Community Gardens offers rentable plots

Spades and shovels aside, garden specialist Grant Pershing may be the most valuable tool in this garden.\nPershing works in the Willie Streeter Community Gardens, an area of rentable plots of land for residents to plant whatever they choose. For $31, Bloomington residents can spend their summers tending to a 10' by 20' plot of land in the gardens, which feature organic or conventional gardening, as well as wheelchair accessible raised beds. Staff members, like Pershing, are also available at the gardens to assist with problems.\nFor students remaining in Bloomington for the summer, the gardens may be the perfect place when they want to relax and retreat from campus.\n"We actually have quite a few students (involved). In some cases, it's a recreational act to be outside," said Community Gardens specialist Michael Simmons. "They're able to raise fresh produce or beautiful flowers." \nThe gardens, located in Winslow Woods Park across from the YMCA, also feature tools for people who need them. The variety of produce allowed in the gardens is wide, with this year's food ranging from potatoes and corn to tomatoes and quinces, a type of fruit.\nJust like learning about new fruits, people who may have never gardened before can come to learn exactly how to make things grow.\n"It's good to garden in a spot where there are people that you can ask questions if you don't understand something," Pershing said. "(You) learn from each other. There's no right answer. It's never cut and dry. In a way, it's a community effort." \nPershing is usually at the gardens several hours a day to answer questions and give gardening advice.\n"The most important thing to remember is start small. Visions are good, but you should learn just basics to begin with," Pershing said. "It's very important to envision a garden at its height. Don't plant so close together that by June and July (the plants) don't have anywhere to go."\nBesides being a recreational activity, the gardens can also benefit people in need around Bloomington. Plot renters can participate in the Plant a Row for the Hungry program, a collaboration program of local groups Bloomington Parks and Recreation, Bloomingfoods, Worm's Way and Mother Hubbard's Cupboard. The food is then distributed to those in need. Simmons said 10,000 pounds were raised last year, with a goal of 12,000 pounds for this year. Gardeners need only to plant one extra row for donation to Plant a Row for the Hungry.\nBut the gardens are also a healthy way for students to relieve the anxiety from tests and classes.\n"It's a stress reliever. You go out to the garden, and it's quiet, and it's peaceful, and you don't have a book in front of you or a computer," said Community Relations Manager Julie Ramey. "This may be the very first opportunity a student will ever have to plant a garden. You can be a greenhorn."\nBloomington Parks and Recreation also works with two other gardens, the Crestmont Gardens, a garden free to residents in the apartment complex and Banneker Community Center, a garden directed toward youths. Simmons said he hopes all these experiences with nature will have a positive effect on people.\n"We have a butterfly garden. We also have wildlife shrubs," Simmons said. "This serves as an area that is beneficial for youth groups. We just find it's a very social activity."\nPershing said he sees more of the thoughtful side of gardening.\n"It gives a greater philosophical vision on life and the cycle of life," Pershing said. "It gives you an understanding of your role in the cycle of life."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Catherine Hageman at chageman@indiana.edu.