SEQUIM – Five plots are still available in the Community Organic Gardens of Sequim, so Jeff Edwards and Liz Harper are inviting growers to dig in, regardless of past gardening experience.
Edwards, the city’s parks coordinator, reported this week that spring has come to his latest project, the community garden at the corner of Spruce Street and Sunnyside Avenue.
It’s officially known as the June Robinson Memorial Park in honor of the late Sequim historian and school volunteer.
And with 24 plots ready for gardeners, a picnic table donated by the Sequim Sunrise Rotary Club and raised planting boxes installed by local Eagle Scout candidate Sam Schwab, things have already blossomed as a community effort, Edwards said.
Five of the 16 ground-level plots are still up for grabs, though all eight of the raised beds are rented, he added.
The per-plot fee is $45 for the year and includes Saturday classes with organic gardening expert Pam Larsen; would-be gardeners should phone Edwards or associate city planner Joe Irvin at 360-683-4908 for details.
At Sequim’s original community organic garden, now going into its third season behind St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue, pickings are slimmer.
Coordinator Liz Harper said Wednesday that she will probably have just one raised bed left; to stake a claim on it, phone 360-683-7698.
The June Robinson community garden won’t have its official grand opening until April 17, the day Sequim will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
Planting seeds
But plot holders such as Martha Williamson were already planting seeds this week.
“I’ve never gardened in my whole life,” she said. But Williamson, a senior, wanted something new to do after church on Sundays.
“This is a good place to get some sunshine and exercise,” she said, “and there are people to socialize with.”
These gardens are for not only growers but also for those who’d like a place to picnic, plot holder Gloria Knapp said Wednesday.
“We hope people will come and enjoy the space,” she added after digging a hole for a scarecrow support pole in the Fifth Avenue garden.
Next on her list: planting bee-attracting flowers, plus marigolds to repel aphids. The community organic gardeners use no chemical pesticides or weedkillers.
And like the kale, community spirit is thriving here, Harper added.
“We’re going to have a community squash plot this year,” so growers can raise zucchini and such there, instead of having the big plants take over their own plots.
Also new this season in the Fifth Avenue garden is a space set aside for herbs, so adjacent plot holders can plant and then take their pick to sprinkle on whatever is for dinner.
Donations
In both community gardens, volunteers and local business people have made all the difference, Edwards emphasized.
For the June Robinson Memorial Park, which also has a lawn for dog-walking and picnicking, Lakeside Industries donated the parking lot, while the Sequim Sunrise Rotarians provided the tool shed and fence along with the picnic table.
Bill Littlejohn, a local developer and owner of Olympic Ambulance, Sherwood Assisted Living and other businesses, donated 100 yards of soil for the garden plots.
“This project came in under budget and was done in less than a year,” Edwards said of the new park.
The Sequim City Council approved a $19,000 expenditure last summer, but the improvements cost just$14,000 including a $5,000 full-cutoff, as in top-shielded, street light beside the garden.
Approach it, and you don’t see light shining upward and polluting the night sky; then when you’re beside the lamp, you see how only the area beneath it is illuminated.
“It’s pretty neat,” Edwards said.
The city’s inaugural Victory Gardens initiative, however, was not as victorious as Irvin, its planner, would have liked.
The program was to recruit 15 gardeners and have them grow organic produce using water-conserving practices.
The benefits, besides the fresh veggies, include free organic gardening classes with Larsen and a $15 water-bill rebate from the city.
Only one Sequim resident signed up by the extended deadline of March 15, Irvin said.
But one victory gardener is better than none, he said, adding that this was a pilot project this year, with room for changes.
“I’m already thinking about ways to incentivize people,” next year, he said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
