This video story was reported and produced by David Rose.
They work together to grow together.
That is the story of the Seminole Heights Community Gardens, which has seen more growth in members in the past nine months than in the previous three years. Despite the pandemic, gardening remains popular — and safe.
“We’ve always found that people come here because they’re interested in gardening, they’re interested in eating or they’re interested in community, so this has always been a place,” said Colleen Parker, the president of the community gardens group. “And we do believe in place-making. I think the community aspect of our garden has become one of the most important parts of our garden.”
Unlike other urban gardens where each gardener has their own plot of land, members of the Seminole Heights Community Gardens all work the entire garden to benefit everyone.
The Gardens, founded in 2009, are 100 percent volunteer. So when it shut down in March 2020 to volunteers and visitors, the garden had to make do with fewer hands.
“Two or three of us kept the garden going,” Parker said.
By September, however, the CDC had issued guidance that outdoor gardening was a safe activity, provided that volunteers wear face masks and stay socially distant. People cooped up in the lockdown flocked to the Gardens as a way to get outside and get healthy foods in an urban setting.
“Starting in the fall of 2020, … people started trickling back into the garden, and I think that is because people really wanted to do something and being outside seemed like a safe thing to do,” Parker said.
To volunteer at the Seminole Heights Community Garden, just show up on any Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. The Gardens are at 6114 River Terrace in Tampa.
