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Green thumbs up: New campus garden yields veggies, flowers and camaraderie

Editor's Note: The week of Aug. 23-29 has been declared Community Garden Week by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

CLC's new community garden, created in May on the Grayslake campus, is starting to yield many dividends beyond sunflowers and juicy, lip-smacking fruits and vegetables.

The garden, occupying about one-fourth of an acre on the east side of the horticulture building, is divided into 38 plots. Tended by faculty, staff, students and community members, the new garden has been a source of relaxation, learning, new friendships and even a way for parents to help their children eat more vegetables.

Each person or group has paid $15 for the right to plant in a 10-by-20-foot parcel, with some parties renting two parcels, according to Rory Klick, chair of the horticulture department and creator of the garden. The aspiring gardeners provided their own seeds, tomato plants and tools. The college, in turn, tills the soil in spring and provides, during the growing season, free use of a garden hose and a composting bin for weeds. The gardeners run the gamut, from newbies to green thumbs, Klick said. But one thing they all enjoy is the chance to enjoy watching something grow from a tiny seed or plant, and enjoying the incomparable taste of freshly picked tomatoes, green beans and other produce.

Tomato plants are the most popular vegetable in the garden, Klick said, mainly because of the quality. "After you've tasted a fresh tomato off the vine, nothing else tastes quite like it," she said.

The new community garden also has offered faculty and staff a place to reconnect with the outdoors and meet other gardeners while improving their gardening skills. To encourage the idea-sharing, Klick has been organizing informal gatherings in the garden from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on selected Thursdays over the summer.

Leticia Swift, attendance service coordinator in the Adult Education department, is marking her first summer growing vegetables. Her section of the garden has squash, tomatoes, egg plant, green peppers, cucumbers and "lots of chilies," she said. "I'm in awe of how many cucumbers (15) I've picked so far, as of the first week in August," she said. "It's wonderful. The nice thing is that the cucumbers are better if they are smaller. We can pick them and peel them that day. I like to eat them raw with salt and lime."

How does the taste compare to store-bought cukes? "There is no comparison," she said. "The cucumbers from the garden are juicier and the flavor is more intense than the traditional, store-bought variety. Non-organic cucumbers from the grocery store are often waxed. Also, non-organic bell peppers and cucumbers have been sprayed with a lot of fungicides. With the cucumbers from the garden, you don't even have to rinse them off."

Besides enjoying the cucumbers as a snack, Swift uses the chilies for salsa and pico de gallo sauce for meats, chips, tacos and tostadas.

Tending the garden is easier with the on-campus location, said Swift, who often runs over to do a quick weeding during her lunch break before heading the Physical Education building for a workout. "Also, I've watered and weeded the plots of other co-workers while they're on vacation and vice versa," she added.

After a cooler-than-normal summer and three months of work, Swift is happy to see the fruits of her labors. "It's amazing what you can grow on a small plot," she said. "I love being outside. It's quiet and you can hear the birds. When we started, there was nothing but sod. It's a nice diversion, and I've been able to meet so many different people."

Jeff Weiss, a Buffalo Grove resident who works for a landscaping firm in northern Lake County, has been coming to the garden twice a week all summer during lunch hours or after work. He's been busy tending rows of green beans, wax beans, zucchinis and Brussels sprouts. "This brings back memories of the dairy farm where I grew up, outside of Milwaukee," Weiss said with a smile as he looked at his own in his 20-by-20 foot parcel. "I can't breathe enough fresh air." Weiss, who graduated with a horticulture certificate in May, said that while growing up, his family used to make sauerkraut from home-grown cabbage and would freeze green beans for use in the winter. From his CLC garden, Weiss hopes to harvest a bushel of beans before the growing season ends.

For Dena Traylor and Lyn Martin, Lindenhurst residents who share two garden plots with two friends, the garden offers a chance to learn by observing others. "We've learned to adjust the spacing between plants and, next year, we'll give our tomato plants more space by not planting as many in one row," Traylor said.

During the day, Traylor is a clinical psychologist with the 19th Judicial Circuit in Waukegan, providing psychological services to the Court. Martin is a scientist at Abbott Laboratories, Inc. Spending a couple of evenings a week tending the garden plot provides relaxation, time away from the office and the chance to enjoy fresh tomatoes, they explained.

For Bill Batz, a carpenter from Gurnee, the garden has provided more than tomatoes, broccoli, pumpkins and zucchini. It has helped overcome many a parent's frustration: convincing the children to eat more vegetables. "My daughters like broccoli now and have a good feeling toward zucchini, especially in the zucchini bread that their mother bakes," said Batz, who learned of the garden while enrolled in Klick's Business of Being Green class.

Noting the full occupancy of the garden, Klick said she'd like to expand the size next year, if possible. "We could not have done this without the support from the Grounds crew," she added. "In May, their busy month of setting up for the graduation ceremony, they installed a 6-foot high wire fence around the garden to keep the animals out."

For more information on reserving space in next year's community garden, contact Klick at rklick@clcillinois.edu.