Photo by Kamp Fender.
Bluff Park United Methodist Church community gardener Jan Rogers demonstrates a gardening teaching method using a square foot grid and flour.
Master Gardener Jan Rogers laid a template made from a lumber frame onto a garden bed in front of Bluff Park United Methodist Church. Along the line of the template, she sprinkled flour to mark the soil with squares.
The technique, which she called square foot gardening, is one she teaches the community gardeners at Bluff Park UMC each year. This way, they know what they can grow and how much of it they can grow in that space, she said.
Since the idea behind the community garden was formed in spring 2016, the program has been a hit, bringing in church members and also area residents wanting to develop a green thumb.
For $20 per year, anyone can rent a garden bed to grow what they please. Among the most popular choices are tomatoes, peppers and beans.
While the community garden might only be a few years old, it’s been on the minds of the church’s Green Team for much longer.
Seven years ago, Bluff Park UMC had some members who were interested in gardening and teaching others to garden. A retired member then built five garden beds towards the back of the property, now dubbed the children’s garden. It has since grown to 11 beds.
The children’s garden — complete with a compost bin named after Bernie Thompson, a deceased church member — offers the Green Team the chance to teach classes to kids in the summer and throughout the growing season, Rogers said. They also have a group from the Riley Center that comes each week to learn and taste test.
In spring 2016, the associate pastor at the time had been working with Urban Ministries and saw a few community gardens that sparked his interest. After about a year of research and gathering ideas, the Bluff Park UMC Community Garden was in motion.
Photos by Kamp Fender.
A nameplate is shown in a claimed plot at the garden. Members of the congregation pay $20 to use a plot and learn techniques from Rogers.
When the church held the first set of lessons in 2017, they planned on eight beds. Because the demand was so high, they quickly added more, bringing them to 19. The church is currently sitting at 24, plus an adapted raised bed for a member with mobility issues.
“A true community garden in my opinion is this, … in that you are letting the community participate,” Rogers said.
During the past two years, the six members from the Green Team who spearhead the community garden have been able to adapt and make the area the best it can be for growing, Rogers said. One of those adaptations included cutting down trees in the area to provide more sunlight.
“We’re successful because people who are gardening here live around here, [and] they don’t have enough sun in their yard. You’ve got to have six hours minimum for vegetables, and that’s not intermittent,” she said. “We cut down trees here just to be able to open this up.”
In March, the year will reset, and those interested in renting a bed can contact Rogers at jan2rogers@gmail.com.
