Grand Opening of Ballinger Neighborhood Community Garden

The Ballinger Neighborhood Community Garden project held its official grand opening on May 22, celebrating its hillside site with 20 raised beds of sprouting plants and plans for a food bank garden plot.

Musicians played, the sun shone, and the gardeners enjoyed their accomplishments.

Photo of Peterka Family Band by Afia Menke, ND

Community Garden members and area residents worked for weeks at the site provided by Shoreline Schools behind the Aldercrest Learning Center on NE 200th near 25th NE to transform a portion of the unused and overgrown school yard into a showcase of veggies, flowers, and some fruits.  Photo of gardeners by Afia Menke, ND

Invasive plants were removed and raised beds installed.  Garden dirt arrived mid-March and the group started filling the beds. Planting was started in some of the beds with cold-tolerant peas and lettuce. Photo by Diane Hettrick

The Rain City Rotary arrived one weekend and removed blackberries and noxious shrubs and moved soil to the food bank plot.  The biggest crop for the food bank plot will be green beans.

The Ballinger Neighborhood Community Garden is a partnership between the Ballinger Neighborhood Association and the Shoreline Community Garden Group.

Photo of raised beds by Diane Hettrick

The Shoreline Community Garden Group spearheaded the development of garden rules and an application template and provided expertise in site layout and design, bed construction, volunteer coordination, and procurement of labor and materials.  The Shoreline Community Gardening Group will have an ongoing leadership and support role in the project as it evolves and will make the lessons learned from this project available to others seeking to develop similar projects in Shoreline.

The Shoreline Community Gardening Group meets on the 4th Tuesday of the month, at City Hall, in Room 301, from 6:30 - 9 pm.  Newcomers are welcome. For more information contact Meghan Peterka at 206-440-5730.

Photo: guests enjoy the ceremony.  Afia Menke ND

For more information and how to participate in the Ballinger Gardens, contact the Ballinger Neighborhood Association through their website.

Information for this article was contributed by Nancy Moreyra and Nora Smith.