Unleash your inner farmer

Opportunities abound at area community gardens

By Tim Spitzack | Editor | April 2025

If you think the quality of fruits and vegetables in supermarkets these days has diminished, your observation is not off-base. According to a 2024 National Library of Medicine report, the nutritional quality of food worldwide has declined significantly over the past 70-plus years due to changes in farming techniques, artificial fertilization, pesticides, the cultivation of high-yielding varieties and environmental factors that deplete the soil. Apples, oranges, bananas and tomatoes, for example, have lost 25-50% nutritional density since the 1940s. To combat this trend, many have turned to growing food themselves, either in their own backyard or a community garden. While there is a fair amount of work involved, any avid gardener will tell you it’s worth the effort because you can enjoy nutritious, fresh produce within minutes or days of harvest.

There are other benefits as well. Numerous studies show that gardening is a source of exercise that helps improve strength, balance and flexibility, and improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression and stress. Community gardens benefit neighborhoods by promoting social interaction, creating green space, and improving air and soil quality. Some gardeners have gone a step further and use their hobby to fight food insecurity by giving away the produce they grow. According to the University of Minnesota’s Healthy Food, Healthy Lives Institute and the Institute on the Environment, food insecurity in Minnesota has surged as much as 40% since the pandemic.

Gardening season
In the coming weeks, the soil will be turned at community gardens across the city and people will be plodding through the muddy rows to dig in the dirt and plant seeds. If you’d like to give gardening a try, several opportunities await. All gardens are open to everyone, regardless of residency.

GROWS
Growing Resilience on the West Side (GROWS), a coalition of organizations and individuals working on food justice, is looking for gardeners for its communal gardens, which allow multiple people to help tend a garden and enjoy the bounty of it. All food is available free to anyone in the community who wants or needs it.

The Capitol View Communal Garden and Orchard, located at Smith and Cherokee avenues near the Smith Avenue High Bridge, is now in its fourth season. The 8,500-square-foot site is owned by the City of St. Paul and operates with the help of some 200 volunteers. It has 20 organic planting beds for vegetables and at least 20 fruit and nut trees, including apple, cherry, serviceberry, pear, plum and hazelnut. Paul Pfeiffer, who has lived on the West Side for nearly 20 years, is one of 15-20 volunteers who show up weekly during the growing season for watering, weeding and other chores. Thursdays are the designated work day, from 6 p.m.-dark.

“This is a very different model,” he said. “There are no work requirements or fees. It’s community-led, not hierarchal. Anyone can help, and anyone can harvest. I’m always asked, ‘can I come and take some stuff,’ and the answer is always, ‘yes, when it’s ripe.’”

Pfeiffer said the garden has grown every year, both in size and popularity.

“Every year it grows bigger and more exciting, but bigger isn’t what we’re after – we’re going for community,” he said. “It’s a very beautiful and welcoming space, and a fun environment. I’ve seen people doing yoga there, wandering the beds, writing in journals, and of course gardening…. It has allowed me to know my neighbors better because we work side by side and share with each other, no strings attached.”

Volunteers are also needed at the three other communal garden sites: the Robert Street Garden at Robert and Morton streets, Garden of Good Hearts at 441 Wabasha St. S. and a plot at 88 Cesar Chavez. Volunteers assist with planting, weeding and food distribution. Like the Capitol View Communal Garden and Orchard, anyone may harvest ripe produce from these gardens. Educational presentations are offered during the summer, and the produce is given away weekly from stands at Parque Castillo on Sunday afternoons, and Beautiful Laundrette, 625 Stryker Ave., on Wednesday afternoons. Information signage will be installed at all sites this summer to help people better understand the concept of a communal garden and to direct them to other community gardens in the region. For more information on GROWS, visit mfjn.org/take-action/grows or contact Leah Mathiason at leah@rustypatchfarm.com.

Looking to plant your own garden? You can get free seed packets at the West Side Seed Library at Riverview Library, 1 George St. E. The seeds are provided by community gardeners and through other donations.

Dodge Nature Center gardens
Dodge Nature Center runs its community garden program May through October at its main property at 1701 Charlton St., West St. Paul, and its Shepard Farm site at 8946 70th St. S., Cottage Grove. For $135, gardeners receive a 15-by-15-foot plot, the use of tools, water and compost, and enrollment in an organic gardening class. Registration opens in early March and runs through Memorial Day, or until all plots are filled. Dodge’s farm manager, Don Oberdorfer, said the gardens are particularly attractive to people who live in apartments because they don’t have to buy and store their own tools.

“All you have to do is show up and supply the seeds and labor,” he said.

The popularity of the garden spiked during the pandemic and remains high. Before 2020, about 40 families participated. Today, the garden in West St. Paul is used by 70 families, and the newer garden in Cottage Grove by 25 families. An orientation session is held at 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 9 in West St. Paul, and Thursday, April 10 in Cottage Grove. The class on organic gardening practices is offered at 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 16 in West St. Paul, and Thursday, April 17 in Cottage Grove. For more information, call 651-789-5285 or visit dodgenaturecenter.org.

South St. Paul Community Garden
The City of South St. Paul has operated a community garden for three decades. It attracts gardeners from South St. Paul and the surrounding communities, including St. Paul and Minneapolis. It has 119 plots and is located near the DNR boat launch and city compost site off Verderosa Avenue, near the I-494 Wakota Bridge. Residents may sign up for a plot beginning Mar. 24, and nonresidents on April 7. Plots are 15-by-20-feet and surrounded by fencing with a lock-secured gate. A total of nine water spigots are available. Rates are $21.43 for residents and $32.14 for nonresidents. Residents aged 55 and older pay $16.07. For more information, call South St. Paul Parks and Recreation at 651-366-6200 or visit southstpaul.org.

Garden on the Hill
First Presbyterian in South St. Paul, 535 20th Ave. N., has been hosting a community garden for a dozen years. It has 20 fenced-in plots, ranging from $40 for a 10-by-15-foot plot to $50 for a 10-by-20-foot plot. Master gardeners use a section to run seed trials for the University of Minnesota and to grow produce for the local food shelf, and they also teach free classes and demonstrate organic gardening methods. Experienced gardeners are usually on site to share their knowledge and skills with gardening novices.

Since its inception, gardeners have donated nearly 11,000 pounds of organic vegetables. All plots are for organic gardening, meaning no commercial chemicals are allowed in the garden, including herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. Gardeners are required to maintain their plot, weed the path around it and attend a work session in the spring and fall. Garden coordinator Julie Close said people are attracted to the garden for its serene location, and the opportunity to grow their own food and learn techniques from master gardeners. A kick-off meeting is at 1 p.m., Sunday, April 13. For more information, call 651-459-5607 or visit fpcssp.org.

Farmers markets
Farmers markets are a great place to find fresh produce – without the work. The St. Paul Farmers Market, which operates year-round, begins its summer season in late April at the downtown market. It also hosts neighborhood markets in South St. Paul, West St. Paul and several other communities during
the summer and fall. All food is grown within 100 miles of St. Paul. For more details, visit stpaulfarmersmarket.com.

The independent West Side Farmers Market is open 9 a.m.-noon every Saturday from June through October at Icy Cup, 63 George St. W. Community members may also grow their own produce in a small plot next to the building.

• Facebook
• ShareCopied to clipboard

<<< Back to Home