The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
38°F
Current Conditions
Clear sky
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

NE community garden moving

Northeast Spokane residents Esther Gaines, Laura Warren and Lloyd Gaines walk through the community garden under construction at Andrew Rypien Field. (Evan Jensen / The Spokesman-Review)
Evan Jensen Correspondent
Northeast Spokane residents Esther Gaines, Laura Warren and Lloyd Gaines walk through the community garden under construction at Andrew Rypien Field. (Evan Jensen / The Spokesman-Review)

When kids from the Spokane Youth Sports Association kick off their next soccer game at Andrew Rypien Field near Bemiss Elementary School, a few green-thumb gardeners will be kicking off their own kind of summer activity.

Partnering with the Spokane Youth Sports Association, the Northeast Community Center recently built 48 raised garden beds on the southwest corner of the field. While minor improvements still need to be made, local residents can rent garden space from the community center and grow tomatoes, corn and produce before the end of the summer.

The new community garden will replace garden space being taken over by the Northeast Community Center, 4001 N. Cook St., for its expansion, which includes a parking lot and approximately 24,000 square feet of additional building space.

“The original garden was built by members of the LDS Church about seven years ago, but the land was committed for expansion at the time,” Northeast Community Center Director Jean Farmer said. “It has been a remarkable gift to the community and we want to honor what the LDS Church started.”

Most of the plants at the old garden are being transplanted to the new site. Some gardeners will even move truckloads of soil, enriched by seven successful growing years. The center also plans to provide irrigation at the new garden, install a four-foot chain link fence around the raised beds and plant landscaping around the perimeter.

“Our community garden has proven its value as a way to supplement food budgets for families and proven its value to encourage cultural integration,” Farmer said. “Many of the residents who grow produce in our garden are Eastern European immigrants and gardening has always been a way of life for them. In an urban environment that can be hard to find. The garden has been a real blessing for us and for them.”

Hundreds of youth practice and play soccer games at Andrew Rypien field each week and dozens of basketball players frequent the courts on the northeast side of the park. Walkers and joggers also take advantage of the paved trail surrounding the field.

Unfortunately, the area has been a target for vandals in recent years, but Farmer and SYSA Executive Director Phil Helean hope the gardens will be another good influence in the neighborhood.

“I think the presence of the gardeners will be a big positive for the field,” Helean said. “We want more people to use the park and the field. I think the gardens will cut down on some of the vandalism we’ve seen there.”

Farmer said area residents, community groups and churches have reserved 30 of the raised beds at the field. This season, gardeners can rent a space for $10 at the community garden, but that fee will increase slightly next year. For more information, contact the Northeast Community Center at 487-1603.