The community garden is located across the street from the city hall. The garden is divided up into separate plots.
:The Sand City Community Garden is celebrating its first year this month, a testament to the persistence and know-how of a great many people.
The garden started out as an unimpressive 75-by-75-foot lot on the corner of Hickory and Dias overlooking Sand City and Seaside. Not a primo spot by any means.
Susan Collins, who walked by the lot occasionally, saw its potential, though. She created a plan for the garden and soon convinced two of her neighbors, Ron Brown and Don DeFede, to help her build a garden. They brought in a backhoe and reshaped it, and a small group of people began transforming the space, clearing out weeds and iceplant, and creating tiers for planting.
“The top tier, the highest point on the property, has a 2,500-gallon water tank,” writes Collins in an email. “The bottom tier is for flowering plants with a wide bordering edge for seating. Vivian Brown is our flower master, planting and moving flowers around like a painter moving color around his palette.
“There are 10 private planting beds built by Mike and Gay Morris, a worm farm created by Barney from Sylvan Design, and a permaculture garden built by our Ron. The two tiers are general planting areas open for anyone who needs a spot to get their hands in dirt.”
Although Collins does a little organizing and prompting to keep the garden growing, she notes that there”s really no leader and no followers here.
“There”s no board of directors, no committee, no nothing,” she said. “It”s just a nice place to sit and not have any rules.”
Sand City”s plot is just one of many community gardens to blossom in Monterey County. Community gardens in Pacific Grove and Marina are now thriving; there are several in Salinas and Monterey as well, and it”s entirely possible that there may be a few I haven”t even heard of yet.
So why have community gardens at all, you ask? Well, for some people who live in apartments or other small spaces, being involved in a community garden is a way to enjoy plants and make something grow. Some people grow their own food; others simply enjoy the company of the plants and of other like-minded gardeners.
And in many cases, a space that was neglected and barren has been transformed into a place of beauty and peace.
The city of Sand City is supplying the water for the project, and the volunteers are now discussing adding a windmill and solar panels to supply a power source. To further enhance the community feeling, a fire pit has been built, and now there”s talk of adding a gazebo." (
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