Nonprofit establishes first community garden in East Missoula
As apartment buildings become a more common housing unit type in Missoula, it becomes harder and harder for residents to actually have their own garden in the Garden City.
That's why a group of volunteers took shovels, native pollinator plants and raspberry canes out last Thursday to finalize what will be the first-ever community garden in East Missoula. It's a project that's been years in the making.
A partnership between the nonprofit Garden City Harvest, Missoula County and the volunteer group East Missoula United, the new garden will feature 43 "plots" where community members will be able to grow their own veggies and make connections with neighbors.
Genevieve Jessop Marsh, the outreach and impact director at Garden City Harvest, said it will be the 11th public community garden the nonprofit has established.
"With the growth of Missoula and the housing crisis, a lot of people have gone to live in East Missoula," she said. "East Missoula has become more of a place that has more multiple-story apartment buildings. There's a lot more density, more folks that rent, folks who don't have space at home and therefore can't grow their own food."
The community garden gives people access to not only a patch of soil, but also water and shared tools.
"At the core of this work, we're trying to get food access to everyone in our community, not just those who can afford it, as well as land and the opportunity to grow food," Jessop Marsh continued.
Emily Kern Swaffar, the community gardens director at the nonprofit, worked with the county and East Missoula United to organize the whole thing starting about four years ago. East Missoula United actually raised about $15,000 for the project.
The county donated the land, which is at East Missoula Lions Park at 766 Michigan Avenue. It has a high deer fence and Swaffar said the soil is fairly good. There are a few raised beds as well, along with a tool shed.
Jean Zosel, the executive director of Garden City Harvest, said a person who knows what they're doing can harvest 300 pounds of food from a community garden plot every year. The organization had a waiting list of 90 people to get plots this year and demand has grown since 2020.
"We've calculated that there's about 100,000 pounds of food harvested from the community gardens in total each year, which is significant," Zosel explained.
The nonprofit's River Road Community Garden has about 50 public plots, and their largest garden has about 100 plots. They have about 400 plots total, which means about 1,000 people grow veggies every year.
Jessop Marsh said ideally, each garden has enough plots so that there's always someone digging, weeding, planting or watering.
"We don't want them to be too sleepy," she said.
She said there should be a "critical mass" of people who are coming for different reasons, being able to share knowledge and see each other enough so that they build community connections.
To apply for a plot or for more information, visit online at gardencityharvest.org/community-gardens .
Garden City Harvest's annual fall veggie stock up sale is happening on Oct. 23 at noon and Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. at 1657 River Road in Missoula. Customers can stock up in bulk on staples like onions, carrots, garlic and potatoes.
David Erickson is the business reporter for the Missoulian.
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