Schools, city team up to bring garden plots to Aurora

Some have green thumbs while others couldn't grow a fingernail, but that's not stopping the neighbors in Aurora's South East Villages neighborhood from forging some partnerships to build two community gardens.

Beginning the second weekend in May, neighbors can begin gardening in their 10-by-10-foot plots near Ridge Park at Gombert School and Georgetown Park at Georgetown School.

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 director of buildings and grounds Mike Pederson said the district plans to donate land for the gardens, which will each contain 30 plots near the front of each school. Plans for the plots have been in the works for more than a year.

"These gardens are a great place for people to get to know each other and if our adults have a sense of community that's going to flow into the schools because children learn from their parents," he said. "The stronger bonds and family relationships in the community definitely contribute to the better schooling for the children."

Eighth Ward Alderman Rick Mervine will sponsor an event at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 24, at Gombert Elementary to launch the program by pounding in the first stakes for the "Let's Get Growing Community Gardens."

Neighborhood coordinator Mary Knightwright can't wait. She also hopes the gardens continue to inspire her neighbors to "think green" and show more community pride.

"I couldn't be more excited to see our eighth and ninth ward neighbors coming together to grow their own ornamental and edible plants," Knightwright said. "We're also hoping to use the gardens as a way to cut grocery expenses and to teach our neighborhood children that wholesome produce can be grown right here and it may not look like that stuff in a can at the grocery store."

Rick Mervine said this year's gardens will be a pilot program and monitored throughout the growing season.

"If we get a great turnout and interest stays high, we'd like to work with the schools to evolve this program over time into more plots," Mervine said. "But ultimately this is an attempt to grow community involvement and showcase the relationships between the city's neighborhoods and schools."

Interested gardeners can download an application to purchase as many as two plots at $10 each at southeastvillages.org. Mervine said the only restrictions are that anything grown must be legal and not so tall as to overshadow neighboring plots.

Gardeners also will be kept from the plots during school hours in the spring and fall and be responsible for bringing their own water.