Cupertino Community Garden an 'Escape to Another World'

Usually when I tell people I have a plot at the Cupertino Community Garden, the first question is: “Cupertino has a community garden?” 

It’s not surprising that few seem to know about the garden, which is tucked away in a small valley near the Monta Vista neighborhood in McClellan Ranch Park, 22221 McClellan Rd., behind the popular Blackberry Farm.

The garden has been a source of produce and pleasure for residents since 1974, when the city purchased the former dairy farm and horse ranch to create a nature preserve. It’s a little piece of the rural life, just over three miles from the city’s largest high-tech “produce” center (Apple).

Urban Oasis

More than 60 gardeners have plots in the 2-acre organic garden, with around 40 on the waiting list, according to Dave Jahns, the city’s newest parks and recreation supervisor to oversee the garden. I waited two years, from 2003 to 2005, before I finally got my approximately 17-by-27-foot rectangle. Annual rental fees vary depending on plot size; I pay $65 for my medium-sized plot.

Some days you can hear me mutter as I push a wheelbarrow all the way to the back of the garden, but on the plus side, I can hear the soothing sounds of Stevens Creek bubbling away and birds chirping all around. It’s peaceful and quiet, and the surrounding nature preserve is beautiful. 

“This is an oasis,” said my garden neighbor, Ralph Riddle. “In the middle of a huge city, you have a park where you can grow vegetables, hear the creek, see the birds and the wildlife. It’s beautiful down here. It’s like an escape to another world.”

Immediately adjacent to the garden is the 4H Club, which is home to ducks, chickens, pigs, goats, miniature horses and even bee hives. The red barns, animals and buzzing bees add to the tranquility and rural feel.

New Energy

Another reason the garden may be less recognized by the public passing by is that for years now, we’ve looked a little rag tag. Some plots have gone untended, resulting in tall weeds taking over sections of the garden, mostly thistles and hemlock.

It’s universally agreed among gardeners and city employees that the garden has gone through some benign neglect, since it’s low on the city’s priority list. The hiring of Jahns has brought hope that things will change.

He’s already made efforts to remove absent gardeners from the list to bring in new, motivated gardeners from the waiting list. He’s also brought in youth volunteers and city crews to clean out overgrown plots, improve paths throughout the garden and tackle other fix-up projects.

“I have high expectations and grand ideas of what the garden could become,” Jahns told me recently. He said he is trying to have more of a presence in the garden and wants to foster better community. With gardeners taking more ownership, and a little more management from Jahns, he said he thinks the garden can grow into a better condition within a few years.

Ralph and other gardeners I spoke with praised Jahns for his efforts.

“Dave seems really energetic. I’m optimistic things are going to be improved,” Ralph told me. 

Growing Success

Ralph has one of the most successful plots in the garden; no wonder since he was a Santa Clara County master gardener through the University of California Extension for 14 years. He and his wife, Roxanne, have gardened in the community garden since 1989.

He grows corn, tomatoes, potatoes, garlic, shallots, leeks, onions, carrots, peppers, eggplant, beans, berries, asparagus and herbs. He grows more than he and Roxanne can eat, so they regularly give away produce to neighbors, friends and West Valley Community Services.

When I started six years ago, I was ambitious and grew several different kinds of vegetables and flowers. But lately I’ve been sticking to tomatoes, with an eggplant, pepper, or cucumber plant thrown in. I also have an artichoke plant that comes back every year and a large blackberry bush I do battle with. If I didn’t constantly cut it back, it would quickly overtake my entire plot. Blackberries and artichokes grow like weeds in the community garden.

At the other end of the garden, long-time community gardener Herb (he was shy about sharing his last name) grows an ambitious array of vegetables, like Ralph. Since the early '90s, he’s grown tomatoes, red peppers, corn, beans, onions, zucchini, squash, basil, garlic and boysenberries. He grows fava beans in the winter to work back into soil in early spring to nourish the soil with nitrogen.

Herb said he keeps going back year after year for the enjoyment, and the produce he shares with family and friends.

“It’s fun, and you meet a lot of interesting people,” Herb said.

Interesting Neighbors

That seems to be the consensus among my garden neighbors. Like the population of Cupertino, we are a diverse bunch representing people from all over the world.

My immediate garden neighbors from Korea and China grow herbs and plants I never even considered before. My Korean neighbor’s English is pretty good, so she tells me about her plants and their health benefits. The elderly Chinese man seems limited in English, so we nod and smile, as I watch him grow an amazing array of plants.

Challenging 'Neighbors'

Besides Jahns' new tenure, one of the biggest topics of conversation swirls around the banes of our existence—the hundreds (thousands?) of gophers, rats, rabbits, and ground squirrels that eat our plants. Herb calls it the “endless battle.”

Ralph was particularly discouraged this winter when ground squirrels worked their way through protective fencing around his Brussels sprouts and broccoli and ate everything.

“Well, we’re in a nature preserve, so it goes with the territory,” Ralph said, being philosophical about it.

He said there’s been an explosion of rabbits countywide for unknown reasons. Over the last three years we’ve all noticed a similar explosion of rats and ground squirrels. Gophers have always been a serious challenge, at least for the last six years I’ve been gardening there.

Me, I’m not as philosophical as Ralph. I keep rooting for the owls, hawks and snakes to do their job and take out the offenders, even the cute little bunnies that scurry away when I’m walking through the garden.

Gardeners are allowed to trap and kill gophers, since they are not protected by any ordinances. No poison is allowed, since it might harm predators who eat the rodents. While some of my garden neighbors are steely enough to trap and kill gophers, I’m way too squeamish.

Like everyone else in the garden, I plant my tomatoes, peppers and eggplants in either protective wire baskets or plain old used plastic nursery pots, sunk into the ground. That takes care of gophers, but rabbits, ground squirrels and rats are a different matter, and more and more of us are constructing cages around our plants to protect the vegetables.

Pound Foolish, Garden Wise

After a disappointing harvest last year, thanks to all the varmints, I invested this year in more fencing to go around my tomato plants. I got about half of the plants protected before running out of the fencing, sending me back to Home Depot for more. By the time I got back a couple of days later, the unprotected plants had been severely nibbled at, I suspect by one of the bunnies.

Don’t ask me what a pound of my tomatoes cost, because for what I’ve spent on protecting plants, I could spend a lot less at the store.

Yet, the reality is that nothing tastes as good as a tomato you grow yourself. And besides, if it weren't for this garden, I wouldn’t get to enjoy the bubbling creek, sunshine and time spent with my garden neighbors.

Editor's note: Pam Marino is a regular contributor to Cupertino Patch.

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