Larry Gregory volunteers to prepare the ground for the community garden.

REVITALIZATION OF THE "VICTORY GARDEN" A Community Gardening Program By Francis Perry Editor's Note: Information on this program is available through the Naperville Park District

CHILDREN'S GARDENING You Can Almost Tell Folks who make a garden, Who love to weed and hoe, Always seem less worried Than other folks I know. They also seem more gentle, Their hearts with love abound, You can almost tell such people By the look they carry around. Can it be that gardening, Plays a double role, Fulfills creative longing And cultivates the soul? Ruth R. Heuter

Snow is still on the ground, but in many Naperville households, plans to repeat a 1970 summer pastime are already underway.

Planners are looking ahead to the Naperville Park District's second annual community gardening program in the Fraley Outdoor Recreation Area.

Records indicate that 95% of the 58 gardens started in last summer's initial program were carried to completion. "Great experience!" and "Definitely want to see this program continue," sum up the feelings of most of last year's participants.

The gardening area, at 83rd Street and Book Road, is in the 162 acre former Fraley Farm, purchased by the Park District soon after the district was established. The district plows approximately five acres, discs the ground, assigns the lots, and provides a water supply and a garden supervisor. Choice of seeds, planting, tending and harvesting are up to each gardener. District stipulations include keeping each plot neat and weeded and refraining from spraying which is not approved by the District.

The 1971 plot layout will offer two sizes of gardens rather than last summer's 30 x 40 foot plot only. Next summer's gardeners can choose from 75 plots 30 x 40 feet and 25 plots measuring 30 x 20 feet. Additional areas will be plowed if requests warrant.

Other 1971 improvements that reflect suggestions from the 1970 gardeners are earlier preparation of the soil, installation of plastic water pipe up and down the garden area, with spigots at convenient locations, picnic tables in the park, and probably an earlier date for the garden show. Last summer's show came after most gardens had passed their prime, gardeners felt.

Half of the 1970 participants answered the evaluation questionnaire sent out this fall by the Park District. Most replies showed that the program's stated objectives had been met, in most cases to a very satisfactory degree. These objectives, announced last spring, were to "promote social relationships of people who have a common interest, bring you in contact with the good earth, promote conservation measures, involve people in pure enjoyment of the activity, and provide food for the table as well as food for thought."

One report lists the family's harvest as 2 bushels of carrots, 10 pounds of onions, six heads of cabbage, half-bushel green peppers, 'a few potatoes for fun,' six watermelons, eight cantaloupe, and these vegetables gathered but still producing in mid-October: 2 bushels of green and wax beans, half-bushel beets, over three bushels tomatoes, and 3 bushels squash.

Another gardener also raised these products plus lima beans, acorn squash, cucumbers, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and turnips. The report shows that most of the produce yielded not only summer table fare for five people but 240 packages of frozen goods, 5 portions each, and 100 5-portion jars, canned.

One family, stating they wish to use organic fertilization materials only, suggested an experimentation program wherein some plots could be treated organically, others with commercial fertilizers. Several gardeners wished for an insecticide program to be managed by the Park District rather than by individual gardeners. One gardener, noting that he had gathered 2 dozen ears of corn, added ruefully, "Coons got most of it."

Much credit was given Mae Theilgaard Watts, Naperville naturalist and former Morton Arboretum instructor, retired engineer Joe Stoos, and Larry Gregory of rural Naperville, with helping start the gardening program. Without their ideas, inspiration, and guidance, and Larry's plowing, this program would not have come about.

It seems a safe bet that Park District gardeners will go right on watching for the postman and waiting impatiently for the new seed catalogs.

Francis Perry is Public Information officer for the Naperville Park District.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 7 March/April, 1971