Residents, Officials Visit, Tour New Hazelwood Community Garden

With tomatoes, berries, pumpkins and flowers blooming behind them, Gateway Greening and St. Louis County Library, Prairie Commons branch officials and sponsors cut the ribbon to its new community garden Thursday morning.

The garden is the first completed public library community garden for the state as well as St. Louis. The garden features 20 raised garden beds and a 500-square foot butterfly garden.

“This isn’t your typical start-up garden,” Michael Sorth, Gateway Greening executive director, said during the event. “This looks like a garden landscaped for four to five years.”

The former turf grass area became an attractive point as well as other public library spaces for Gateway Greening a few years ago, and the St. Louis County Library and non-profit organization partnered together in 2012, and the installation of the garden began in March.

Through multiple tours of the gardening space, several fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers could be seen throughout the area.

Barbara Brain, assistant director for adult and support services for the library system, said it’s exciting for the library to become a part of the local food movement.

“Local food movement has been growing over the past few years,” she said.

The 20 garden beds were installed and planted by Hazelwood community members who took interest in the project last year. Each member paid $25 to rent their bed for the year, Sorth said, and the money would go toward funding future needs and resources for the garden.

The community members have been a key part to getting the project up and running.

“This isn’t a library-driven project or a Gateway Greening-driven project,” Sorth said. “It is a community-driven project.”

In the future, the library would continue to expand the garden to include more beds and it could serve as a learning experience for library users such as workshops and a spot for children storytime.

Gateway Greening and St. Louis County Library hope to start its next community garden project at Cliff Cave branch next year.