Garden Details
Garden Details
The CSJ Community Garden supplies the Food Access Hub with a variety of fresh, organic produce and builds resilience and community through nutritious food. The main garden is located on the west lawn of the CSJ Administration Building, 1884 Randolph Ave. All are welcome to learn organic growing methods, enjoy heirloom produce, participate in local food systems, build community, and share the harvest at our Tuesday garden nights from 5 – 7 PM late May through October. Noone has an individual plot, instead, we care for the garden collectively. We aim to make the gardens as communal as possible, we plan the gardens together, make decisions together, and work together.
Garden Practices
Garden Practices
We aim to make the gardens as communal as possible, we plan the gardens together, make decisions together, and work together. There is a coordinator who manages the gardens and facilitates weekly community garden nights. At the end of the night we weigh the harvested produce and gardeners take home some produce, but most of the produce goes to the food shelf. We are focused on improving our soil health and soil fertility. For instance, we use only hand tools, which keeps soil disturbance to a minimum. We leave roots in the ground during the season to help build organic matter and improve soil structure. We also mulch in the spring using wood chips to suppress weeds and help with water retention in the soil. We only use organic inputs, such as compost. We aim to support biodiversity by planting a wide range of crops and interplanting herbs and flowers with all of our produce.
We primarily grow produce, herbs, and flowers. Some of the main crops we grow are garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, Bok choy, lettuce, green onions, beets, beans, peas, and kohlrabi.
Tuesday evenings from May-October are community garden nights where community members and St. Kates students gather to care for the gardens together. During the winter and spring we have seed starting gatherings and a garden planning potluck to plan the garden season. The gardens also host St. Catherine's University classes and volunteer groups that work on projects and contribute to the success of the gardens.
Additional Information
Additional Information
Climate change, limited funding, limited space and rabbits.
Monetary donations, community involvement, and grant support
We celebrated our 20th growing season in the fall of 2024 with a large community gathering of over 50 people. We enjoyed a community potluck, bonfire, s'mores, mural making with dried flowers, scrapbooking and sharing stories. For the 2024 season, we also grew over 700 pounds of produce, most of which was donated to the Food Access Hub. In the spring of 2024, we did our first low-tunnel project were we planted cool-season crops like lettuce, beets and Bok choy under tunnels in early April yielding us an additional 70 lbs of food by early June.
