San Marcos, CA: San Marcos community garden creates a bountifuloasis

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San Marcos community garden creates a bountiful  oasis

By: Sarah Wilkins - For the North County  Time,  Escondido,CA,USA

_http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/04/17/news/inland/40606205611.txt_ 
(http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/04/17/news/inland/40606205611.txt) 

SAN MARCOS ---- The San Marcos community garden is open to  anyone interested 
in making things grow.

For San Marcos sisters Jeanne  Tillery and Sharon Smith, however, working the 
soil is a special labor of love  honoring their late father, the garden's 
first caretaker, Jim Gaumitz, who died  in 2003.  
"I can just feel his presence there," said Tillery,  who maintains a flower 
plot in the community garden next to her sister's  vegetable garden. "People 
miss him very much. There's no one else that can  answer their questions like he 
could."

The is now a sort of memorial to  the lifelong gardener. Renamed the Jim 
Gaumitz Garden, it serves as a resource  for community members to come together to 
socialize and learn.

"The  garden brings in folks with common interests and projects," said Bill 
Schramm,  the director of the San Marcos Community Services Department, which 
oversees the  garden. "You learn a lot with different people and different 
backgrounds  enjoying their shared interest. The goal is for people to share the 
excitement  of gardening."

The garden, on a quiet hill at 1263 Fulton Road, is open  to the public for 
nearly anything growers can imagine. Though fresh weeds occupy  some of the 
spaces because of recent wet weather, herbs, roses, squash,  tomatoes, daffodils 
and pumpkins will soon fill many of the 30 plots, creating a  fragrant haven 
for butterflies and chirping birds.

Plots are available to  San Marcos residents 18 years or older for an annual 
$20 fee. An additional  one-time fee of $20 is required for overall 
operational expenses, such as water  fees.

Eight plots are still available for purchase; all plots are 15 by  20 feet. 
The garden is overseen by an on-site resident. No commercial gardening  is 
allowed, though users are permitted to share their  harvests.

"Gardeners can trade off," Schramm said. "If you do the labor,  you get the 
fruit." Gardening tools and hoses are provided and users are  encouraged to 
chip in with any extra equipment. Mulch is also  provided.

The garden is open seven days a week, and gardeners may come  and go as 
needed. However, rules require users to maintain their spaces  year-round ---- 
inactive plots are turned over to gardeners on a waiting list  for open spaces.

The garden began nearly 30 years ago, on the site of the  current City Hall 
and library buildings. It was moved to Fulton Road in 1992 and  now serves as a 
quiet oasis for people to come together, away from busier  aspects of life.

"It's very calm," Tillery said. "Sometimes I go there  just to get away."

For more information on the San Marcos community  garden, call the San Marcos 
Community Services Department at (760)  744-9000.

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