Weighing in at 43,000 square feet, the Interbay P-Patch is a formidable urban garden center - which is why producers at Growing a Greener World TV show on PBS will be featuring it later this summer.
Prominent P-Patcher, Ray Schutte said he got a call this spring from producers who wanted to know more about what Interbay was all about.
"We talked to them about what an organic garden is in an urban environment and what it was to be a community garden: people knowing and caring for each other," Schutte said from a picnic table inside the p-patch. He added that being an organic P-Patcher means you get to know your neighbor but it doesn't mean right away. It could take years. But the underlying feeling is that as fellow gardeners, a helping hand is just a garden trowel away.
Spring gardens are sprouting throughout the patch. Schutte and a family member share eight plots full of leeks, lettuce, peppers, carrots, asparagus, rhubarb, beets, pesto and paprika. A flagpole is stuck in the corner with Italy's flag flapping in the wind. Lettuce sprouts sit next to ready-to-harvest heads. Schutte pointed to the sprouts and said these are rotated regularly. And when another gardener needs some spare sprouts, the understanding is that a neighbor will happily oblige. Further, every Friday evening, gardeners assemble at the newly constructed shelter at the south end of the patch for Friday Night Live, where they share freshly harvested greens, some red wine, snacks and whatever anybody brings to grill. It doesn't get more community than that.
Schutte said Nathan Lyon, the chef for "Growing a Greener World" was planning on attending one of these events.
The program is scheduled for Aug. 28.[[In-content Ad]]
