Community Garden by Johnson School of the Arts

Super Snack Lady has spent the last several months going to meetings and connecting with people in the neighborhood around Johnson School of the Arts (better known as Wellington Heights) in an joint effort to get a community garden started somewhere close to the school.

This was challenging mainly because JSA doesn't have any grass at their school that can be used for a garden.  We quickly made partners with First Congregational Church which is directly behind the school.  They were gracious enough to let us use some of their property in order to make a garden that the whole community and neighborhood could enjoy and work together on.

On Saturday April 6th we held a huge garden kick off event.  We had a great turn out of about 65 people come and go through out the morning to make the garden prep happen!!  Check out the photos below or click here or here to see local news stories on the event.

This shows the lawn that was going to be
turned into the garden once spring
came and the snow melted.

The design was decided based on "pizza wedges"
with each wedge holding different veggies,
herbs, or flowers.  The wedges are outlined
in yellow and the pile of compost was
delivered a couple of days prior to our event.

Though there was a threat of rain showers
the bad weather held off and we had a great
spring morning to spread the compost onto the
garden beds.  MANY THANKS to our
volunteers that helped us!!!

The compost was piled about 6 inches high
on top of where the seeds will be planted.  This
will enhance the soil and make it healthier
for plants to grow in it. 

Within a couple of very short hours the volunteers
had the garden beds all prepped and ready
for seeds once it gets warmer outside!  Where
the wooden pallet is in the middle will be a
seating area for students to observe the garden.

Corey Christiansen who is the chief
meteorologist at KGAN/CBS 2 came
and spoke to kids and adults about
how weather affects the garden
and about his own garden experiences
growing up.

Alicia Aguiar, who is a dietician at 1st Ave
Hy-Vee, came and did a sampling
with kids called "Taste the Rainbow".
Kids tasted fruits and veggies from every
color of the rainbow!

These are some of the pickets that
kids and families painted on the Garden
Kickoff Day!!  They will be incorporated
into the garden in some way, yet
to be decided.  What creativity!

More awesome pickets! (Can you see the one
that Super Snack Lady did?!?  Its second
from the bottom!)

The kids and families that came enjoyed decorating
the pickets according to things that mattered to them.
There is a Girl Scout Troop picket, Boys and Girls Club
picket, and one that reads "Community".  

 Overall we had a GREAT Garden Kick Off Day!!!  Super Snack Lady looks forward to sharing more pictures once plants get planted in the garden and even start sprouting!