Hope for community garden has gone to seed

Jack and Gloria Cook have been enjoying the Community Garden for the past eight or nine years. For the Cooks, it's not just a way to produce their own food, it is fun and good exercise.

Jack feels that gardening is therapy for him, "Different people have different ways of relaxing. I come out here in the evenings, it's how I relax."

According to the Cooks, in years past a group of people would get together every spring and plan out their plots. Though they may not have always been there at the same time, it was really fun and everyone always had good luck with their gardens. It was a great way to get sun, exercise and socialize. Over the years though, they've seen fewer and fewer people utilize the community garden area.

An empty lot, located across the street from Kimball County Manor on east 7th street, was donated by the City of Kimball, as was water according to the minutes from the Kimball Board of Public Works minutes from May 8, 1996.

Joan Francis and Fredine Petsch represented the Community Garden organization at that meeting and requested that the Board of Public Works hookup and supply water to the City property north of the Manor.

"This property is to be used as a community garden area where the youth of Kimball will get a chance to learn from the adults in the area about raising a garden," states the minutes.

At the time, the community garden group's intent for the gardens was to be an educational tool as well as a place of community, health and wellness.

The Cook's have some ideas as to why they are the only ones utilizing the garden plots for the first time since they became available to the public. This spring was a tough year to start a garden because it was colder longer. Usually they plant a more diversified garden but because of the long-hanging cold weather they were unable to plant several of their favorites.

Another reason they feel that no one else gardened this year is because of the bindweed and goat heads. Years ago, Chuck Shields would disc the entire area with his tractor, thus keeping down the weeds and making it easier for people without rototillers to start a garden. These days, there isn't anyone donating their time to disc the garden, making it necessary for people to till their own plots. This in itself is a big deal breaker for many and it's also becoming a nuisance for those who are there because the other plots are then overrun with invasive weeds which reseed and blow onto the plots being used.

In recent years the garden has lost caretakers. Although there is enough room for ten to twelve more plots, the Cook's are the only gardeners this year. They don't plan to give up on the community garden any time soon.

"I love to plant seeds and see things grow," Gloria said, "It's just a part of our life."