Community Garden Now Open at St. Timothy’s
Community Garden Now Open at St. Timothy’s
What can you do with an unused backyard lot? Plant a garden! St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, with the help of a generous grant from the Episcopal Foundation of Northern California, has transformed the lot next door to the church at 450 Jackson Street (behind the church office) into a garden for community use: a place to grow food or learn how to garden and a peaceful outdoor space for people to enjoy.
The garden is now open (while still under construction), with 20 newly-built and filled garden beds in the following sizes:
5’ x 6’ (30 sq. ft.) $15 per year
5’ x 8’ (40 sq. ft.) $20 per year
4’ x 10’ (40 sq. ft.) $20 per year
5’ x 10’ (40 sq. ft.) $25 per year
Each bed has drip irrigation; both water and irrigation supplies are provided by St. Timothy’s church.
To sign up for a garden plot, text or call Grace at 530 218-6636 or email st.timothygarden@gmail.com.
The idea for a community garden at St. Timothy’s began in 2015 with the Gridley Community Roots Garden, which closed in 2018. The church’s relaunch of the garden in 2023 includes 20 individual garden plots, a teaching garden, a children’s garden and mud kitchen, an outdoor sink and potting area as well as shaded seating and pleasant surroundings for those who gather. Future plans include a greenhouse, espalier fruit trees, a fountain and a community composting program.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County have agreed to offer gardening classes, and St. Timothy’s hope is to eventually have cooking and preserving classes in the kitchen as well as a gardening program for children.
Parishioners and volunteers are giving their energy and skills to make this vision a reality, and more volunteers are needed, no experience required!
Work began in July 2022 with cleaning out the lot. Leveling and grading with the skid steer was donated by Ronnie Johnson and Nick Neito.
Useable lumber leftover from the first garden was repurposed into a new potting bench, outdoor sink and children’s mud kitchen by the skilled hands of Kathy Mahannah, who also created the beautiful, hand-crafted welcome sign for the garden.
During the hot days of August and September 2022, the ground was watered thoroughly and then solarized by covering it with clear plastic to kill weed seeds and any pathogens in the soil.
After accomplishing some repairs on existing water lines, work began in October 2022 on trenching for the new underground irrigation system for the garden. Many thanks to volunteers Matthew Norby, Kathy Mahannah and Grace Mahannah for their hours of faithful shoveling! St. Timothy’s church also provided for a new chain link fence to replace the old wooden one.
Work was underway by November 2022 to cut and glue together PVC pipe to construct the underground drip irrigation for the garden. On Sunday, November 13, 2022, Bishop Megan of the Diocese of Northern California visited St. Timothy’s and blessed the garden. Hallelujah!
With the irrigation system finished, work commenced on building garden beds at the end of March 2023. Volunteers arrived armed with power tools, including Kathy Mahannah, The Rev. Julie Wakelee, and Lucy, AJ and John Paul Bowers. Within one week, all 24 garden beds were built. Made with redwood and deck screws, they were constructed to withstand the elements and remain sturdy.
In May 2023, we were blessed with many volunteers who showed up to fill the garden beds with topsoil and compost, including Fr. David Englund and Susan Englund, Deacon Dan Boeger, Matthew Norby and Chris Gately, Lucy Bowers, Kathy and Grace Mahannah and the amazing volunteers from All Hands and Hearts: Theresa Tobin, Surina Marwaha, John Halliburton and Aster Vergeer, who literally moved mountains of landscaping materials in mere days!
Thanks to the generosity of Dale and Janine McCullough of Biggs, who donated over 200 tomato and pepper plants that Dale grew from seed (five varieties), we’ve had plenty of plants to put in the new planting beds and share with new gardeners. We also gave about 100 plants to St. James of Jerusalem Episcopal Church in Yuba City for their farm. In addition, Lucy Bowers and Susan Prendeville repotted many of the plants into bigger pots, so that we could give away more than 30 plants to the community at our Red Suspenders Day booth in Gridley on May 20, 2023.
Kathy Mahannah designed banners in English and Spanish for the garden as well as flyers to announce its opening; she also made 15 beautiful wooden crosses to give away.
Currently, volunteers are leveling pathways in the garden and installing landscape cloth, and then covering the pathways with wood chips donated by Harris Tree Service of Gridley.
Work will continue at the garden to build a greenhouse, fountain, benches, an espaliered fruit orchard and a composting facility, and volunteers are needed! No experience is required. Just contact Grace at 530-218-6636 (text or call) or email st.timothygarden@gmail.com.
Currently, the Garden at St. Timothy’s has four new gardeners, and we have lots more plots available to rent. Laurie Stanley was our very first gardener to adopt a plot, and we are so excited to have her and all our gardeners on board! If you would like to rent a garden plot or become a garden volunteer, please contact Grace at 530 218-6636 (text or call) or email st.timothygarden@gmail.com.