Two Years On, This South Bay Garden Continues To Cultivate Community

REDONDO BEACH, CA — A flower in bloom, a tomato that sprouts, a conversation of growth —these small moments have created a sort of retreat for Redondo Beach residents taking part in their local community garden.

"It's good for the soul," Redondo Beach resident Kicki Byers told Patch. "It's just a great experience, and it's this place if you need to relax, you can just go there."

The Redondo Beach community garden — the first of its kind in the city — opened in 2023, when a group of locals formed a group after recognizing the importance of growing their own food to ensure food security for families and individuals.

The garden celebrated its second anniversary with a potluck on Friday, June 13. And two years on, the community it has cultivated is stronger than ever, according to members.

The garden currently features more than two dozen plots, each one assigned to a Redondo Beach resident with their own unique story to tell about their background in gardening.

Byers grew up in Sweden, where she says she drove her mom "crazy," secretly planting fruit seeds in her house plants.

At some point, her parents created a small piece of land at their home, where Byers could experiment with her desire to grow.

Despite being allergic to them, the first product she ever grew was a tomato — her sister's favorite vegetable, the 66-year-old said.

"I got one of the seeds from a tomato she ate, and I grew one," Byers said. "I saw the joy that she had eating it and that just made me feel really, really good."

Byers says she spends nearly every day of the week at the Redondo Beach community garden. There, she has her own plot in the community garden where she grows her favorite products — a variety of lettuce, chilli peppers, cucumbers and cilantro — she's also the lead at the "giving garden," a plot dedicated to growing food that is then donated to St. James Church in Redondo Beach.

Other gardeners are also encouraged to contribute produce they grow to the church, Byers said. So far this year, the garden has produced 68 pounds of vegetables for the church, Byers said.

"When you help the community that you live in, it's so rewarding," Byers said. "The joy on the face of all the people, just how grateful and happy they are, when we come and deliver, it really feels like a community."

Like other people at the community garden, Byers says she is self-taught, learning through trial, error and the overall child-like wonder that comes with seeing a seed go through different stages until it becomes a ripe fruit or vegetable.

"Just the amount of produce and vegetables you can actually grow and how it can go from being so small and then, within a week, all of a sudden it's flourishing," Byers said. "That has been amazing."

Claire Morrison doesn't remember if she cried when she heard a plot was available for her in the garden. If she did, it was at least on the inside, she recalled.

Morrison said she had waited a few months on a waitlist. Immediately, she went to see her plot. It was empty but full of possibilities.

"Thinking about everything that has grown out there, even my heart growing three sizes, it's been amazing," Morrison told Patch.

Morrison works as a therapist, a job she says is very stressful, especially in today's environment.

The community garden, however, has served as an educational safe space, she says. Not only teaching her patience and creativity, but also becoming a "great source of motivation."

"There's really no failing, even when you fail," Morrison said.

Morrison is known in the small garden community for her carrots, growing 15 pounds of the crop in a small four-by-four space last winter. During an experiment where she wanted to learn more about seeds, Morrison grew a carrot she described as the size of a cow heart. A "big ugly carrot" that was probably ten different carrots in one, she said.

Through what she calls "YouTube University," some educational classes the community garden puts on, talking with her peers, and lessons she took as a child from her step-mother, Morrison says she has quickly grown into her own. Now, she produces several crops such as peas, carrots, Brussels sprouts, garlic and tomatoes.

"One of the things that I've learned through YouTube University is that some of the greatest gardeners have killed a lot of things," Morrison said.

Byers says she wants to see the city help open up additional gardens in the South Bay and Redondo Beach. Currently, there's a 200-person waitlist for a garden bed at the Redondo Beach community garden.

"It's a nice little community," Byers said. "Clearly, there is a need for it."

The garden is located at 715 Julia Ave., Redondo Beach, CA 90277