Historical April–May 2012 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Fifteen years ago Gateway Greening helped create the McPherson Community Garden on two vacant lots on the 5900 block of McPherson.
This year the McPherson Garden has taken another big step to become one of four “Hub Gardens” which will help Gateway Greening with their mission of educating and empowering groups all over St.Louis to grow healthy neighbors and a healthy city.
When the McPherson Garden began its quest, most folks in Skinker DeBaliviere had not heard of community gardens. now Gateway Greening has 200 gardens of various sizes and backrounds, from educational school gardens to energetic grassroots citizens trying to reclaim a neglected space and create something beautiful.
In 2009 the Missouri Foundation for Health awarded Gateway Greening a major grant to further their goal of educating gardeners and offering technical assistance. Through 2010 and 2011 we have been working with Gateway Greening to develop and eventually become a Hub Garden which can serve nearby gadens including our own Block Unit 1035 Community Garden, the Clemens, Syracuse, and and Vito’s Garden in University City, the Mayberry, Monsanto YMCA, and William Clay Sr. Community Gardens and more in other St. Louis neighborhoods.
This year the McPherson Community Garden will keep “regular hours” on Saturdays from 10:00 am to noon beginning March 10 until Oct. 13.
We will distribute low cost (high quality donated) seed packets at 25¢ each and also seedlings grown in Gateway Greenin’s greenhouse. Seedlings will sell for $1.00 per four-tray and will be available to community gardeners as our primary focus, we hope to also serve neighbors as well – this is a new project and we will see how the distribution goes.
We will host 3 classes this year. Our first class will be taught by McPherson community gardener Mary Hellwig, who is also a garden leader at the Columbia Hope and Peace Community Garden. Mary’s class (which will have taken place on March 31st) is “Companion Planting. Easy steps to increase your vegetable garden’s output and health.” We will also have three cooking/food preparation demos, one example “What to do with all that squash!” taught by chef Ivy Tominack will take place later in the summer. More details, dates and times will be available from the SD calendar as our schedule develops.
We are coordinating with the S.D. community workshops.
All classes will be open to all Gateway Greening gardeners and residents of Skinker DeBaliviere.
The McPherson Garden is proud to have been selected as a Hub Garden,we look forward to sreving the nearby community gardens and our neighbors. Thank you to all the gardeners who have been a part of this growing effort through the years.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April–May 2012.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Source backrounds, gadens, and and, Greenin’s and sreving retained as printed.
Original source: SD_Times2012_04.pdf, printed page(s) 6; PDF page(s) 6.
