The community garden is now open at Western Wisconsin Health. The raised bed portion of the garden officially opened on Thursday, May 25. The large garden plot area will officially open in the spring of 2018.

The new Western Wisconsin Health community garden is completely organic. No pesticides or herbicides will be permitted. Gardeners are provided with access to water, quality soil and compost, and 5’ by 10’ raised garden beds. There is a mixture of single and double high beds for easy accessibility to meet the needs of all types of gardeners. There are also picnic tables in the garden area.

A special garden orientation class was held on Thursday, May 25 in the new garden area with community members that rented the raised garden beds. Master Gardener Mary Saunders educated participants on organic gardening principals, introduced information on growing vegetables, and was available to answer questions that the gardeners had. She will be offering her expertise throughout the season to help maintain the garden.

In starting its first community garden, Western Wisconsin Health received guidance from the St. Croix Valley Master Gardeners, area hospital community garden volunteers, and Master Gardener volunteers. A committee was developed to oversee the project and involved staff and community members to help plan and set up the community garden.  We would like to extend a special “thank you” to Mark Saunders and Pat Hayes for volunteering to build the raised garden bed boxes. Mike Deneen, of Deneen Seed and Soil also contributed time and resources to get the garden up and running.

For more information on the community garden or to reserve a plot for 2018, please contact Amanda Gustafson at 715-684-1595 or via e-mail at amanda.gustafson@wwhealth.org.