Theresa Martin, Lawrence, picks some okra Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011, in her community garden plot at Free State High School. Martin thinks the community garden is a good idea, but might work better with smaller plots and more initial ground work before planting. by Mike Yoder
Lawrence vice mayor Bob Schumm is a lifelong garden enthusiast and is happy to see more gardens growing in Lawrence.
“I think it’s absolutely wonderful that the schools are getting involved in gardens and showing kids what they can grow and how to take care of things,” he said.
He’s leading an effort to use plots of vacant, city-owned land for gardens. The land, depending on size, could be used by residents or Lawrence farmers who want to grow more produce for markets.
“There’s seems to be a lot of genuine interest in this,” he said.
Eileen Horn, sustainability coordinator for the city and county, said city staff members have identified about 20 sites around town for possible use. They range from one-third of an acre to 7 acres and are primarily located near parks and ballfields or on vacant lots where houses have been abandoned and bulldozed. Also, there quite a few in North Lawrence where the soil is rich because of the nearby river.
The city is meeting with neighborhoods and farmers to get their thoughts on how a community garden program might work. Among the main questions:
• Who would oversee the garden plots?
• What would the contract look like?
• Is there adequate parking and water access?
Schumm said he thinks the biggest hurdle will be deciding who manages the gardens.
“If you have a site with 10 plots on it and two people let it go and it becomes an eyesore, then who is going to be the person who agrees to take care of it?” he asked.
Learning experience
That was an issue with the Free State Community and Learning Garden project across town at Free State High School. The project is a community garden and a school garden.
About a dozen community, school and business leaders were involved in the planning of the new garden, but once the hands-on work began this summer — there’s was some confusion about who was exactly in charge of overseeing the project.
Laura Priest, an agricultural education teacher and FFA sponsor, and Patrick Kelly, fine arts and career and technical education specialist for the Lawrence School District, were among those who helped in the planning stages. They said there was a meeting in July to kind of regroup and figure out who was in charge of what areas.
Priest oversees the school garden and she said the district plans to hire a community garden liaison by October to oversee the community garden.
Theresa Martin, an English teacher at FSHS, said she’s paid $60 so far to have a 30-foot by 30-foot plot this summer.
“It’s the first year, so there’s a lot of things that need to be worked out,” she said.
Among her suggestions:
• Having smaller plots or varying sizes available.
• Better groundwork. She recommends tilling the ground at least twice for gardeners. She said it was a lot of work to get the ground ready for planting.
• Lower payments. She called the $60 for three months or $180 for a growing season “outrageously expensive.”
Martin said she leased the plot because she has a backyard full of trees, so there’s no sun for growing vegetables. She said having the community garden plot was worth it this year for the tomatoes alone. She also planted peppers, okra, brussels sprouts and squash.
She said that the weeds got out of control during a three-week vacation and she’s had a hard time catching up.
“I’m embarrassed by my weed patch,” she said Wednesday while picking the fruits of her labor. “I wouldn’t consider it a very successful garden year for me, but the tomatoes did great and the peppers did sort of OK.”
She said she would like to participate in a community garden again next year.
“I think it’s a really good thing,” she said.
Priest said they plan to have a fence around the garden by homecoming. They also plan to expand the community garden from four to 12 plots next year.
Priest said she’s received no complaints from community gardeners.
“The first year, I think, is always one of the hardest, especially for as inexperienced as we are,” she said. “You’ve got to get over those rough spots and I realize that people want things to happen quickly but that’s part of growing and learning.”
Shooting for spring
The city of Lawrence is not only taking notes from the Free State garden, but looking at successful community garden projects that are on city-owned property in places like Manhattan, Lenexa and Salina as well as Cleveland and Boston.
The plan for community gardens will make its way to the City Commission where the public will have the opportunity to talk about it. In the meantime, residents can weigh in by contacting Horn by e-mail at ehorn@lawrenceks.org.
Horn and Schumm said the goal is to have at least a couple of plots ready for planting by spring.
Tagged: community gardens, Free State Community and Learning Garden
Comments
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
Why should anyone pay to garden on taxpayer owned property? After all, Mr Schumm gardens on his downtown lot and pays hardly any property taxes, like he gardens on his own land for free, so taxpayer owned land should be used for free by the taxpayers who own the land.
Another "progressive" idea to end up in the long run with an overgrown lot filled with weeds. It's the "in" thing now to grow food. Wonder what the immigrants would think of this novel idea in 2011?
kbritt (Karrey Britt) replies…
City staff and leaders are still figuring out whether to charge money or not. That has not been decided. Residents will have a chance to weigh in when the issue goes before the city commission.
charliebryan (Charlie Bryan) replies…
As it was explained to me, the taxing of Mr. Schumm's garden on his downtown lot at an argicultural rate is based on the Constitution of the State of Kansas, which states that land devoted to agricultural use "shall be valued upon the basis of its agricultural income or agricultural productivity." The passage can be read in full at http://www.kslib.info/constitution/ar....
impska (Sarah Stratton) replies…
Well, there is usually a cost related to community gardens to cover certain needs that a garden has, but aren't provided in a community garden setting.
For instance: Watering, tilling (I don't necessarily think that tilling beyond the first year's set up is necessary), and the cost of having a truck load of compost brought in each year.
Finally, most community gardens need a coordinator, and if this is something that the city is serious about, they'd probably want to hire someone who oversees the list of participants, what plot is theirs, contact them when the plot becomes neglected, then find someone else to take over the neglected plot, etc. And the more gardens a city has, the more likely they are to need to hire a coordinator.
The idea behind community gardens almost certainly demands that it be affordable for low-income families, even if the city needs to subsidize it. For instance, the above mentioned 180 dollars a year is out of reach of the very families that community garden projects aim to help. It's difficult to create this kind of project for free (even if the land is free), but keeping it low cost should be an obvious city priority.
blindrabbit (anonymous) says…
I'm sure the City has some land around the airport; the North Lawrence land is so much better than that on the south side of the river, sandy loam beats clay all the time. Also easy to drive a sandspike well over there to supply water to the gardeners. Speaking of soil north of the river, I have built 10 large raised beds just west of US40/K-10 exchange, all the contained soil trucked from Pine's, much more productive!
lawrencian (anonymous) says…
Last year, I moved from an apartment to a townhouse with a little raised bed in the back, but in a space too narrow between the townhouse and the wooded lot it backs onto to get enough sun for a garden. I'd *love* to use a community garden, especially if there was a space to put it near the hospital or along North Michigan Street.
beatnik (anonymous) says…
will only city residents be allowed to garden? will only growers be allowed to pick the produce? who will pay for the water?
kbritt (Karrey Britt) replies…
These are great questions that the city will have to figure out.