Community garden keeps growing

The Saratoga Community Garden Board welcomed many members of the community to enjoy their crops this year during their thank-you lunch for the community.

Board members prepared cakes, treats and other items for the community made with ingredients from their garden. Additionally, there were other vegetables available for residents to take home with them.

"We wanted to throw a 'thank you lunch' for the town and the town council for helping us initiate the whole [greenhouse] project as well," community garden board member Christy Smith said. "This was something we want to make into an annual event."

The community garden saw their garden grow in many ways other than food this year. Their participation numbers increased significantly, Smith said, and they also completed construction of their greenhouse. The greenhouse project was funded through a grant with the assistance of the town of Saratoga and the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. Though the greenhouse is still waiting on solar fans to complete the project, the structure of the greenhouse was completed in July.

Smith said the completion of the greenhouse will help with growing specific types of crops which do better in warmer temperatures.

The community garden provides an educational and entertaining hobby for many residents, Smith said. After moving from Colorado, Smith said she has learned a lot more about Wyoming gardening since joining the board. The biggest challenge for Wyoming gardeners, she said, was the intense conditions, including wind, heat, sudden cold weather and the short growing season. However, many other crops, such as quinoa, do better in the high elevation and dry conditions of the Platte Valley.

The community garden board is still relatively new to the town of Saratoga after being established in 2011. Smith said the board wants more people to be involved with the garden in the coming years.

"We need more members," Smith said. "We would love to have more gardeners to participate to make it what it really is: a community garden."

There are currently 10 people involved with the community garden, and Smith said she would like to see that number at least double by the beginning of next year. With more involvement from the community, Smith said the community garden can build more gardening beds and expand to other gardening features.

Interested parties should contact the Saratoga Town Hall at (307) 326-8335 to get involved with the community garden.