Dave Maxwell
The Caliente Community Garden at the UNR Cooperative Extension Office. The public is invited to come by and see how it is progressing.
Extension Educator Holly Gatzke said, “It is kind of a pilot project to try to find out if there is a demand for people to learn and be able to grow some fresh vegetables for themselves and their families and share in those tasks, too.”
Gatzke invites everyone to come by and see what the garden looks like. It is a fenced area on the north side of the extension facility, across the street from the Caliente Elementary School.
She said people can also contact her office at 775-726-3109. “We are full for this year, but we certainly would like to know who would be interested in joining in for next year.”
She explained the families who are involved at present come in and do the gardening, preparing of the soil, the planting and the maintenance and gathering the produce that is grown. “Right now we are growing everything from squash, melons, tomatoes, peppers, okra, greens and more”
She said the people involved are really enjoying it. “We have a few veteran gardeners, but even they have said they have learned a few new things. They all are enjoying sharing the responsibilities and being able to get produce off the vines.”
She noted that the gardeners have a flex schedule. “Not all of them are there at the same time, but they do try to have a joint meeting every week or two. They come early in the morning when it is cool. Otherwise, they come individually and do the things they know need to be done.”
The growers involved in the garden this year, Gatzke said, “set it up this year that instead of having their own private plot to grow in, they would share all the produce among themselves. They each have a plot of a certain type of crop and then they share within that.”
The extension is also hosting a community garden walk & talk titled “Weeds, pests, diseases, harvesting – oh my!!!”
The event will be at the same office in Caliente on Monday at 8 a.m.
Gatzke will be the presenter.
