Community garden underway in La Salle, interested gardeners can rent a box for season

Amateur and professional gardeners in La Salle now have another garden to share their green thumbs at Community Garden, located near the city’s fire station, 1227 Fifth St.

The City of La Salle Foundation celebrated its newly-created community garden with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday. The sponsors are Illinois Valley Garden Club, City of La Salle Foundation, NCI ARTworks and Home Depot.

The community garden began thanks to local volunteer, Renee Kim. She said she wanted to begin the garden as a way to become more involved in the community.

“During COVID I took a Master Gardener class through the Illinois Extension ... I was also invited to join the Illinois Valley gardening club,” she said. “I started thinking that a community garden would be a good way to bring communities together.”

Kim went to the Illinois Valley Garden Club to ask if they would be willing to sponsor the garden, they agreed. Then she asked the city and they agreed to be on board, but said they had no one to spearhead it.

“So, I started working on it, thinking about it, gathering information, seeing what supplies I would need and things like that,” she said.

A community garden is a parcel of land divided into many individual beds. The beds will be made available for individuals or groups to rent for a nominal fee every year to grow vegetables, fruits, flowers or herbs. The use of the bed requires commitment from participants to maintain them by planting, weeding, harvesting and cleaning after the growing season.

Kim said the soil is a mix, of peat moss, vermiculite and compost, that is supposed to help keep weeds down and retain moisture for the plants.

“The peat moss and vermiculite should withstand for maybe six to seven years,” she said.

Interested gardeners can rent a box for $25 a season. Kim said they will probably start planting around Mother’s Day and cleanup will end in October or November. There is a list of rules for those who are interested.

Kim said the Illinois Valley Garden Club will have one box and will donate all produce to the local food pantries.

“I would encourage anybody who does have a box to donate some of their vegetables to the food pantry of their choice,” she said.

Julia Messina, NCI ARTworks executive director, said the butterflies feature of the community garden project was inspired by the Michigan Avenue butterflies in Chicago. Messina said she was approached by City of La Salle Foundation Founder, Dani Piland, to collaborate on the project.

Messina asked professional artist Emily Maze to produce a prototype for the community garden. Maze works part-time as a gallery assistant at NCI ARTworks and is a professional artist whose work can be seen throughout the Illinois Valley. She will be leading the butterfly design team.

Those interested in sponsoring a butterfly can contact Julia Messina at outreach@nciartworks.com.

Those who are interested or have questions about joining the garden can contact Renee Kim at lasallecommgarden@gmail.com