Growing demand brings community garden to Geneva Avenue at last
Growing demand brings community garden to Geneva Avenue at last
For nearly three decades, residents have been trying to turn the space into a community garden — a return to the area’s early farmland days.
“We are taking a fallow piece of land and turning it into an active green space,” said Supervisor Ahsha Safai, whose district includes the community garden.
A smattering of evergreen and fruit trees grow near the space’s perimeter, but invasive pampas grass and ivy choke the ground.
The project was funded by a $387,534 grant from the 2008 Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks bond, and another $55,000 in discretionary funding from former district Supervisor John Avalos.
After high concentrations of lead were found in the topsoil in 2008 — the result of toxic runoff from a nearby Muni repair yard — another $900,000 was needed for intensive remediation.
Thousands of residents already maintain plots in the department’s 38 other gardens from Pacific Heights to the Bayview to the Outer Sunset.
The communal urban farming plots boast clumps of kale, carrots, corn, artichokes, fruit trees and other produce.
David Hooper, a 30-year resident of Mission Terrace and president of the neighborhood’s improvement association, said it reminded him of the popularity of the Victory Gardens during World War II.
The project will bring new perimeter walls, fencing and gates to the space, and a communal landscaped area.