Community Garden Dreams Grow in Imperial Beach

An effort to begin a community garden in Imperial Beach began last Wednesday with a meeting between interested local residents and Jo Carr, who helps organize the Imperial Beach Farmers Market.

Carr plans to present a proposal to city staff at the end of May and hopes to start planting by the fall. As of Tuesday, 25 families have signed up.

"Typically when you do a project like this you have a timeline of measuring success, so I'm going to ask the city to give us up to two years to prove that this project is viable and beneficial to the city at large," she said.

The garden may be built on a city-owned piece of property on the corner of 10th Street and Donax Avenue.

"I ride my bike around and I see all these empty lots, and I just imagine all the food we could grow there," she said. 

"I want to meet with everyone interested so we can all plan this together," she said, insisting all farming at the proposed site be organic. "I'm just so anxious to get my fingers dirty."

For funding, proposals are being prepared to present to agricultural and philanthropic organizations. Assistance is also being sought from the San Diego Hunger Foundation and IB Beautiful.

Vegetables that may be grown in the garden's raised beds include squash, corn, beans and several others, including artichokes and zucchini.

After two years a request may be made to plant fruit trees or prickly berry bushes.

Motion activated lights and a solar powered water pump may also be installed.

Individuals or families who agree to plant will be trained in proper growing methods by Carr and a yet-to-be-hired master gardener. A nutritionist may also be hired for tutorials and classes open to all.

"Even if they don't grow their own, people can still come to classes," she said. 

In other efforts to promote gardening education, on Monday San Diego County officials designated five Regional Gardening Education Centers. In south San Diego, residents can attend Wild Willow Farm, less than a mile from Imperial Beach.

Wednesday at the library at 6 p.m. Karan Cooper Greenwald will . Greenwald claims to grow more than 100 different types of tomatoes.

A portion of vegetables grown in the garden's plots may be donated to the San Diego Food Bank, and six volunteers from Mar Vista High School have already been recruited to grow for Imperial Beach seniors.

Carr said she intends to make low-cost grow boxes available to the city's many renters without a yard to grow a garden so "they can still grow some fresh tomatoes, peppers, herbs and that kind of stuff" on their patio or elsewhere. 

Eventually, she would like to build an Education Center between Mar Vista High School and Imperial Beach Elementary School where students can grow food for their lunches.

To sign-up or learn more, visit the Imperial Beach Farmers Market every Friday from 2-7 p.m. or .

Carr was a gardener in several agricultural projects on the East Coast, has 30 years of experience and grew up on her family's 200-acre farm in Connecticut.

"I got my first pair of shoes in the third grade and the only thing I remember my mom purchasing from the store besides material to make our clothes was lard, honey and food when we ran out of our own," she said. 

Nicole Klopp also grew up on a garden but south of Manila in the Philippines.

"If we didn't grow it or catch it, we didn't eat it," she said.

Now she wants to grow in the new community garden for herself and her husband. She was recently diagnosed with cancer and completed treatments a few weeks ago.

"After being diagnosed with cancer and after the surgery, we definitely changed our eating habits," she said. "We're finding out that eating healthy is more expensive than eating the junk food.

"Since the organic stuff is so expensive in the store I think definitely having your own garden helps with food. I wish it was more affordable. it's not right now if you go to the store or even here at the farmers market," she said.

Kimberly Paris, who will grow along with her husband and two kids, hopes that more than seeds for fruits and vegetables are planted in the garden.

"I see it as a way to improve the city itself," she said. "It just changes the feel of the area so it will go from it just being a plot of empty field or dead lot to something that just brings the community out."

Paris is also a fan of the idea of a community garden and learning how to properly grow produce as a way to learn from Carr and the eventual master gardener and take care of the local environment.

"She [Carr] understands that if you grow one crop, it will take such and such nutrients out of the soil and so the next crop will put them back in," she said. "A lot of us don't know that.

"We really need to take advantage from learning from all them. This is how you do it. This is how you sustain your land."