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Food and friendships grow at Wilkinson Farm community garden

The arrival of spring also heralds the arrival of gardening season. For gardeners who don’t have food-growing space at home, the community garden at Wilkinson Farm Park can be a godsend.

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The community garden includes 46 raised bed spaces that can be rented for $60 each per year.

Each bed is 4-feet wide by 24-feet long. Drip irrigation is provided and organic compost is usually available, according to Master Gardener Barb Carr, who has been in charge of the garden since 2009.

Gardeners brings their own small hand tools, and a variety of long-handled tools — such as shovels, rakes and digging forks — are available to share.

Logan Shah, age 4, pulls a weed while preparing his family’s space in the community garden for planting. Charlee Glock-Jackson

Growing a sense of community

Plenty of plots are available now, but that could change quickly as the weather warms and more people get the gardening bug, Carr said.

Elaine Emmert has already reserved her plot. She’s been part of the garden since she moved to Gig Harbor from Texas four years ago.

“One of the best parts of the community garden is the social aspect,” Emmert said. “Well, that, plus being outside, plus growing your own food.

“It’s a really friendly, warm place to be and everyone shares information and ideas. When I was new to Gig Harbor, it was a great place to make new friends.”

This is Les McCallum’s first year having a plot in the community garden. He’s already babying the broccoli, lettuce and onion starts he planted recently, and plans to add beans and tomatoes in six weeks or so. “I call it my salad garden,” McCallum said with a smile.

‘The heart of this garden’

He credits Carr with making the garden such a thriving, popular place. “Barb is really the heart of this garden. She’s very efficient, but very warm. She does a great job organizing everything,” he said.

Barb Carr has been in charge of the Wilkinson Farm community garden for 20 years. Charlee Glock-Jackson

Hatai Kraushaar is starting her third year with a plot in the garden. In addition to her own space, she has also rented a space for her daughter Anjuli Shah, an eighth grader at Harbor Ridge Middle School.

“We’ll be planting whatever Anjuli wants,” Kraushaar said, as her three-year old son, Logan Shah, pulled weeds from his big sister’s new plot.

Kraushaar’s own raised bed still has garlic and parsley that she planted in 2021. She also grew kale, collards, tomatoes, asparagus and a variety of greens last year.

Food bank donations

Brian Midson is another newcomer who has called Gig Harbor home since last summer. He lives “right up the street,” and although he’s not gardening this year, he shows up regularly to volunteer.

“My son is disabled and he likes to do volunteer things, so we come here to help,” Midson said. “This is such a welcoming community. So far, I’ve just been helping with clean up and hauling stuff — whatever’s needed.”

In addition to the individual public plots, there’s a large area devoted exclusively to raising vegetables for Gig Harbor Peninsula FISH food bank. Volunteers and gardeners plant, weed and harvest nearly 1,000 pounds of produce each year for the food bank. Midson said he’s especially looking forward to helping in the food bank garden.

One of the beds in the main garden area is used for dahlias and nearby there’s an herb garden, a rhubarb patch and a bay tree, all available for picking by gardeners and volunteers. Along a fence, a row of espaliered fruit trees — apple and plum – is interplanted with blueberry bushes.

It’s not unusual to find entire families helping out in the garden, and everyone gets together for monthly meetings and work parties that often include potlucks, Carr said. “Those are really a great social connection.”

Carr also teaches classes at the garden. Basically, she said, they’re about how to be a successful gardener. The first class, tentatively scheduled for next week, will focus on how to weed, followed by classes on cold-weather gardening, then warm-weather gardening in May.

“In that class, we’ll talk about how to grow tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and other heat-loving crops,” she said. The classes are free to everyone who has a plot in the garden, and are limited in size.

Hatai Krashaer and her 4-year-old son, Logan, work at their plot in Wilkinson Farm Park’s community garden. Some of the plantings from 2021 made it through the winter. Charlee Glock-Jackson

Historic barn

The city of Gig Harbor owns the 17.74-acre farm (the barn is on the state’s historic barns register) and has provided the community garden space for public use since 2008. The city also furnishes water and power for the site.

Ten years ago, the local Rotary clubs built a large greenhouse for the garden, where, in a few weeks, Carr and the volunteers will be starting seeds of tomatoes and other warm-weather crops. Eagle Scouts built the big tables in the greenhouse and local high school kids built the nearby compost bins.

Earlier this year, most of the raised beds were rebuilt with new wooden frames — a sizable expense, given the cost of lumber these days.

To rent a space in the garden, contact Barb Carr at [email protected].

A local Girl Scout troop created this sign for the community garden at Wilkinson Farm Park. Charlee Glock-Jackson