Cultivating a community

The town opened Victory Community Garden on Saturday at Anamax Park, 17501 S. Camino de las Quintas.

About 50 people, including many families with young children, gathered for the garden's grand opening Saturday morning. There were free seeds for planting and free apple slices for snacking.

Greg and Anne Wurth brought their sons, Jack and Henry, to the event.

"Our boys are 2 and 4 and they love dirt and gardening and planting seeds," Anne Wurth said. "I also like the idea of bringing the community together."

Bringing people together is also one of Sahuarita Mayor Lynne Skelton's goals for the garden, which she first thought of starting in 1999.

"It's a gathering place for diverse individuals. I always envisioned the children out here working with adults and it being a true educational learning experience … as well as bringing people together because we do have a division based on where they live," she said.

Skelton was referring to the area's assorted communities — ranging from the master-planned Rancho Sahuarita to Quail Creek, which is for retirees, to residents who don't live in master-planned communities.

"And I see that our dog parks have brought people together throughout our community so I'm hoping that the garden will do that as well," she said.

The 70-by-90-foot garden is primarily made from recycled materials, said Brian DeBreceny, the town's parks and facilities manager.

The garden is landscaped with crushed pecan shells, donated by Farmers Investment Co., which was one of several donors to the project.

The garden, which is open from dawn to dusk, has 33 plots, each measuring 5-by-10 feet.

As of Tuesday afternoon, people had signed up to rent 16 of them.

Though there were free seeds at the grand opening, people who rent garden plots will normally have to bring their own seeds, plants and water hoses.

The Town Council hasn't set a plot rental fee, but the town staff's recommended rate is $25 a season, totaling $50 a year, said Debbie Summers, Sahuarita's parks and recreation director.

In April the town will start holding public meetings on establishing the fee, Summers said.

One of the garden's 33 plots is designated the mayor's plot. "Grandpa Gardener," aka Dr. Randy Van Nostrand, helped local kids plant the first seeds in it.

Van Nostrand, a physician who now teaches garden-based learning to kids, also read the a story about gardening to the children.

Isabella Bermudez, 4, listened to Grandpa Gardener's story and then was eager to get back to work on the mayor's plot.

"This is the first time I ever gardened," she said.

Her family also signed up to rent a plot of their own in the garden.

Isabella's mother, Christi, said that she and four of her children, who range in age from 3 to 6, will take part in the gardening while the youngest, still a baby, watches.

"My neighbor and I, not either one of us have much of a green thumb. We thought we would try to come out here and learn together and teach our children," Christi Bermudez said.

"I just think it's a fun, positive family activity and it's something that, if the children take interest, they can do for the rest of their lives."

"I see that our dog parks have brought people together. … I'm hoping the garden will do that as well."

Lynne Skelton, mayor of Sahuarita