A University of Arizona Cooperative Extension community garden in Graham County offers more than just free garden space. It also offers a local hive mind of horticultural know-how.

The garden at Safford Agricultural Center is a grid of 18 mini-gardens, provided free by Extension, each maintained by different people. Extension launched the project last year, giving community members a place to learn about gardening while growing crops.

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Gardener Wendy Millar, who maintains one plot, already grows flowers at home but leans heavily on advice from other gardeners in the community garden.

“It was the information, because I have plenty of space at home,” Millar said. “I have water at home. Every single plant that I have here, I have growing at home, but I was struggling. If things aren’t working out, I can ask the group what they think is going wrong.”

The project aims to cultivate not just vegetables, but a resilient, educated and connected community, said Cindy Pearson, Graham County assistant in Extension for Family and Consumer Health Sciences.

“Access to fresh, healthy produce is vital for community well-being, yet many residents lack the space or resources to grow their own food. This garden addresses this gap,” Pearson said.

The space promotes sustainable gardening, environmental stewardship and community education and fosters a culture of sharing knowledge and resources, she said.

Gardening education

Extension provides irrigation for the 16x16 foot plots, including drip lines, tape, emitters, controllers and hose bibs on each plot. There is a small seed library, soil, beds of worms to enrich the soil and wire panels that make great arches for climbing vines.

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Extension Community Outreach Coordinator Richard Cluff, who retired four years ago as Mesa Community College facilities director, built and manages the garden. Cluff was once trained as an Extension master gardener, and that experience has come in handy.

“My original plan was then to come out here and get these set up, and now I teach a basic, four-week gardening course twice a year,” Cluff said.

Anyone can claim a spot, though in early April there were only four spots were open.

“So, it's all there. We provide the space. Gardeners are asked to take the class, where they learn basic gardening, then they apply it to their gardens. We provide everything they need to be successful,” Cluff said.

A blank slate

Each plot is a mini dreamland of possibilities. The gardeners bring their own choices and personalities to each space.

One section is a demonstration plot, mostly kale and lettuce. One section is all flowers. Most are a mix of fruits and vegetables. One has strawberries, and one has a pear tree.

Reetha Russell heard about the garden at the Safford City-Graham County Library, where Extension offered Cluff’s class. She has a garden at home in Safford, but she had never grown vegetables, she said.

“I think it's a great program, because we can try things we've never tried before. I never grew kale, and last night I was making kale chips! I have done lettuce and other things in the past, but out here they're doing so well. I'm gonna be able to harvest seed from my broccoli to plant again,” she said.

Russel is growing a spectrum of healthy eats in the tiny space.

“I have Swiss chard. I did have peas and carrots, but I just harvested them on Saturday, then took the pea plants out - they were done. I had lettuce in this bed. I had Romaine, leaf lettuce and spinach in that bed. That's lettuce going to seed. This over here is broccoli going to seed,” she said.

The Extension demonstration plot is managed by Cluff’s wife, AmeriCorps member Susan Cluff.

“Richard and I have gardened for years and years and years,” she said. “We're on 2 acres, and the majority of it is planted. Some of our newer people think it is impossible to grow in the desert. We show them you can, if you do the right things.”

The demonstration is a standing example of irrigation methods, Richard said.

“We have drip tape on one bed and drip tubing on the other, then 1-gallon drip emitters on another plant, just to show different ways you can water,” he said.

Trial and error

Raised beds are encouraged and provided because the ground under the garden is mostly clay that requires conditioning to grow vegetables. It has become a laboratory of attempts, Cluff said during a stroll between the plots, which are bordered with redwood edging.

“One over here, she's put a nitrogen crop in, hoping that she can stir it all up and start working it that way. Another gentleman just put a bunch of compost on top of the soil, threw some fertilizer in there, and he has some beans growing. Another person had cabbage – somewhat successful, but by far more successful in the raised beds,” he said.

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There is a lot of experimentation. Some gardeners had failed crops and had to examine their fertilizer approach. Others got crops, but technique left them a bushel short of a full load, so to speak.

“We had a gentleman who planted all his beets too close together, and a woman next to him had hers pretty far apart. Then when he pulled his beets out, they were tiny, and hers were bigger. It was a teaching moment,” he said.

The group stays in touch via text when they aren’t at the garden, spreading advice and news about expected freezes or leaking irrigation, Cluff said.

Millar’s plot is mostly flowers - sweet peas, poppies, ranunculus, anemone, snapdragons.

“I have some seedlings in my car. After I weed here, I'm gonna plant some zinnias, and I can't even remember what else I brought. Flowers. Mostly flowers,” she said smiling.

Hers is the plot with nitrogen cover crop. Between the flower beds, Millar planted oats, field peas and poppies as a test. Those will be tilled back into the clay.

“I wanted to take advantage of all the space I had and see if I could make the soil on the ground more nutrient rich, so that I could plant directly in there. Just experimentation, you know?” she said.

Gardening launchpad

It’s a great place to get started with gardening, because everything except fertilizer and seed is provided. 

“All you have to do is provide the labor, and it doesn't cost you anything,” Cluff said.

Reanna Ochoa set up her raised beds in September and started growing vegetables, also for the first time. 

“I had this one with broccoli, cauliflower and iceberg lettuce. I had peas in here, and then my onions. So that's what I first started off with. That's what I harvested in December,” Ochoa said. 

In the spring she brought the peach tree and planted potatoes that had sprouted at home. For her the best part is the chance to learn – from the experience and other gardeners.

“I did it as a learning experience. I was just starting with flowers, and I thought this would be a nice learning experience. I don't have this area at home to do it, so it has been great. It's just been a lot of fun,” she said.

For more information or to make a donation toward operation of the garden, contact Assistant in Extension Cindy Pearson at cpearson@cals.arizona.edu.