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Home > Archive > Mar 27, 2008

Neighborhood Rooted in Its Garden
By Katrice Schimbeck
Staff Writer
A special garden is being planted this spring.
Dr. Craig Astle has reclaimed a section along the Santa Clara River that saw devastating flooding during the winter of 2005. After much work to improve the soil, where there was once ruin now stands a community garden with 14 plots that will feed approximately 25 families.
Resident Terry Young came up with the idea to use the land for subsistence purposes, rather than replant with ornamental shrubbery, and Astle was agreeable to letting people use plots and even putting in a pump system for the irrigation.
“I feel this need. We need to be gardening,” Young said. 
She gardens with both her parents, who live with her. They walk to the garden twice a week and spend maybe an hour each time. 
Last year, only the Youngs gardened on the property, but the project has blossomed to include many more this year. One new recruit, John Love, set up watering manifolds and a soaker system, which help because the garden is watered manually.
They call it their ward/neighborhood garden, but not all the members are in their LDS ward. The mix of neighborhood gardeners includes the very young to those in the sunset of life. Some are very inexperienced; others have gardened quite a bit. 
In February, the project got started with a meeting at the garden location, and three master gardeners from Utah State University Extension were there to offer advice and answer any questions. Some of the members came from other parts of the country, where gardening is different.
Included in the group are the Bauchwitzes, who come from Chicago, and the Youngs, from Los Angeles. They learned when the local growing seasons are, and that only weeds and bugs grow in the dead heat of the summer.
The neighborhood gardeners got started right away in February. Young said many are learning patience, waiting for their seeds to come up. 
“The big excitement is to see if what’s on the seed package comes up,” Calvin Young, Terry’s father, said. 
The Youngs use garden boxes, heirloom seeds and organic methods. They want to be able to collect seeds and use them the next year. They also like the variety the seeds offer. Young has more than seven types of tomatoes planted, including yellow, orange, pink, white, pineapple striped and purple along with some red ones. They planted marigolds and nasturtium around the vegetables for bug control, weed by hand and do bug checks.
“If the soil is healthy and the plants are healthy, then the plant is resistant,” Terry Young said. She does not want to use any kind of chemicals or pesticides.
Some members use garden boxes, some have their rows heaped up, and some just put seeds in the ground. One member was very excited to see her peas come up. She thrilled at the sight of green, the sign of a true gardener developing a green thumb.
The youngest dirt digger, at age 2, is Kylee Bauchwitz.
“Kylee loves to garden,” Grandpa Henry Buachwitz said. They were out digging spots for tomatoes and peppers and planting beans. “It’s just nice and peaceful.”
Terry Young agrees with him. “This is so therapeutic. It’s just nice to be out by nature,” she said.
“One of the great things about it is the friendships being built,” Daryl Young said as she scratched the back of their mascot, Tigger the cat.
Two cats and one wild fox keep the rabbits out.
The feeling of community is behind the project’s growth. Last year, they had a bountiful harvest and shared among their neighbors, some of whom are gardening this year. Amelia Woolley spied a big pumpkin growing and got really excited, so the Youngs gave it to her. Her parents made her return it after a while, so Terry made and shared pumpkin pie. The Woolley’s are gardening this year. 
The Youngs also dried and canned food.
“It consumed most of our summer,” Daryl Young said.
They are discovering new recipes for their fresh fare, enjoying the garden to its fullest.
The Youngs talked about their wonderful sweet and sour chili and pureed vegetable soup and are looking forward to leek soup, the floodwaters of 2005 swept into memory by their blossoming garden.

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