Community Garden

Purpose:

The Stony Point Community Garden was established in 2010 by volunteers with donated funds to provide a gathering place for neighborhood residents and First United Methodist Church to come together and build community.  It is a place where participants experience, learn and benefit from growing their own food, develop new friendships and join together to grow food for donation to less fortunate Santa Rosarians through local foodbanks. Approximately 50% of gardeners are congregation members and 50% are neighborhood families.

See the photo album of the community garden.

History:

In 2010 infrastructure plumbing, fencing and 30 family beds were constructed over several weeks, along with eight large 10 x 10 ft beds to be used as Donation Beds and to be used by the Children and Youth programs.  Five fruit trees were donated during the first growing season including, as memorials, a Santa Rosa Plum and a Mandarin Orange. 

Over the 2010/11 winter Dave Wilson Nursery, a Central Valley commercial grower, donated 19 additional fruit trees including multiple varieties of peach, persimmon, pluot, apple, plum, nectarine, fig and pear.  In early 2011, two local landscaping firms, SBI Materials and Grab ‘N Grow, donated 50 yards of topsoil and pathway mulch; garden beds were refilled and the area in between beds was mulched to keep down weeds.

In 2012 several beautiful climbing roses were donated and planted along the fence line in honor of loved ones.  Consider donating your own climbing rose in honor or memory of someone you love- a gift that will last for years and provide beauty in the garden.  The Garden team will plant the rose, extend drip lines and handle all the training and pruning- it couldn’t be easier!

Donations to FISH:

            2010                    700 lbs

            2011                 1,400 lbs

            2012                 2,380 lbs

2013 Plans:

• Construct two additional Donation Beds including trellis’s for climbing vines.
• Build a sun shelter for the picnic bench area
• Extend irrigation closer to the Donation beds
• Plan for expansion of the garden by 10-15 beds

If You Are Interested:

There are many ways you can be involved in the garden

• Sign up for a garden bed, start growing your own healthy food and make new friends.
• Volunteer to help out with watering, tending or harvesting on one of the Donation Bed teams that grow and deliver food to local foodbanks
• Make a donation to “First United Methodist Church-Community Garden” to assist with our improvement plans

To get started, call the Church Office and ask to be put in touch with the Garden Manager.

Cost:

The cost to garden a bed for one year is either:

• $25 plus 8 hours of Volunteer time during the season, or
• $50