Emerson Garden lies barren

Property owners want to sell community plot on 8th; gardeners would make an offer

BY VANESSA MARTIN

            The southwest corner of 8th and Emerson that has been home to the Emerson Community Garden for 30 years “looks like a disaster,” said Michael Buchenau, executive director of Denver Urban Gardens (DUG).

            That’s because DUG, the non-profit organization that oversees the Emerson Community Garden and more than 60 other community gardens in the Denver metro area was asked not to use the property this year.

            For the past three decades, DUG has had a handshake agreement with the original property owners that allowed more than 40 volunteers to plant, grow and nurture a variety of flowers and produce on 41 plots. When those owners died, the property went to a private family trust that told DUG in January that the land was being put up for sale.

            That proved to be a second blow the gardeners have received this year. So far they have been unable to overcome either of them.

            The Emerson Community Garden began in the 1970s when Capitol Hill was home to many hippies and cooperative organic grocery stores began. Today it has a composting system, provided by DUG, and a walk-in shed with a solar-powered light.

            Like many other community gardens, the Emerson garden used water from a fire hydrant to irrigate the land. Last year, Denver Water asked DUG to stop using the hydrant for irrigation and to install a metered water tap, which costs $8,000 to $10,000.

            DUG has installed such taps at eight other gardens, quite a bit of money for a non-profit organization that operates on an annual budget of $300,000.

            “When we approached the (Emerson) ownership about installing a tap, we were willing to take the risk of spending (the money on the tap) in the hopes that there would be enough years for us to continue gardening so we could recoup the cost of installing it,” Buchenau told LIFE.

            “That was when we were told that the trust group that owns the land had decided to sell the property because they needed the cash. The ownership group asked that no gardening occur in 2006 and we were stopped in our tracks.”

            That was more than seven months ago. When the word spread about the site’s potential sale, the volunteer gardeners of Emerson Community Garden and other DUG members began to investigate the possibility of raising enough money to buy the property.

            However, Buchenau said that so far the trust has not set a price and the property hasn’t been put up for sale. Calls from LIFE to Ira Shwartz of AmCap Properties, the commercial investment and property management company that works with the trust, were not returned.

            Buchenau said the estimates of what it could cost to buy the land have ranged from $300,000 to the high six figures. One gardener said she would buy the property and donate it to DUG. Others have suggested having individuals or groups each buy one of the garden’s 41 plots. But with no asking price, the gardeners don’t know how much money they would need to raise.

            “I’ve even asked the trust to donate the land,” Buchenau said. “I’ve tried everything and I haven’t been shy.

            “We’re in competition with every other developer out there (to buy the land). As soon as it is put up for sale and if it is priced around $300,000 the gardeners would make an offer. Maybe someone will buy it and won’t develop if for several years and would allow us to garden.”

            In early June the family trust approached Buchenau and asked if DUG would like to use the garden again this year.

            According to Buchenau, the family trust somehow did not realize that the community gardeners were maintaining their land for them until this year, when the garden has become neglected and overgrown. He said when the property owners realized they were themselves responsible for the upkeep of the land they approached DUG about gardening it.

            He took the proposal to the volunteer gardeners of Emerson Community Garden.

            “Many of the gardeners had relocated or found other gardens in town (to work on),” Buchenau said. “The gardeners were frustrated by the timing because this is the time of year the garden would have been at its fullest. But unfortunately it is just too late (to plant the garden).”

            DUG began 21 years ago when a handful of volunteers created three gardens in northwest Denver with the mission of “growing community, one urban garden at a time.” In 1993 the group began to expand its gardens, focusing primarily on low- to moderate-income urban areas as a way to supplement families’ diets with fresh produce gown in nearby public gardens.

            Today the group provides gardener training and education, free vegetable seeds and transplants, and plans, designs and builds gardens.

            For more information about how to get involved with the Emerson Community Garden, visit emersongardens.org or call or email DUG at 303-292-9900 or dirt@dug.org.

This article originally appeared in the July 2006 edition of Life on Capitol Hill.