Waite Park community garden update and budget discussion

The Waite Park Community Garden is welcoming new gardeners this year! If you’d like to sign up for a plot, registration is open between March 1 and March 31 for new gardeners. Plots cost $25 each and require 6 hours of garden service over the growing season.

Register here: https://bit.ly/WPCGregister

The Waite Park Community Council received an update from community garden president Karl Gilbertson at its regular board meeting on Feb. 24, 2022. The council also approved the garden’s requested $6,100 budget for the year.

Waite Park Community Garden waitlist open for 2022 season

The following note is from Samantha Saunders, president of the Waite Park Community Garden for 2021. Contact her at wpccngmember@gmail.com. 

Hello neighbors!

Our 2021 growing season at Waite Park Community Garden has kicked off for the year, and we are excited to welcome 17 new faces to our community. Our season’s registration started about 2 months earlier this year, and we quickly filled up for the season. Many of our new gardeners were on the waiting list last season and waited patiently for almost a year. 

We have 70 plots in our garden, which means that almost 25% of our plots this year are rented by new gardeners. We don’t usually see such a high level of interest, but because of COVID and general unease about food supply issues, many people are looking to get outdoors and learn about sustainable urban gardening. We have a waitlist started already for next season, so if you are interested in renting a plot for 2022, please email us to get on the list!

Also new this year, we have budgeted to add 2 or 3 more plots to a sunnier area of the garden. We are “retiring” 2 of our shadier plots on the east end of the garden. The trees in the boulevard get bigger and leafier every year, and our 2 retired plots are almost completely shaded by mid-June, which makes them poor for growing summer vegetables. If anyone from the Waite Park community has soil or building materials that they would like to donate, we would greatly appreciate it. We plan to begin building these new plots later this season, available for rent next season. 

We are hoping to get back to hosting some outdoor activities when we can safely gather. In the past, our events have been limited to community garden members, but in the future we plan to invite all of our neighbors and friends, regardless of their membership status. We also plan to host some virtual events this season as well, so stay tuned for those announcements. 

Our calendar of upcoming social events will be posted on our website. We also have some great blog posts and resources on our website that can be enjoyed by anyone — our latest posts are a chive oil recipe and squash beetle prevention, both written by our mowing lead, Jessica. Check back often for new content!

Have a beautiful spring!