School may still be out for summer, but soon-to-be Colton High School senior Addison English has been busy working on her senior project, a Colton community garden to benefit anyone needing fresh produce.
“The idea for a community garden came up in a class with senior project adviser Amanda Hanson. I was excited by the idea and looked into what it would entail,” explained English. “A fenced-in area at the end of the school’s shop building had quite a few empty above-ground planter boxes. I asked the shop teacher for permission to use the area and planters and talked with the principal about the community accessing the garden on school grounds.”
After receiving approval, English went to work. The area was overgrown with weeds and many of the wooden planter boxes needed fixing or replacing. She, her boyfriend, mom, cousins and friend Rylee Beach worked to clean the garden area. Then came time to plant. English said the veggie starts, herbs and flowers were donated by Cutter’s Hi-School Pharmacy in Molalla. Molalla Ace Hardware donated garden soil and hoses. Wilco donated a $100 gift card she used to purchase fertilizer, pruning shears, gardening gloves, an additional hose and a hose nozzle.
So, what does the garden offer? It has 10 varieties of tomatoes, eight varieties of peppers and two varieties each of cucumbers, squash, zucchini and eggplant. The raised beds also contain onions, potatoes, lettuce, arugula, celery, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, artichokes, cantaloupe, watermelon and multiple herbs.
English keeps the beds weeded. She works during the day, but hand waters the plants each night and fertilizes them once a week. Parts of the garden are ready for harvest so stop on by and help yourself to what you can use.
The gate to the garden is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., but these hours will change when students are back in school. English said she will post the new hours to Instagram and Facebook.
Besides community members garnering the harvest, English is working on plans to share the freshly picked vegetables with Colton’s Helping Hands Food Pantry and the high school culinary program.
Senior projects are not just about the accomplishment as she will need to write an essay, take photos and give a presentation to the school’s senior project panel. She must keep track of hours spent on her project and sais she already has more than 30 hours invested in the garden.
After graduation, English plans to attend Oregon State University to study botany. She hopes a student will keep the community garden going and growing for the next year, but if that doesn’t happen English said she will be sure there is a garden for sharing fresh produce with her community.
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