Community Oasis Garden
Exploring the gardening passion
Back before we had a backyard garden, we had a community garden. Our community garden was an enormous flat field in the middle of the town’s nature trust land where you could rent a garden plot for a nominal fee. So, for membership and $35 per season (back then), we got a 30’x15’ plot, plus water! And if you caught up with the resident maintenance/farm manager guy, you could even request rototilling. What a deal! The garden was a community oasis.
Community Oasis Garden
The community garden was the perfect solution at the time! The kids and I were at the land trust several times a week anyway to walk or ride the trails, pack a picnic, see the animals, or throw rocks in the river. However, because tall pine trees encircled our yard at home, there wasn’t enough sun to sustain a garden. The only location in that yard where there was enough sun was where the playground was already established. So, it was a perfect solution – without ripping the playground or cutting down a few trees. *Spoiler Alert* eventually, they would outgrow the playset, and The Gardening Passion Expands; the garden that created a bidding war took hold.
Gardening With Little Kids
Every spring for a couple of years, the kids and I would load up our mini SUV with tools and materials, a sun umbrella, a large beach blanket, toys, and a cooler full of frozen yogurts, drinks, and lunch, and off we’d go. My kids, 4 and 5 years old at the time, would run between the wide paths. Naturally, the kids spent those days investigating other gardens, chatting with the old folks, investigating bugs, and occasionally helping me dig in the garden.
I’ll always remember ‘the garden gangsters,’ as I called them. The garden gangsters were a group of four or five 80-90yrs olds who had somehow moved a complete set of patio furniture into their garden path, where they would rest and spend the day. They would sit all day just relaxing in the patchwork of gardens at their feet, their oasis. They always had a garden story for us, the kids watching them intently as they spoke.
Garden Planning
Interestingly, looking back at those first few gardens, I see a pattern I still like to use. Neat and tidy spaces, sticks and strings to mark borders, and lots of mulch. In addition, you can see similar garden structures and a few tried and true tools that have followed me to the next gardens; The Gardening Passion Expands, Quick Turn Garden, and The Empty Nest Garden. Meanwhile, I still use most of the same tools today!
As a result, the kids were always raised around the garden because it’s my passion. As parents often do, I hope one day they’ll enjoy their own garden.
Have you ever had a community garden? Did you like it? Please tell me you had garden gangsters of your own! I kind of want to believe every community garden has its own set. Did your kids help in the garden also?
~ Lola
“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments!”
Gardens we’ve built
Why I Garden; if you grow it, they will eat it
Community Oasis Garden; exploring the passion
The Gardening Passion Expands; the garden that created a bidding war
Quick Turn Garden; two years and counting
The Empty Nest Garden; totally out of control
Coops we’ve built
How NOT to Build a Chicken Coop
The Bored Engineer’s Coop
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