By Joel Keller
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
There may still be a nip in the air outside, but before you know it, spring will be upon us. And while you may be thinking of melting snow and putting the parka in storage, gardeners all over the country are thinking of one thing: What are they going to plant this year?
According to the National Gardening Association, 75% of Americans garden in one fashion or another. It could be anything from a window box in a high-rise apartment building to a backyard full of vegetation. For gardeners at Cedar Crest, they get their own 64-square-foot patch of land to till and maintain. The facility’s community garden is lovingly maintained every year by the people who use it, with some assistance from the staff.
“It’s a setup for everybody to utilize their gardening talents and enjoy the therapy of gardening,” says Ted Thiessen, Cedar Crest’s grounds supervisor.
Early bird gets the worm
A 30-year veteran of the gardening business—he’s owned and worked at various greenhouses and garden centers—this spring will be Thiessen’s first at Cedar Crest. He’s already met with the members of the gardening club, a resident-run group that helps manage the garden.
The club, which begins their monthly meetings in March, is a good resource for gardeners of all stripes to learn and exchange information. Don Bauch, a resident who leads the club, found that out last year when another resident who grew worms as a pastime encouraged group members to grow their own batches in order to help their gardens thrive this spring.
“I was raising worms in my kitchen,” he laughs, “in these white plastic containers. Every 21 days they’d double in population.” There were so many of them that he ran out of room in his apartment, leading to what Bauch thought was a comical sight: “I was out in the snow burying worms. I was setting them free.”