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Dru and Jeannie Simmons are not new to gardening. They have been participating in the Italian Village community garden for a number of years. But this year, the plot was sold and no longer able to be used as a community garden. Rather than give up, they teamed up with 17 other households to create a new garden. It has been pretty successful so far for most of the households. You might even say there has been a smidge of garden envy going on. Read on to find out more about what they are growing and what their plot looks like.
To get a spot in the lot, neighbors wanting in needed to pay $80 for the cinder blocks to mark out the beds and the dirt to fill them. The beds are approximately 3′ wide and 14′ deep. They have marked their plot out in 15″ squares to help with neatness (and looks). Although these were not to be elaborate because if the land were to sell the beds had to be ripped out asap, some people have gotten pretty fancy with their trellises and cages. Some pictures of the overall gardens below:
Dru and Jeannie’s plot (pictured below) contains: roma, red cherry and yellow cherry tomatoes, lemongrass, jalapeno, anaheim and serrano peppers, two zucchini, white pancake squash, arugula, spinach, chard, green onion and white and red radishes. The blocks are filled in with a border of marigolds. They also have a few herbs in containers on their backyard patio. This year, Dru grew everything from seed. He estimates he spent about $40 total on seeds from Oakland Nursery. The arugula has been a great producer this year; next year they will probably plant about half as much. They are pretty happy with their garden. It only needs weeded a couple of times a week. It is great though because that is time often spent hanging out with other neighbors caring for their garden. Usually, community garden plots face the obstacle of obtaining water. A neighbor has offered to provide the water for everyone and then estimate the overage on their water bill and divide the extra cost with the gardeners. Nothing beats growing your own food!
Well done, guys!
I heart Dru and Jennie… nice one, guys!!
Awesome Dru! Also nice job sprucing up an otherwise blank ugly corner in the IV!
veeery nice. look at you two go!
thanks. i do have to say that we participate in the garden collective, which is a group of about 16 neighbors. but several other people were instrumental in getting it set-up, including the property owners Frank and Ruth; the neighbors who share the lot and let us access water Aaron and Gwen; and others who knew about design, soil content, etc…
it’s been a great experience and a good way to mingle with the neighbors.
Awesome stuff from some great people ;)
Ahhhhhhh! I love you guys! Daiquiris and white zin for everyone!!!!
I’ve seen the garden when cruising through Italian Village, very cool!
That looks fabulous, and there’s the fun of community while you work. Nice job!
Fabulous! 2 of my fav Columbus peeps. I still wanna see that zucchini you guys are hoarding over there :)
(Hi all – I’ve been a lurker on this website for some time, sorry I haven’t been more vocal until now.)
Thanks for the article about the garden. We too have a plot on this location and are most thrilled by the community it creates – what a great way to see our neighbors who have quickly become our friends. And serious props go to Frank and Ruth of Lincoln Street Studios for allowing this to happen. Every one knows that the lot is for sale and will likely someday be sold so a new house can be built, but Frank/Ruth are realistic that it isn’t happening soon so they allowed the garden to be created.
Is there ever a problem with theft? I’d worry about someone walking off with my tomatoes!
This garden is an awesome concept.
i love it! do you guys lease through the land bank?
Love this! It makes me happy every time I pass by it to see a community garden in what was just a dusty empty spot!
@roland – not yet, but it’s something we’re watching out for. it helps that the neighbor’s house faces the garden, making it a little more intimidating.
@jennymae – the land is privately owned. the owners’, who are architects, eventual aim is to sell the plot and build on it. so we will have to relocate eventually. thus the raised plots that can be deconstructed and reassembled elsewhere. for now, the owners generously let us use the land and have a plot in it as well.
This is really really cool. Very inspiring. I wonder if I can talk a landowner over here in our neighborhood into letting us do something similar next summer. :D
Love Oakland Nursery, but to get amazing, low cost, bulk heirloom vegetables seeds go downtown to Zettler Hardware on Main St.
http://www.zettlerhardware.com/709784.html
I guess this might have been too good to be true – up until this weekend we had no serious theft issues at all. (I occasionally took one of Dru and Jeannie’s zucchini when they were out of town, but I always left a can of beer in it’s place.)
In the past 48 hours or so it seems a significant amount of veggies were taken, and more painful, the producing plants themselves have been uprooted or severely damaged. Akin to broken car windows, graffiti, and knocked-over greystone fountains … in the big picture it isn’t too bad … but it sure does suck.
Sorry to hear that. I’ve had a lot of my tomatoes stolen this summer, but the culprit is a groundhog living under our shed. Sounds like your bandits were much more malicious and destructive. :(
That is really sad. The garden was kind of hidden until the grass around it got mowed again. Hope the damage stops!