A green thumbs up

Community gardens help enrich, educate Brookfield residents

By ALAN HAMARI

Posted: May 12, 2009 |(0) Comments

As buds pop out on trees and the weather starts to warm, green-thumbed Brookfield residents are starting to think about their gardens.

That goes doubly for the Master Gardener volunteers with the University of Wisconsin-Extension who help out at a handful of community gardens in Brookfield - and the squadron of volunteers of all ages who help out at the sites.

The gardens are open to community members who want to help out and learn a few things they can apply to their own gardens.

So here's a look at some of the gardens - and the people who spend their time tending them.

Eble Park

Most people might not notice the gardens at Eble Park when they're zipping down Bluemound Road at 45 mph, but the little-seen vegetable garden there is a valuable asset to the community.

Volunteer gardeners planted and harvested 1,500 pounds of food there last year, donating it all to local food pantries. The land also hosts a flower and herb garden that Master Gardener volunteers use to teach gardening techniques.

Ann Dougherty, who's in charge of the plants and herbs at the Eble garden, said the site isn't the most well known, even to people who are familiar with Brookfield.

"Not enough people realize they can come in (and work the garden)," Dougherty said.

When work picks up in the summer, Dougherty said she usually has about a dozen volunteers who come out every week. Another team of volunteers helps out at the vegetable garden, which is run by Master Gardener volunteer Marie McGinnis.

Dousman Stagecoach Inn

Eble isn't the only historic Brookfield site that boasts a community garden.

Members of the Elmbrook Historical Society started cultivating the gardens at the Dousman Stagecoach Inn in 1985. In 1991, workers seeded a quarter-acre prairie on the east side of the property to show visitors what the undeveloped fields of Brookfield looked like in the 1850s.

Now, the historic site cultivates three gardens: the prairie garden, the perennial garden and the kitchen garden, which includes herbs like thyme and rosemary, as well as squash, cabbage and tomatoes.

Janet Wintersberger of the Elmbrook Historical Society said work has just started on the garden this summer, but volunteers in the coming weeks will plant perennials, work on the herb and prairie gardens, and put up signs and labels about the types of plants on the property.

Swanson Elementary School

As a group of first- and third-grade girls gathers around the small butterfly garden on the south side of Swanson Elementary School, Master Gardener volunteer Jennifer Kelly points out a few features of the site.

On one side, fresh mulch covers recently planted herbs and perennial flowers waiting for the right time to bloom.

On the other side, a mother killdeer sits atop her in-ground nest, keeping an eye on the encroaching schoolchildren.

The Swanson garden has been around for seven or eight years, and it's a way for teachers at the school to get students outside and teach them a little bit about gardening, plants and the like, said Kelly, who took over the garden last summer.

Swanson's garden is a butterfly garden, meaning it's filled with sun-loving perennials that attract butterflies. The garden also has some herbs, and students have planted cabbage there in the past.

Kelly will get help on the garden this summer from local Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops.

Alan Hamari can be reached at (262) 446-6601.