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New Popperton Community Garden Dedicated

Dan Bammes
Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker dedicates the new Popperton Plots community garden

  The newest of Salt Lake City’s community gardens was dedicated Friday morning.

The Popperton Plots are in the Federal Heights neighborhood just uphill from Shriner’s Hospital.  Neighborhood gardeners claimed 36 four-by-twenty foot garden plots this past spring.  Now they’re producing everything from Swiss chard to heirloom tomatoes.

The plots are surrounded by an eight-foot fence.  Bridget Stuchly with the city’s Division of Sustainability says it’s meant to protect the harvest.

“Typically, the fence is not that high," Stuchly tells KUER, "but because of the deer in the area, we’ve had to be a little innovative with the way we protect this particular community garden.”

The fence, the drip irrigation system and the shed on the property were paid for with 50-thousand dollars from the Community Foundation of Utah and other donors.  Wasatch Community Gardens also brought in experts to help get things going.

Mayor Ralph Becker says they’ve identified a number of other areas where new garden spaces could be created.

Becker told reporters at a news conference, “Everything from portable gardens the city owns, where we know ultimately they’ll be put into a more permanent, long-term use for development.  But also just finding properties all over the city that are amenable to support neighborhood gardens.”

The city is looking for volunteers to help organize and create the new gardens on the six parcels it has available for the coming year.  More information is available at SLCgreen.com.

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