More growth at garden

Elm Creek Community Garden has a few more boosters, said Carolyn McLean.
On Monday, Midwest fertilizer Company donated 12 plastic corn syrup containers which will be resized into container garden plots for use by SAFE BASE students in the 2010 garden season.
Russell Stover will also donate 12 of the containers to be used as beds for handicapped individuals.
Also, Diebolt Lumber of LaHarpe is donating labor to install two windows on the garden’s new storage shed, McLean said.
“Talk about a gift from God,” McLean said. “When we started we had zero money.”
The changes are part of an expansion at the community garden which will triple the number of plots available for public use.
The garden recently received almost $25,000 in grant funds from SEK-CAP to assist with that goal. In addition, the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City gave the garden $17,222 in July which allowed for purchase of a new tractor and hydrants to water the garden. The foundation will give ECCG another $13,287 in April to “help complete this project,” McLean said.
Thrive Allen County assisted ECCG in securing the foundation grant.

A MEMORY garden and shade shelters to be built at the garden will not be paid for with SEK-CAP funds as reported in the Register, McLean said. SEK-CAP money cannot be used to construct permanent structures, she said. Instead, family and friends of Jeanie Larson and Vicki Lucas have pledged funds to help construct the shelters. Anyone wishing to help with the memory garden can call McLean at 365-5577.