For two years, the CRRC of Canyon Lake’s community garden slowly went to seed.
Organizer Joe Ed Lyles died, and nobody stepped up to replace the retired landscaper, who showed up day after day in relentless heat to educate and inspire the small band of dedicated gardeners who took home all the produce they could eat and donated the rest to the Food Pantry, which feeds 500 to 600 people a month.
In January, a retired physician’s assistant specializing in holistic medicine decided to undertake the Herculean task of soliciting amateur gardeners and overseeing the removal of two years’ worth of weeds, as well as cleaning out the beds on the half-acre plot.
Sharyn Harris, who maintains a large garden at home and completed a master gardener’s course, signed a memorandum of understanding on April 1, and 15 gardeners got to work.
The organic gardeners will showcase their efforts from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 31, at the garden by the CRRC Rec Center, 125 Mabel Jones Dr., Canyon Lake.
Blooming are tomatoes, squash, zucchini, peppers and even some flowers.
The public is invited to attend.
Canyon Lake Fire/EMS will show up with a firetruck to entertain the kids.
Harris said volunteer gardeners have cleared most of the brush from the garden’s lower tier but the top level is still overgrown.
They aren’t thrilled about the situation, but hope the public will realize the magnitude of their undertaking—and even provide financial assistance or volunteer to join the effort.
“The goal is to raise funds to put in a better irrigation system,” Harris said. “Right now it’s just hoses.”
Supplies will no longer be provided, as they were in Lyles’ day. Gardeners provide their own plants and fertilizer. CRRC provides the water.
