BY CHARLIE MARSHALL

 

Imagine every house on a crowded neighborhood street as a seed. Imagine the concrete as the soil. On a vibrant street the roots grow deep and thick, intertwining with each other, forming strong bonds.

      Strongly rooted relationships among neighbors rarely grow the way they used to, but in some Charleston communities, neighbors are planting the seeds in gardens that they hope will not only put down roots, but foster bonds between the gardeners themselves. The crops will be more connected neighborhoods as well as good food.

      On a spring day around noon, Magnolia Park and Community Garden in West Ashley is empty but for Leslie Wade, who is making her daily walk among the seventy-plus beds placed strategically throughout the park’s three and a half acres. It’s a damp and dreary day following a few days of rain, evident from both the muddy walkways and thirst-quenched plants. Today is what Wade, the community garden coordinator for the Charleston Parks Conservancy, would call an anomaly. Why? The lack of people.

       “Our mission is to connect people to their parks,” Wade says. “I’ve always been involved in therapeutic horticulture, connecting people to plants. But the goal in the end is to connect people to people, to connect people to their neighborhoods.”

      Connecting people is what Magnolia Park has been able to do very well since its inception in April 2014. The biggest of the conservancy’s three gardens, Magnolia has 60 beds that people can lease for $50 a year. All are currently rented out, with a waiting list for others eager to get a spot. “We get everybody from people with green thumbs and experience in gardening to people who are brand new,” Wade explains.

      For those new to gardening, the conservancy offers hands on classes in the parks. But even without taking a class, says Wade, there are more than enough people in the community garden on any given day willing to lend a novice a hand. The park even features Wi-Fi so gardeners learn on the fly.

      Food is the other other component that makes community gardens like Magnolia important. Along with the 60 lease beds, Magnolia has 14 community plots, where volunteers and class attendees can plant and grow fresh produce. The harvest from the community plots is then donated to such local food pantries as One80 Place, the Lowcountry Food Bank and the Jenkins Institute for Children. In the past year, the Charleston Parks Conservancy has donated 950 pounds of produce grown in the parks. At Magnolia, Wade and her colleagues have also hosted Harvest Dinners, where community gardeners cut and cook some of their freshly grown crops, sitting down to a table filled with good food and conversation.

      The conservancy is not the only force in the growth of community gardens in Charleston. Several others are making their mark. For instance, the Medical University of South Carolina Urban Farm, located on the MUSC campus, shares the same ideals and mission.

      The Urban Farm is not considered a community garden and does not lease individual plots. Rather, Garden Farm Educator Mary Helpern likes to refer to MUSC’s Garden of Eden as a “living classroom,” where the MUSC community and surrounding neighborhoods can learn about gardening and, of course, raise food. For that reason, they host weekly classes for elementary school students, families and anyone else in the community.

      The food also finds a place at the Urban Farm. “I’ll leave a pair of scissors and a small bag on the shed desk for the person that comes by and might want to cut out a piece of produce for themselves,” Helpern says. “They might leave a thank you note in return, and that will turn into a conversation of notes every time they stop by.”

      Much of the produce harvested on the Urban Farm is shared among volunteers and attendees. Surplus food is donated to patient groups, MUSC chefs, local food banks, farm-to-school projects and church food pantries. It’s all aimed at the same goal: strengthen healthy living and community.

      Along with Magnolia Park the Charleston Parks Conservancy also operates Edelborough Park, located downtown on Line Street, and it has plans to build four more, including Medway Park (for which funds are being raised) and one in the Riverland Terrace area on James Island.

      The roots—and neighborhoods—continue to grow.