Crops and community

o The garden is located at Northwest Drake Street, between 14th and 15th streets, next to Benton Park. For more information, contact Lauren Colas at 607-3385.

It’s a warm, sunny afternoon in the Camas Community Garden, and the intermingling voices are as colorful as the array of plants, fruits and vegetables that fill it.

Discussions range from the best use of quinoa to natural remedies for allergies. Gardeners wander through the summer harvest, looking at each other’s plots and asking questions.

“It’s so interesting to see what and how other gardeners plant, what works well, what doesn’t, because everyone’s plots are so different,” said Lauren Colas, garden coordinator. “We cover for one another too. If someone is sick, traveling or working, we will water or weed and help others.”

Colas has served as the coordinator since 2014, when she succeeded Judy Harris.

Linda Stirling, an avid gardener, led the charge to help transform an unsightly, overgrown briar patch next to a barren piece of land in her neighborhood into what is now Benton Park and the community garden. It includes playground equipment, a paved walkway, grass and picnic tables. In the garden area, the city cleared the blackberries, ivy and weeds, and added enclosed fencing and a water source.

For the last six seasons, community gardeners have tended the 18 plots and experimented with growing a wide variety of vegetables, fruit and herbs, such as artichokes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, corn, edamame, eggplant, kale, lettuce, potatoes, peas, peppers, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries, mint and parsley.

“It’s such a pleasure to be able to give back to the community with my time and see so many improvements in the garden come to fruition,” Colas said. “The responsibility was a surprise, I’d just discovered the garden last year, and had only been working on getting rid of all of the weeds in my new plot for a few weeks before it officially opened for the season.

“Ideally, I’d like to see the coordinator position and responsibility rotate amongst the current gardeners, if they are interested and willing.”

Gardening is an interest that has been passed down in Colas’ family for generations.

Her mother was raised on a farm in Kansas, and her grandfather tended a half-acre garden and fruit trees.

“When I bought a house in Anchorage, Alaska, the back yard came with a lot of delicious raspberries, so I became more interested in gardening,” Colas said. “My yard in Camas is small and mostly shaded and although some flowers, lettuce, peas and blueberries do well, I really wanted to grow full sun vegetables. I enjoy the entire process of gardening, from preparing the soil, planning what will be planted, planting the seeds, watering, weeding and harvesting. Most of all, it’s so wonderful to eat fresh-picked organic veggies that actually taste good.”

She also enjoys the opportunity to interact with neighbors and friends.

“I do a little solo gardening at home, but it’s much more enjoyable in a community setting, and I’ve met many wonderful friends here,” she said. “Many of them have helped this year with spreading compost, installing chicken wire, donating and planting day lilies along the outside of the fence.”

Ellie Meigs has had a plot at the garden for two years. She grows tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.

“I am still a newbie,” she said. “What I enjoy most is all of the people and the chatting. We talk about different things. Gardening is also very therapeutic for me.”

Dianna Fennessey has been using the garden for five years. Since she lives in an apartment, having access to a community garden is a good opportunity to exercise her green thumb.”This is a perfect location,” she said. “It’s also a huge stress relief to have some quiet, outside time. I like to be in nature.”

Grace Howard is a bus driver for the Camas School District and lives in a nearby apartment. The garden provides her with some much needed quiet time.

“I really enjoy all of this,” she said. “Out here, I have no problems. This garden is a great way to have community and I really appreciate the city for providing the water free of charge to the gardeners.”

Colas noted that the sense of community and location is what draws many to the garden.

“In addition to a full-sun location, the Camas Community Garden is organic, offers a wonderful opportunity to meet other local gardeners, develop new friendships, share expertise, advice and produce,” she said. “We even have a Mason bee house that a local resident, former postman Lornie McCullough, built for us.”

Improvements to the garden this year include having 26 cubic yards of compost delivered by the city and installing a new, custom tool box for shared items. Gardeners Steve Sincavage, Ellie Meigs and McCullough collaborated on the project.

“Many of the neighbors who live near there and walk by with their dogs or stop by chat with the gardeners, have said they’ve never seen it look so good,” Colas said.

Future goals for the garden depend on the users’ priorities, she added.

“Personally, I’d like to see a true compost pile, and I’d like to extend the size of our garden (from 18 plots). It would be wonderful to have some fruit trees too for the produce to be shared with all of our community gardeners. For the first time ever, all of our plots are full, plus we now have a waiting list.”

Colas noted that there is room for an additional garden area on the city-owned land between the current location and the park.

“This would take extensive planning, approvals and likely donations to cover all of the costs, and may take a while to set things into motion, but it could be done,” she said.