'Grow Your Park' Community Garden Project: Summer Events for Kids and Families

If you’re still on the waiting list for Wetherby Park’s garden rental plots, your family can now enjoy other gardening opportunities, thanks to $10,000 in federal funding.

Expanded community gardening options are sprouting from a National Recreation and Park Association's (NRPA) Grow Your Park program grant, funded through a J.R. Albert Foundation gift.

Joyce Carroll, project supervisor at the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department, hopes the new Grow Your Park program gains community recognition as a unique garden project with the goal of youth involvement and education.

“One frustration is that the Grow Your Park program community garden is often confused with the rental garden plots that are also in the park,” she said.

Grow Your Park project is a completely separate program featuring an Edible Forest Maze, a perennial garden with traditional vegetable fare, and a raised garden bed section for people with special needs.

A visit to Wetherby at 2400 Taylor Drive will find an enthusiastic team from the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department working on the Edible Forest Maze. This section of the garden is about half way completed. It will consist of perennial fruit and nut-bearing trees and plants grown in the shape of a labyrinth. The maze is intended as a play space, a learning area and a source of healthy snacks for neighborhood children. 

“The program shows kids where food comes from, teaches them cultivation skills and gives them something to be proud of,” Carroll said.  She added many educational aspects are explored in the classes, including how to grow plants and vegetables in small spaces.

During the summer, the Broadway Neighborhood Center will be taking kids to the garden in the morning, Carroll said, and the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Summer Playground Program will be in action during the afternoon.

Residents of the neighborhood can contact the Broadway Neighborhood Center, while parents from all neighborhoods can sign up their children for the Summer Playground Program at Wetherby Park on June 13 at 1 p.m. In addition to gardening education, the program offers nature-based arts and crafts.

The Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department  is one of 10 agencies nationally to receive a 2011 NRPA Grow Your Park grant. The NRPA Grow Your Park program is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to health, recreation and nature conservation. The grant funds materials, educational resources and other essential services that make the gardens possible.   

Wetherby neighborhood mom Lisa Jenson said she appreciates the opportunities the garden gives her children.

“The garden project is a life saver. I didn’t want my son to stay inside playing video games all summer. This gives him something fun to work on that will get him out of the house, and who knows, he might learn something.”

How can you get involved? Members of the community will be invited in mid to late June to assist in tilling and planting the annual garden that the children will be tending during the summer months.

Then, the community can celebrate the summer on Aug. 4, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Wetherby The Grow Your Park garden project will be featured along with musical guest Mutiny in the Parlor.

For more details on the Grow Your Park project, contact Carroll at joyce-carroll@iowa-city.org or 319-356-5100.