A growing season for the Vermillion Community Garden

The Vermillion Community Garden president, Stephanie Nefas, hosted a mason jar terrarium and hanging planter work day on May 2 to fundraise for the upcoming layout renovations. Their goal this summer is to revitalize the community grown food pantry plot area. 

“We had an amazing master gardener join us last year to increase production from about 300 pounds of produce to 500,” Nefas said. “They were able to identify that we needed some updates to the layout and a better network of volunteers to help with weeding, watering and harvesting vegetables.” 

Not only will the layout be reworked, the garden plans to fundraise for raised beds to make weeding less work. The master gardeners are people who are highly educated on how to garden, and offer tips on planting and caring for plants.  

Murphy is a graduate student at USD and this is her second year with a garden plot. As a vegetarian, she feels that she saves money by growing her own produce. 

“I don’t have space to garden where I live, but that turned into a blessing since I garden at the community garden instead of staying isolated,” Murphy said. “I had gardening experience before I got my plot, but you don’t need to know how to grow anything to join.” 

The garden utilizes the free community composting program that runs on a three bin system. Murphy typically composts veggie scraps after a night of food pepper but doesn’t have space to keep a compost bin in the kitchen so she recommends the freezer to store compost because it doesn’t smell or attract flies and it’s out of the way.

“For anyone who does have the capacity to keep a little compost around until they can transport it, I highly recommend the compost system,” Murphy said. “It’s a good way to keep waste out of the landfill and help gardeners make their soil more nutritious.” 

The garden has about 47 individual plots that are rented, with one per household, that usually fill up for the season. There’s typically a 50/50 mix of people associated with USD and other community members. 

“There are younger college students and older people that all use the garden,” Nefas said. “It’s an important location for people who rent, do not have space in their yard, and people who plan to not garden every year.” 

Commonly grown items at the garden include peppers, herbs, garlic and more. The garden also has an international student population that grows a variety of vegetables that aren’t typically locally grown or sold. 

“The number one crop in our plot is tomatoes. We planted some garlic in November that’s coming up now,” Murphy said. “I have a couple of native plants, such as anise and bee balm, that I grow specifically for tea. Pollinators also love them, so I make sure to leave enough standing to feed butterflies, bees and other insects.” 

At the first Vermillion area farmers market on May 14, they plan on having a plant sale to raise money for the community garden.

 “We also coordinate with volunteers to do improvements around the garden, help with maintenance and help with the food pantry plot,” Nefas said. ”We have help with internship hours, and can schedule or set up a project if you contact us.” 

Photo Credit: Addi Sporleder