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The first step in our process of starting a community garden was to research what other nearby community gardens were like. Here are some pictures of Hector and Buffalo Lake's community garden looked like in 2023.
Hector has a beautiful sign and a flag in front of their community garden.
They also have a stand for sharing extra produce with the community.
This picture in the spring is of their sharing stand, hydrant for watering, fence and entrance.
They also have fruit trees outside their fence and raised beds in the back.
Buffalo Lake also has a stand for sharing produce with the community.
They also have raised beds and a roof over a place to sit and be outside..
Several people had already planted things in the in-ground section of their community garden. Notice they have no fence around their gardens.
Another place to sit and rest, a storage shed in the background and part of a compost box at the right.
A group of us met a number of times in the library to brainstorm, strategize and plan for a community garden. Members included Sarah Long, Neal Brooks, Louise Kiecker, Amy Acree, Joy Clobes, Melissa Hillman and Bix Baker. We applied for a grant through the Kandiyohi-Renville County Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP) and if you are interested in what we said, here is a link to the PDF of our application. Some of the expenses were different than shown and we used the money received for slightly different things as reality hit the road.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DfH46u-YCIo3kbXAdxlZO8II04UNsG8O/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106814790589602246585&rtpof=true&sd=true We also We signed a memorandum of agreement and here is the link for that.
We also had to have a place to put the garden, so we negotiated with the city. We came up with a 50x100 foot space in Lions Park. We put in stakes at each corner of the space we were given and had the sod on the south end loosened up. The GFW High School manufacturing class designed and made a metal sign for our garden. They also manufactured three raised beds and charged us only for the materials.
Metal sign designed and made by the GFW High School manufacturing class
Three raised beds made by the GFW Manufacturing class and three ground boxes made by Neil Brooks (one is not pictured) with wood donated by Louise Kiecker.
Loosening up the sod for our in-ground area at the south of our plot.
Chuck Firle donated a truck load of dirt to fill our in-ground boxes and raised beds. Melissa Hillman and her husband brought a Bobcat to transfer the dirt from this pile to the beds.
Neil Brooks pounded in all the posts with a muscle-powered driver for our fence
Northwest corner of the garden with two of the boxes made from Kiecker wood and the bigger ones made with lumber donated by the Fairfax lumber yard.
Neil and ? rolling out the fencing exchanged by Amy Acre for a goat.
A group of us stretched and attached the fencing to the posts. Donated and purchased plants were planted in the ground and boxes.
Two long hoses were purchased to bring water over from a faucet several 100 feet away from the garden.
Chuck Marlowe gave us many cabbage, kohlrabi and tomato plants that he had in his cold frame and did not need for himself.
In August I visited the Franklin Community Garden.
Another view of the Franklin Community Garden
Huge amounts of tomatoes of different varieties were harvested.
This picture shows how well everything grew in this southwest corner of the garden including the pole green beans along the fence.
Most of the ground boxes and raised beds were used.
Neil and Sarah constructed and reconstructed our shed after a wind blew it to the other end of the garden before it was properly anchored down.
Some tomatoes and peppers were planted in the southeast corner of the garden
Notice the compost box that George Gerold and I made and placed along the east side.
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