Goodbye to the Sailview Sharing Garden
Every garden space has its own special quality: for the Sailview Sharing Garden, I think of protector crows that dive-bombed me one harvest morning when I was there without the volunteer crew, I think of massive cauliflowers in April when the gardens were just waking up to spring, I think of volunteers rich in growing knowledge and experimental spirit. Sailview has been good to us. Sadly, we are closing the space due to a leak in the rooftop membrane (the leak wasn’t caused by our gardening efforts).
Sailview Sharing Garden was a wow-spot! The gardeners were masters of interplanting for beauty: I loved the purple kale squatting in front of bright tall peas and the wall of crazy-prolific cherry tomatoes that greeted you as you entered the space. Surrounded by towers on all sides, the gardeners were meticulous, knowing that this garden patch was a backyard green space for many. It inspired!
But more, the volunteer gardeners really took on the project of growing intensively—and they succeeded! It was the most productive sharing gardens this season—they grew nearly 1600 pounds over the season, a mini farm for our market table at the food hub. Many folks treasured the fresh greens, herbs and the endless variety; the bounty of our volunteers’ commitment.
Thank you to the whole team—as you might imagine, they were initially shocked and heartbroken over the news but within an afternoon were beginning to make plans for what comes next.
While the strata counsel has not decided what will happen next in our little urban oasis, the volunteer team has decided to carry on and create a new space together. We will keep you posted on the next new sharing garden—hoping to be ready for planting in spring 2016!
