Where can you find fresh veggies? Try Salt Lake’s new community garden

A growing community in Salt Lake City is home to a new garden area.

Wasatch Community Garden is located at 444 E. 600 South in Richmond Park, Central City, and was built for over a year after it opened last spring. However, the COVID-19 pandemic halted group activities even though the first gardeners were able to plant their first crops.

“It’s really a place for growing community, and it’s in a park where the community is baked into its namesake. Not only is it a place where children come together, but we have wonderful historical roots in this community here in Richmond Park, ”said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.

She thanked the members of the city’s Department of Parks and Public Land for “putting their hearts into every brick and piece of decomposed granite, and I think every tomato and potato that grows behind me today”.

“It’s so exciting to me, I’m a councilor, but in my real life, for my daily job, I own two food companies,” said Councilor Ana Valdemoros. “And I started my business at a farmers market. … And when I started, I saw an opportunity to share a little of my culture with Salt Lake City by making empanadas. “

Valdemoros said she witnessed the downtown farmers market “grow and grow and grow”. The urban area where the new community garden was created has the highest demand for garden plots, she said.

“Richmond Park is in one of the denser neighborhoods in the Central City planning area. It is characterized by single-family and multi-family houses where there is obviously no private, open space, ”noted Valdemoros.

She said the garden will provide “inspiration” and opportunity for those with an entrepreneurial spirit in the neighborhood.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall speaks to Idris Ahmad, 5, in a new community garden in Richmond Park, Salt Lake City on Wednesday, August 4, 2021. Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Mendenhall noted that the later than expected official opening of the garden means that it is now showing “full and fruiting plants” instead of small bulbs.

While 33 of the plots are already occupied, there are still some spaces available, she said. Gardeners each receive 32 square meters of space including water and instructions from other gardeners. Anyone passing the community garden can harvest plants from lots that are outside the fence.

“So bring your sweetheart a sunflower home and maybe a tomato for lunch,” said Mendenhall.

Ashley Patterson, director of Wasatch Community Gardens, said the garden, which was laid out in the spring of 2020, “was in the grip of the pandemic when much of the world was shut down, in my opinion, was a tribute to the power of these spaces”.

“People had to have this room, and they made it happen,” Patterson said.

She noted that the woman the park is named after helped Mignon Barker Richmond – the first African American woman to graduate from college in Utah – start the first school lunch program for schools.

“I think she believed in the power of healthy eating to transform the community,” said Patterson.

Bailey Roberts is showing Sean Whaley tomatoes on their property in a new community garden in Richmond Park, Salt Lake City on Wednesday, August 4, 2021. Both Roberts and Whaley have lots in the garden. Laura Seitz, Deseret News

The garden was created through a partnership between the city and Wasatch Community Gardens, who worked together to develop sustainable gardens on city-owned land with access to water pipes. This newest garden is the sixth created by the partnership.

“Community gardens support our local food system and create connections that build stronger communities. The use of parts of our open spaces for the cultivation of food also helps to make our city more climate-adaptive and resilient, “Mendenhall said in a statement. “This ongoing collaboration has created a deeper relationship between the city and this important community partner.”

Wasatch Community Gardens funded the garden with $ 50,000 from the city’s Capital Improvement Program, and public land workers prepared the site for garden boxes, fences, a shed and seating areas, officials said.

Residents interested in renting a property can contact Wasatch Community Gardens at 801-359-2658; or by email to [email protected].

People tour a new community garden in Richmond Park, Salt Lake City on Wednesday, August 4, 2021. Laura Seitz, Deseret News