This is the second year that Wrangell’s parks and recreation department will host an adopt-a-garden volunteer program to help beautify downtown.
Though volunteers have maintained the garden beds in years past, last year was the first year that Parks and Rec organized the volunteer program and provided resources.
The seasonal garden beds will be opened for work on April 6, when Parks and Rec will host a work party. That will include a meeting to discuss guidelines, available resources and a garden bed care schedule. Opening the garden beds entails adding fertilizer, mulch, weeding and trimming bushes and shrubs.
Lucy Robinson, director of Parks and Rec, said she was looking for a better solution to maintain the downtown garden beds last year. Park and Rec already maintains 56 acres of parks, trails and mowing, Robinson said, noting that adding the downtown garden beds to the list was just too much for the staff and budget.
Robinson modeled the volunteer program last summer after similar programs in communities throughout Alaska and the Lower 48. Before last summer, there wasn’t necessarily an established protocol for maintaining the garden beds. Robinson said she found last year’s volunteer program to be a relatively simple fix.
She said “easy management” is the program’s motto. All the bump-outs at street corners have a similar theme with similar plants. None of the bump-outs have annual flowers or plants, to reduce maintenance and watering. Basic garden maintenance like trimming shrubs, weeding and deadheading are the only tasks required of volunteers.
Part of the benefit of having an organized volunteer program is hosting the closing party, Robinson said. That brings everyone together to put the bump-outs to bed for the winter and to share ideas and feedback.
The organized program also allows Parks and Rec to provide resources, tools and supplies to gardeners.
Last year, Robinson was successful in getting four to five people to volunteer to maintain the garden beds. When they noticed other beds weren’t getting taken care of, Robinson said the volunteers began taking care of additional beds as well. This year, all 10 downtown bump-outs are claimed by volunteers, including one that is mostly rock now, but will be transformed to hold dirt and shrubs similar to the other garden beds.
Robinson said maintaining the garden beds is a great way to get outside and to be active in the community. “It’s neat to have these grassroots programs that allow people to connect. You never know what will come of it,” she said.
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