(I'd like to just mention real quick that this blog is under development, tweaking this and that, looking for a good template etc, so enjoy the ride as we get this thing working right!)
The first thing I did as President of our garden club is to find out what made other P-patches successful. I knew how ours worked, and was friends with the folks who had made the MCGA so great for so many, but I wanted to find out what made other community gardens strong. I visited about 6 or 7 community p-patches and what an adventure! I wish I had time to visit them all. Some gardens were tiny and barely active, while others were very active and huge...some even had beehives!
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| Picardo Farm P-patch, the garden that started it all! |
When I first sat down at the computer and looked at a strategy for visiting other gardens I was dumbstruck at how many there are in the greater Seattle area...84 either active or in development. I think I'm beginning to see a trend! But the community gardens that stand out, even among the smaller ones, were the ones that had a strong board and an active, participating garden population.
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| A lovely planter behind the equipment shed at Magnuson Community P-Patch |
We are unique among P-patches in that we are a 501c7 non-profit social club, whereas the Seattle P-patches are run by the Seattle Governement and the local communities. What this means is that Seattle hires people to run the p-patches, and pay their bills, fix their pipes etc. We are completely volunteer! Of course we can't do it all alone. We are so grateful to Marymoor Park, and the King County Park System for partnering with us to continue the community gardening effort at Marymoor Park. They truly are wonderful people to work with. And can you believe that there has been a community garden here since the late 60's!
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| Pure gorgeousness at the Interbay P-patch! |
In the coming weeks and months I'd like to share more of what I've found on my adventures to other P-patches and invite you to come along! Thanks for stopping by!
Sam
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| Reflective Sunset at the MCGA |
