Community Garden Flourishes on East Side

Vincent T. Davis - Express-News

The eyes of Che Guevara watch over a garden growing between two storefront buildings on the East Side. The icon of revolution peers from a mural spanning the side of the building housing Taylor's Barber Shop and the Southwest Workers Union.

Pecan-shell mulch spreads around native plants separated by a curving, gravel path. Pride of Barbados, plumbago, esperanza, hibiscus and other plants thrive on land once spotted with trash, brush and parked cars.

Long, scraggly weeds and vines spill from the rooftop of the adjacent building like a frozen waterfall. The stringy, straw mass crawls down the wall to a wooden sign that reads: “The Roots of Change Community Garden.”

The workers union created the garden a year ago to raise awareness in the area about the benefits of growing organic food and gardening. The lot stretches from the 1400 block of East Commerce Street to Idaho Street, flanked by tall posts, which will anchor a fence in the near future.

Workers from the tire shop across the street drove a tractor to clear the land. More than 100 volunteers weeded, seeded and watered the lot. Recent helpers have included children from the Boys & Girls Club and Edison High School who learned about the soil they tilled and water they poured from hand buckets.

Workers tell neighbors and volunteers to take whatever produce they want. They told Paul White, 84, owner of the barbershop, to help himself. They gave him handfuls of tomatoes, strawberries and black-eyed peas. They offer volunteers words of empowerment such as “Uhuru,” Swahili for freedom, on long, wooden signs jutting from sections of soil.

As fall arrives, the crops are going dormant. The fruit from a cut banana stalk lies on a worktable in the shade of an open-air shed. Workers Sandra Garcia, 20 and Stevie Freeman, 25, inspect plots once flush with serrano peppers, green chiles, corn and squash. Long pods of okra hang in abundance as one of the last vegetables still flourishing.

“It's a beginning,” Freeman said, scanning the lot under the shed entwined with a spiraling grapevine. “We have big visions.”

Tamora Ketterer, 26, who works across the street at True Opportunities, a bookkeeping and accounting service, applauds the workers efforts.

She's seen workers branch out from the garden, canvassing the neighborhood where her grandmother lives, asking how they can help. Ketterer said the garden already has helped.

“Anything to help kids do better in the community is a good thing,” She said. “I hope they succeed beyond what they sought for their vision.”