Arlington Community Garden Ripe for the Picking

Community garden produces fruit, veggies -- and friendships and goodwill

The harvest has come to bear in Arlington.

A community garden planted by residents last spring is now ripe for the picking.

The garden sits on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington and is made possible by a $50,000 city investment.

“Community gardens have been part of this world for years and, if you go back to World War II, I believe I saw that 40 percent of this nation's food was produced by community gardens in World War II and there’s a resurgence of community gardens in this area,” said Bill Gilmore, assistant director of Parks and Recreation.

The garden is made up of 78 plots. Each plot donates half of its harvest to Mission Arlington, a local charity.

City residents and staff, as well as UTA students and faculty, are the gardeners.

“I've always wanted to garden and learn how to garden organically,” Joanna McClellan said.

And while they're certainly not all expert gardeners, expertise is not what it's all about.

“It's a good way to produce food, [and] it's a good way to meet neighbors, to have an opportunity to kind of experience nature again, and it's hard work,” Gilmore said.

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