Webster defines community as: “a unified body of individuals” or “the people with common interests living in a particular area”; and, there is no better definition to exemplify Suwanee, GA.
This past week Suwanee citizens came together to provide muscle and sweat to prepare for the opening of one more of the many city parks that City officials had purchased -The theme for White Street Park is a community garden – specifically Square Foot Gardening. There are approximately 70 plots which have been rented by Suwanee residents, each ranging in dimensions of: 5x5, 5x12 and 5x14.
With the hot Southern sun beating down on us, we started Day 1 with a large group of residents gathered to assemble cedar boxes, dig holes, shovel rock and move dirt. It was hard work, but it was “fun” work with a vision in sight of the end result.
Day 2 consisted of more of the same. However, you could already see organization coming together on how everything would lay out once completed: As all the boxes were finally assembled, each was moved to their designated spot.
And, each box was assigned their own number – like a street address.
By Day 3 finishing touches were in place and the reality of what we had been working on for the past three days became real: Garden boxes were in place and the rock had been placed. If you are from Georgia, you know about the red Georgia clay. So some boxes opted to be tilled first while others moved forward with filling their claimed spot with quality, organic, beautiful black top soil.
By Day 4 we each were able to put our focus on our individual garden boxes. With about five of us up to the work, we met at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. .
- We tilled our Georgia red clay
- We saw that the beautiful black top soil which had been ordered by the City was now very limited but we managed to get what we needed to fill our box
- We added all the nutrients that plants and vegetables thrive on
- We measured off for our 12x12 squares within our box
- We created our 12x12 squares with yellow nylon rope
And, like we knew what we were doing, we methodically placed seeds, flowers and vegi’s in their respective square. Not wanting our work undone, we then fenced our “sacred” ground to prevent the deer from undoing what we had just accomplished.
Finishing touches continue: A barn is being built to house the gardener’s tools, concrete will be laid to accommodate a grilling area and the park will be fenced. And when the City of Suwanee completes the park we will enjoy a butterfly and humming bird garden……..White Street Park will be breathtaking.
And, nothing will make it more worth it than we all begin to reap what we haved sowed and can share it with our family, friends and community.
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