March 31, 2019 – West Bend, WI – Garden plots are currently available for rent at Community Church in West Bend. The lots are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The Community Church Garden rents plots to people who love gardening but have no place to garden.
Don Kurer, Aiden Strand, and Simeon Strand installing fence corner posts during the garden expansion in 2014.
Don Kurer, a WWII vet, was 87 at the time, he’s now 92 and going strong. Aiden and Simeon’s family is moving to Bosnia to start mission work later this year.
Community Church provides 20’ x 20’ or 10’ x 20’ garden plots with good soil. Garden tools, water, tilling, wood chips, and leaves for mulch are also provided.
Gardeners provide their own fencing, seeds, plants, and labor. Their labor includes spreading wood chips, weeding the pathways around their plots, as well as weeding in their plots.
Gardeners must sign a garden agreement which covers Garden Rules like organic gardening practices, safety rules, certain plants that are not allowed, required donation of at least five pounds of produce to a charity of their choice, etc.. Plot rental fees are $15/year for a 10’ x 20’ plot and $25/year for a 20’ x 20’ plot.
If you are interested come to Community Church at 2005 S. Main St., drive around to the back of the church and look at the garden plots. Right now the ground is pretty soft, so you’ll have to park on the black top and walk to the plots, when the ground dries you can drive right up to the plots.
The attached garden overview shows which plots are available for rent. If you would like a guided tour of the plots and facilities call Steve Eklund: 262-689-3060.
Mary Steiner sharing some produce with some kids. Mary and Bill gardened with us until 2017, Mary had been a Master Gardener and writer. She and Bill still are local expert gardeners around their home.
To sign up for a plot this year you must read the Garden Agreement, make a copy of the last page and fill it out, turn in the page along with your rental fee to the church office at 2005 S. Main St., phone 262-338-0725. Office hours are 9:00 to 4:00 M,T,W,T. You can get a copy of the Garden Agreement from the Church Office or Steve Eklund.
The Washington County Master Gardeners joined us in 2013 and have maintained a plot ever since. They provide a hands-on presence to help inexperienced gardeners with answers to all kinds of questions. They demonstrate good gardening practices, and can walk over and analyze various garden problems on the spot.
Mohan and Munna Thapa, with Pratiksha Gurung in their garden. Mohan is a math professor UW Milwaukee WB. They have been gardening with us since 2013.
The garden was prepared in the fall of 2012, and the first year of operation was 2013, with 12 plots. The plots rented quickly and we had a waiting list of people who wanted to garden, so in the fall of 2013 and spring of 2014 we expanded to 26 plots.
Sarena and Jason Roskom with their donation to the Full Shelf Food Pantry. All of our gardeners donate at least five pounds to the charity of their choice each year.
Our garden shed contains tools that all of our gardeners can use.
Each garden plot is within easy hose reach of a water hydrant.
Garden Overview. This shows the garden layout, plot sizes, and the names of our gardens for 2019, to date. The blank plots: 7, 8, 9 etc. are available for rent. We have a waiting list of 4 people who have not chosen a plot yet so some of those blank plots will be taken soon.
