Woodbury Community Garden received two grants that will help make the garden wheelchair accessible and expand access for all city residents.
The AARP Community Challenge Grant program recently awarded $6,600 to Woodbury Thrives, the parent organization of the community garden. The grant will be used to build raised garden beds that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act to make them more accessible to people who use wheelchairs. The raised bed design was created by the Placer Resource Conservation District of California. There is space underneath the bed to accommodate a wheelchair, similar to how a person would sit at a desk.
A diagram of a wheelchair-accessible raised bed garden designed by the Placer Resource Conservation District in California. Woodbury Community Gardens was awarded an AARP Community Challenge grant to add a raised bed garden to make it more accessible to people who use wheelchairs. (Courtesy of Placer Resource Conservation District)
The flower beds will be located on the east side of the garden, said Sandy Peterson, project manager for the gardens, and there are plans to lay a gravel or asphalt walkway to make it wheelchair accessible.
“We're very excited and very grateful,” Peterson said. “It's such an honor.”
Ed Myatt is a member of the University of Minnesota's Master Gardeners program, which trains volunteers in horticulture, and serves on the garden's leadership committee.
As Peterson explains, he is also the committee's preeminent handyman: “My specialty is architecture,” he says.
Improving the gardens' accessibility is something the committee has been discussing for more than a year, said Myatt, who has already begun construction on a demonstration raised bed at the Washington County Fairgrounds and was the one who brought the design to the table.
With these beds, “people in wheelchairs can garden just like anyone else,” Myatt says.
Unique challenges
The grant requires construction of the flowerbeds to be completed by the end of the year, though Peterson said the deadline is actually sooner: Typically, in late November, as winter approaches and the ground hardens, making construction difficult.
The garden committee will host what Peterson called an “outreach program” to inform the community about the accessibility improvements and raise awareness, especially among minority groups and seniors. Peterson said one program has been hosted so far and has been very well received.
“We have no idea how many people need this stuff,” Peterson said. “We don't have a database. We don't have a spreadsheet.”
The final condition of the grant is that a community garden plot must be set aside to grow vegetables to be donated to a local food shelf, something Peterson said they're already doing.
Alan Petersen, a retired farmer with an agriculture degree who also uses a wheelchair, was asked for his input on the design of a raised bed garden.
“There are a lot of people who want to do something, who want to garden, and who could use vegetables,” said Petersen, who doesn't garden herself but remembers how much her mother enjoyed gardening and how difficult it became as she got older.
This brings him to a point where he agrees with Sandy Peterson, namely that it's not just people who use wheelchairs who can benefit from these raised flower beds, but also people with other disabilities and the elderly who find bending or kneeling uncomfortable.
“I'm very excited. I think it's a good thing,” Petersen said.
Jay Haapala, associate director of community engagement for AARP Minnesota, said grant competitions like this one represent a growing trend and desire for community members to connect with one another and be more inclusive in their neighborhoods.
“These projects are a way for people of all ages and abilities to get involved and become part of the community,” Ha'apala said.
Cultivate a garden
A basket of produce harvested by Woodbury resident Ying Liang last fall. She said she harvested more than 200 pounds of tomatoes in 2023. (Gabrielle Ellenstein/Pioneer Press)
Peterson said with the grant money they should be able to build at least two raised bed gardens.
Woodbury Community Garden opened with 16 plots in 2022 and expanded to 48 plots in 2023. Peterson said he hopes to double the size of the garden next year.
That hope came closer to reality when a second grant from the state Department of Agriculture was awarded on July 13. The urban agriculture grants, totaling about $50,000 over three years, have exceeded Peterson's dreams and will now triple the size of his garden.
“Once the paperwork is completed by Woodbury Community Foundation and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the garden expansion will begin,” Simi Patnaik, program manager for Woodbury Thrives, said in a news release. “We anticipate breaking ground by the end of 2024, with additional plots available in 2025.”
Patnaik and Peterson said this is good news for the gardens, which continue to fill up their current plots and are constantly in demand for more.
“This grant will enable more Woodbury residents to enjoy gardening,” Patnaik said. “It will take us to a new level.”
Potential gardeners can reserve a plot through the City of Woodbury at woodburymn.gov/1001/Community-Garden. There is a plot rental fee, but financial assistance is available.
