The Many Benefits of a Community Garden: Magnolia Street Children’s Garden

BY ELIZABETH HENDERSON

When Google Earth came online, Iletha Cli on realized with revulsion that the plastic owers her mother had set out around their house on Magnolia Street in Rochester could be seen from space. So, she purchased $500 worth of real ower plants for her mother. When half of them died, Iletha decided to learn how to grow plants in containers.

Flowers led to a tomato plant, and the rich avor of the rst ripe tomato, unlike any tomato she had ever bought at a store, hooked her on growing vegetables. Soon, every sunny spot along the south side of the house was lled with pots. A support worker for special needs children for the Greece School District, Iletha has dedicated her career to some of the most disadvantaged youngsters in Rochester. When the girl next door expressed amazement and delight when she pulled a carrot from the soil, like “a rabbit coming out of a hat,” Iletha knew she had to create a garden for her and her twin siblings. And that was the start of the Magnolia Street Children’s Garden. Within a year, she had a city permit to garden in the empty lot across the street.

A few blocks away, Drs. Bill Bayer and Mark Brown ran Je erson Family Health, a clinic for the low-income neighborhood. Dr. Bill said, “I became interested in community gardening when I realized that my patients’ health was determined much more by lifestyle choices than whatever ministrations I would try to render.” e two doctors began installing and planting small backyard gardens for their patients. e two feet by two feet garden boxes were big enough for a couple of collard plants, a tomato, a cucumber or okra, and some basil. Late each spring, the doctors drove around to restore and plant the gardens, between 30 and 40 of them, depending on their stamina. Many patients lived in apartments without yards suitable for gardens, so Dr. Bill connected with Iletha. rough her contacts and by recruiting his patients, they expanded the community garden to its current membership of 15 households. Iletha says of Dr. Bill, “Many of the people involved in the garden are his former patients. He is not an expert gardener, but he knows a lot about people in this neighborhood and their health needs.” Since Dr. Bill retired, he learns more about gardening and spends more time at the garden.

On what was once a 40 by 100-foot house lot, they built 20 4’x8’ beds and lled them with soil, invested in a water spigot, a small tool shed, some tools, and a garden sign. ey soon learned that without a peripheral fence, they were growing groundhog feed, so they enclosed the bed area with a wire fence that extends two feet underground.

Each family has a bed to plant as they prefer. Most put in a few tomato plants, collards and other greens, sweet or hot peppers, and a cabbage or lettuce or two. An Indian family added okra, eggplant, beans, and melons from their own seeds. Iletha grows a variety of root crops and green beans that do not t well in her containers. Mr. Junious concentrates on collard greens.

When I joined the garden as a sort of organic advisor, I planted an herb garden, a bed each of garlic and potatoes, and a few rows of leeks for everyone to share. I teach the children how to orient potato slips, garlic, and da odil bulbs, identify strange weeds and pests, and lead the campaign to exterminate poison ivy. Fall clean-up changed from clearing the beds to planting oats as a cover crop or mulching to protect the health of the soil, and collard greens were le to overwinter for early greens in the spring.

Dr. Bill and lletha organize Saturday morning work sessions throughout the season. Linda brings fresh fruit, corn cakes, and other healthy snacks and drinks. Members set out plants, weed, and harvest together.

Children play in the garden and parents send children to pick lastminute ingredients. Iletha says, “ e kids walk back and forth to the corner store and go in the garden and eat in there. ey graze in the garden and everybody can see their kids there. e kids put water in the birdbath. Some families regard the weekly sessions as their outing –their time with their kids in the garden. It has taken on a life of its own.”

For the Urban Gardens Day in September 2022, members brought food to share for a delicious meal, enough for everyone including a mail carrier and a passerby. e garden is part of the citywide network of community gardens supported by the Recreation Department, a member of the Urban Agriculture Working Group, and this year may join the Taproot Collective, which provides gardening classes, seed and other resources, and group liability insurance.

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