Madrid gets down and dirty in community garden

Ana Maria Trujillo | The New Mexican

5/18/2008 - 5/19/08

The Madrid community garden is so much better than Mark Bremer imagined when he was helping to organize it.

On May 10, Bremer and his team, Carl Hansen, Mike Wright, Sharon Fox-Segovia and Bob Selby, among others, embarked on their second annual community garden day in Madrid. This year was full of entertainment — bands performed and a group of artists decorated the water tank that will be the source of the garden's liquid nourishment.

In addition to vegetables, flowers were planted and birdbaths placed in the center of the garden and on fence posts.

"We intertwined bamboo that we found into the fence line to create a windbreak and a sunshade," Bremer said.

Hansen said the property, west of Main Street, was "virgin soil" when they started the first garden last year.

"We dug up the soil by hand. There was no machinery," Hansen said.

This year is a bit different.

"We took on quite a bit of work, setting up beds and putting up fences," Bremer said. "With all the learning from last year, we got to see what worked and what didn't."

This year the group tried some new techniques like "companion planting," which is putting two different plants together that help each other grow. Bremer said they did research and found that corn and beans help each other grow better, so they tried that.

"The beans can actually travel up and intertwine with the corn as it grows up," Bremer said. "They kind of support each other." The group also planted two apple trees.

Fruits and vegetables from the garden will be divided between the volunteers, who will maintain the parcel, and the Madrid Food Depot, Bremer said.

Bremer said he has been wanting to start a community garden since he first got into gardening in 2001.

"I have a strong desire to be sustainable, and I want to share that with my community," Bremer said. "Last year was our first community garden and it really went beyond our dreams."

"It's a source of fresh, locally grown produce," Hansen said. "It's an organic garden and an opportunity for the community to get together. It's got a social atmosphere."

Hansen said no fuel consumption will be associated with this garden because volunteers don't plan to transport the food anywhere — it will all be consumed there in Madrid.

"It doesn't have to go very far from the garden to the plate," Hansen said.

Bremer said seeds planted May 10 should germinate in
15 to 20 days.

"Maybe in a couple of weeks we'll see some great progress," Bremer said. "I invite people to come out and take a look at it. With the flowers and everything, it's really pretty."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.