Gardening group turns lot into field of dreams

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers LET IT GROW—Camarill Community Gardens founders Jacky Wallace, right, Don Wallace, center, and Mike Taylor, left, want to open the city’s first community garden later this month. The spaces at the Antonio Garden at Ponderosa Drive and Antonio Avenue are already spoken for, but the group soon plans to open a second public garden at the Camarillo Community Center. It’s been less than a year, but Don and Jacky Wallace of Camarillo are already seeing their idea of a community garden take root.

Antonio Garden, a quarteracre plot on Antonio Avenue at Ponderosa Road where people used to dump trash, is expected to open this month.

Also, on Oct. 8, the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District board approved the leasing of one-half acre of land at the Camarillo Community Center for a community garden.

“Isn’t that exciting?” Jacky Wallace said.

Don Wallace remembered the Victory Garden his mother planted during World War II when he was a boy.

Today, the Wallaces enjoy gardening with their two young granddaughters.

It all came together for Don Wallace one day in January when he realized Camarillo has no community garden.

Now, 10 months later, the Wallaces have secured two community gardens and acquired nonprofit status for the organization they founded, Camarillo Community Gardens. Earlier this year, the Pleasant Valley Mutual Water Company, owner of the Antonio lot, agreed the land could be used as a garden.

“They tell me that’s a remarkable record,” Don Wallace said. “They tell me it’s taken up to two years to get a garden started.”

All of the spaces at Antonio Garden, set to open this month, are full, but those interested in subscribing to a plot at the Community Center can call (805) 4821329.

Nurturing a cause

To rally support for the community garden, the Wallaces spread the word among their friends. One of them, a disabled war veteran, is an avid gardener who inspired them to include wide aisles and raised beds in the garden layout so those who need assistance to get around can enjoy gardening.

To build more momentum and excitement, the Wallaces asked people to sign petitions, passed out fliers at supermarkets and held community meetings. Mike Taylor, a retired computer programmer and landscape contractor, attended one of those early meetings. Taylor, a certified master gardener, joined the Wallaces.

“Mike is our savior,” Jacky Wallace said.

Taylor helped the Wallaces petition the city and park district for land on which to build a community garden. But around that time, the park district was embroiled in a dispute with neighbors about opening a dog park at the community center.

The district later abandoned that site in favor of another park. Taylor and the Wallaces saw their opportunity. They pressed the park district for space and last week got it.

“There are a lot of things you can complain about, but your grandma in the garden isn’t one of them,” Taylor said.

Many people in the community voiced their support to the park district for having a garden at the community center, he said.

Taylor, who grew up in Camarillo, said 50 years ago agriculture was a way of life for every one in the community. But since then, two generations have never experienced the joys of gardening or picked fruit from a tree, he said. Some families live in condominiums or apartments and don’t have space for a garden.

“Those are the people I’m more excited to have in this project,” Taylor said. “This is more than just a garden; it’s an educational initiative as well.”

Gardening experience is not needed to subscribe for a plot. Subscribers will have the opportunity to learn from experts about soil type, plant needs and the like at free monthly meetings.

Also, Taylor and the Wallaces want to set aside a row or two in the gardens that will produce fruits and vegetables for organizations that help the homeless and disadvantaged.

Subscription rates for Antonio Garden run about $45 a year for a 10 foot by 10 foot plot. Fees and donations cover water and trash pick-up costs and the purchase of a back-flow device that prevents garden water from contaminating the water supply.

Taylor said he and the Wallaces want people of all ages and abilities to become garden subscribers.

“We put the community in community garden,” he said.