most of the potatoes, though a few hills have not yet been dug.
If produce ripens and is not picked, Bunger harvests it and takes it to MICA. Thus far this year, he has delivered five or six pounds of potatoes and some green beans and cucumbers.
The congregation of St. John’s Lutheran Church is again maintaining a giving garden on the south side of the church, growing tomatoes, green beans, and zucchini. Staff of the UnityPoint Health-Grinnell Regional Medical Center’s fitness center are tending a garden in the healing garden east of the main hospital building, growing cherry tomatoes and onions in handicap-accessible raised beds.
Ahrens Park is home to a giving garden west of the foundation offices, maintained by park foundation and Ahrens Foundation staff. The garden will soon have plenty of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers, and a nearby all-herb garden has basil, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, and chives. Apple, cherry, plum, peach, and fig trees, as well as elderberry bushes, are spread throughout the park and available for anyone to harvest fruit.
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Courtesy of the Grinnell Herald Register
