SANTA ANA : Ground Cleared for City-Owned Garden

A plan to transform a weedy vacant lot owned by the city into a community garden to provide food for low-income families could begin bearing fruit in about two months.

Last weekend, Richard Mosier, a member of the Bristol Redevelopment Project Committee who conceived the plan, began clearing the lot at 1248 W. 1st St. of weeds and preparing it for mulching with the blessing and cooperation of city officials. It is one of several vacant lots awaiting redevelopment, a process that is not expected to be completed for years.

The garden would not only provide food, but also beautify the lot and offer residents a place to work together, Mosier said.

“It has to do with getting the community together, getting some community pride,” Mosier said. “It should be good growing land. It looks terrible right now; it’s as hard as a rock.”

He added that once the ground is prepared for growing, a family could be able to raise as much as $500 worth of food annually on a 12-by-12-foot plot. The city has hooked up a water supply, and the plots would be rented for about $10 a year to offset the cost of water.

Mosier said that he and other volunteers will spread mulch over the lot within the next few weeks and open it to about 40 to 50 families or community groups about two months after that.

“It’ll be open to whoever wants to (participate), pretty much first come, first served. The idea is that once we get the process down, then we want to sort of franchise this thing” and create gardens on other city lots, Mosier said.