Our Gardens

Community Roots currently has 13 production gardens. As we add new gardens will post information on this page. Below is some information about our gardens.

We moved in in the fall of 2005 and this is where the whole idea started. One day, looking out upon the back yard I thought about how we could grow veggies here in the backyard, and then we could find willing neighbors in our area to offer us their backyard for growing vegetables. If we could find enough backyards, maybe we could grow enough vegetables to sell at market to support ourselves financially. We could also start a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program right here in the neighborhood...YES!!! We are doing it!

Steven's Garden (~600 sq. ft.)

Steven may have been the first to reply to our plea for garden space back in 2006. He happily offered a patch of his back yard and we quickly went to work. While not the largest or most productive of the gardens, Steven's garden patch is a consistent plot in our array! Steven lives across the street from us...about a 100 yard walk or bike ride.

Michael's Garden (~900 sq. ft.)

Michael responded in 2006 and offered up his yard. We agreed that his backyard is too shady, but thought that maybe his front yard might work. We went for it, and in 2006 Michael's yard produced a heap of food - enough to encourage us that we should keep forging ahead with even larger plans for 2007. Perhaps most importantly, gardening in Michael's front yard gave the project a great amount of visibility. Once people began to learn about the project, more and more wanted to get involved! Michael is our next door neighbor to the north.

The Hooks (~1000 sq. ft.)

Rusty, Camille, Courtney, Charlie, and Jeremy were impressed with what they saw at Michael's. In the fall of 2006, Camille and I began to discuss the idea of growing in their front yard the following season. It wasn't long before we had decided to go for it. The Hooks had remodeled (popped their top) their home that year and their front lawn was decimated from the construction traffic. I quickly went to work and that winter I brought in 2 yards of compost, bags and bags of leaves (from the neighbors) and layered on wood chips from my arborist friend. The lawn sat like this over winter and then in the spring I rototilled, built beds and began planting. I planted a cover crop initially, plowed it in, and then came the veggies. This is one of our most productive gardens, not to mention one of the most beautiful. The Hooks are our next door neighbors to the South.

The Church (~2000 sq. ft.)

St. Andrew church is on Baseline Road, about a 10 minute bike ride or drive from our house. We use a plot (maybe 2 or 3) in the gardens that the church offers to the community. We started working this plot in 2006. St. Andrews is a wonderful plot that we have consistently harvested tremendous amounts of food from. The church asks anyone using the church community gardens to donate 10% of their yield to food assistance programs – we accomplish this through our CSA outreach program.

Reuben's Plot (~1200 sq. ft.)

Reuben came to us in the fall of 2007. We share a backyard fence with him. It wasn't hard to accept both his sunny front yard, a portion of his back yard, and maybe even his side yard. In a symbolic gesture that brings a smile to my face every time I think about it, we decided that it makes good sense to have a gate between our back yards! Maybe this is the first of many! Reuben’s yard has been quite productive and should continue to be as we rotate crop families from front yard to side yard to backyard!

Emily's Garden (~600 sq. ft.)

Emily's (front yard) garden will be our first on high traffic Martin Drive. A smaller patch, Emily’s garden is easily visible and also quite accessible. In 2008 we had a successful year with multiple crops rotating in and out. In 2009 we are growing leafy greens that we can harvest throughout the growing season – collards and kale.

Christian’s Garden (~900 sq. ft.)

We built Christian’s Garden in the spring of 2008. The garden has been quite productive despite the fact that there is quite an infestation of Japanese Knotweed moving in from the neighbors’ yards. We have lost a few beds of crops due to this quick spreading weed, however we have had great luck with the harvest in other parts of the garden, hauling out bin after bin of beets, swiss chard, green beans, spinach, lettuce, and radishes.

Jonathan’s Garden (~750 sq. ft.)

Jonathan’s garden was started in the spring of 2008. Despite some challenges due to sandy soil and some hot (unfinished) compost, we continue to push this garden forward. As the soil mellows out and we build the energy here, we will coax more and more food from the ground. In 2009 we are starting with nitrogen fixing fava beans and peas and will follow with leafy greens.

Karen’s Garden (~800 sq. ft.)

Karen is just around the corner from home base and we sure are lucky to get to use her space. Potatoes, scallions, arugula, and spinach have called Karen’s Garden home. Next come carrots, beets, and radishes (following greens with root crops make for nicer products). Karen is always quick to greet Community Roots farmers with a smile and a hello as we meander through her backyard – and also and warm cups of tea on cold days! Pictured are Kipp, Roslyn, and Mo after harvesting early spring arugula and spinach for market.

Merav’s Garden (~1500 sq. ft.)

2009 is our first year at Merav’s. The garden was built in the fall of 2008 with lots and lots of volunteers (we had 20+ one day – thanks Boulder Mennonite Church) and lots and lots of yummy organic matter. This garden is one of our first and only sheet mulch projects. We started by laying down cardboard boxes, then we added eight yards of composted cow manure, bags of leaves, followed by straw and alfalfa pellets. The sheet mulch sat and percolated over the winter and spring and is now planted out with beautiful eggplant, pepper, and tomato plants from the Community Roots hoophouse. Pole beans will grow along the fence in the back. This will be one productive, beautiful backyard garden! An interesting side note is that this yard was not initially fit for a garden due to a slope. The homeowners were so motivated to be involved with Community Roots that they hired a landscaper to build a retaining wall and terrace and, voila, they now have a garden!

Eastman Garden (~1200 sq. ft.)

A wonderful patch of land behind Nancy Taddiken’s house, just down the street from the Community Roots NSA distribution site. The Eastman garden is outfitted with greens galore and is proving to be quite productive. Eight yards of compost is a lot for a garden patch this small, but when you’re growing greens for production, you see what the results can be!

Travis’ Garden (~1000 sq. ft.)

Travis’ Garden has been a test plot for Community Roots’ apprenticeship program in 2009. Instead of growing one or two crops here, we’re growing a great variety. This makes for a bit less efficiency, but for more variety and learning opportunities. The apprentices (and Kipp) are happy to see how quickly a barren lawn can be transformed into a productive vegetable garden – this one was planted and ready to go less than one month from the time Travis approached me about the potential to work together!

The Mennonite Church Garden (~2500 sq. ft.)

Phil Metzler has been working hard since we first talked in the fall of 2008 about how we might work together. Amazingly, we have now planted out and are watching the miraculous garden grow at the Boulder Mennonite Church. Beets, Onions, Winter Squash, Cucumbers, Summer Squash, Zucchini, Potatoes, Sunchokes, and Walking Onions are finding their quarters quite cozy here thus far. Drip irrigation allows the crops to enjoy the consistent moisture!

More to come...