Garden at Greco Will Help Students, Community Grow

Temple Terrace Community Gardens volunteers have been hard at work, planting civic seeds and harvesting unity within the city.

Their first garden plot is at Riverhills Elementary School, and their second is at Riverhills Park. On Saturday, they’ll continue growing community when they open their third plot at Greco Middle School.

“We’re starting with a small herb garden on Saturday and will, step by step, be adding infrastructure so that in the fall we can be ready for a full planting season,” said Elizabeth Leib, president of the group.

Gardeners hope that once plants start growing, so will interest from teachers, students and parents.

“The community garden is intended as a support for teachers—not another responsibility,” Leib said. “As community gardeners set up the garden, we expect more and more teachers to find uses for it. We expect participation to grow ‘organically.’ To encourage parents, we plan to offer a $10 family garden membership—less than the usual $25 we ask for a yearly membership.”

The group has already seen some interest in the 100-by-200-foot garden from Greco teachers.

“We’re in the beginning stages of developing relationships with individual teachers,” Leib said. “Ms. Elisabeth Heli, lead teacher for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) program, was involved early on by incorporating a community garden design competition for eighth-grade STEM students. We’re talking with the new culinary arts teacher, Michelle Chin, about her needs for the 2013-14 school year. We’re planting herbs on Saturday that she can use immediately.”

The group plans to start with raised community garden beds and move into building individual garden sites if there is a demand, Leib said.

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There could also be additional community gardens throughout Temple Terrace in the future.

“We won’t know about how much demand there is for community gardens until we see how many step forward to ask for an individual site in Plot 2 (Riverhills Park) and 3 (Greco Middle School),” Leib said. “There are some community garden members who’d like to see the city turn public green spaces from lawns to gardens as a way to reduce fertilizer runoff and make more fresh produce available to more people. There are examples of this being successfully done in other cities.”

All of Temple Terrace is invited to come out Saturday, between 9 a.m. and noon, and lend a helping hand, meet group members, and get more information on upcoming volunteer opportunities. The garden is located next to the school’s track.

“It’s fun to be part of an effort to make our city a better place,” Leib said. “We live in the perfect climate to be able to garden most of the year. Helping set up a garden at Greco means more kids will learn about growing vegetables, the importance of good nutrition, and how to function as a member of a community.”

For more information, visit the Temple Terrace Community Gardens online.

See also:

• Temple Terrace Community Garden Work Session at Greco Middle School
• Community Garden Announces Student Garden Design Winners
• Chamber Welcomes Temple Terrace Community Garden
• Residents Watch Their Gardens Grow
• Community Gardeners Build Planting Beds
• Community Gardeners Share Expertise on Radio
• Community Garden to Finish Fence at Second Plot
• City Endorses Community Garden
• Community Garden Group Has First Meeting
• Interest in Community Garden Sparks Conversation