The plants grow in raised beds in the community garden of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Gridley, California. (Grace Mahannah / Contributed)
What can you do with an empty lot full of weeds? Plant a garden and start composting with your neighbors!
St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Gridley, with the help of generous grants from the Episcopal Foundation of Northern California and the California Alliance for Community Composting, has transformed the lot near the church at 450 Jackson St. into a garden and compost center for the community: a place to grow food or learn to garden, a drop-off place for compostable kitchen scraps, and a quiet outdoor space for people to enjoy.
St. Timothy’s Garden opened to the public in May 2023 with 20 newly constructed and filled garden beds for rent in the following sizes: 5-by-6 foot (30 square feet) at $15 per year, 5-by -8 feet or 4 by 10 feet (40 square feet) at $20 per year, and 5 by 10 feet (50 square feet) at $25 per year. Each bed has drip irrigation. The annual registration price includes water and irrigation, which are provided by the church of San Timoteo. The system is on a timer and water automatically so that the gardeners do not have to worry about the water every day. To rent a plot of land, email st.timothygarden@gmail.com or call 530-218-6636.
The idea of a community garden at St. Timothy’s began in 2015 with the Gridley Community Roots Garden, which closed in 2018. In addition to the individual garden plots for rent, the revival of the church garden includes a garden of teaching that doubles as growing. space for food to give to the community, a children’s garden and mud kitchen (for messy outdoor play), an outdoor sink and potting area, and of course shady and pleasant places .
circle for those who gather.
The Drop in the Bucket composting program at San Timothy began in August 2023 with generous help from the Butte Environmental Council. Anyone in the community can sign up to drop off compostable kitchen materials, for example: fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, paper towels (no meat, bones, fat, oil or milk).
The backyard composting program is expanding thanks to a grant from the California Alliance for Community Composting funded by Cal Recycle.
St. Timothy’s currently composts about 75 pounds of kitchen waste per week, with the ability (and goal) to triple that.
amount, significantly reducing the amount of organic waste going to landfill. All the compost produced in the garden will be used in the garden or shared with those who donate kitchen scraps.
To sign up to bring kitchen waste to U Giardino di San Timoteu, go to becnet.org/composting and scroll down to find the links to Gridley. When you register, you can claim a free 5 gallon bucket with a lid.
The Garden of St. Timothy is part of a larger effort by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California (and the Episcopal Church in the United States) to return its unused property to agricultural uses. Lots of grant money is available for garden and farm projects. Locally, St. Timothy’s Church wanted to offer Gridley a garden that is both useful and beautiful, to encourage people to grow food with their neighbors and to increase food security in the community.
With the faith that the grant funds will come, San Timoteu began the preparation for the garden in July 2022 – cutting weeds and removing waste, grading and leveling the land and solarizing the land to kill the weeds. The church paid for a new chain link fence on the side of the garden.
In the fall of 2022, volunteers will dig trenches, repair existing pipes and install new in-ground irrigation pipes and sprinkler valves for the irrigation system. The old wood left over from the first garden was repurposed to build a potting bench, an outdoor sink and a mud kitchen for the kids.
In March 2023, a new redwood was purchased to build the garden beds, and many volunteers showed up to tackle the job of filling the beds with soil and compost. The paths between the beds were covered with donated wood chips.
The newest addition to the garden is an 8 by 16 foot greenhouse that is currently under construction. Other plans include comfortable benches and a small fountain at the center of the garden, espaliered fruit trees, a rainwater harvesting system and a redwood bridge at the front garden entrance.
Gardeners and volunteers at St. Timothy’s Garden meet each month to learn more about gardening and food preservation while enjoying each other’s company. All are welcome to attend the meetings held in the church offices.
You don’t need to be an experienced gardener to get started at San Timoteo. There are many resources and support (everything from tools to seeds), as well as guidance from UC Master Gardeners of Butte County. A recent seed-starting event in the garden attracted a friendly mix of new and experienced gardeners and volunteers who had fun planting seeds in flats (to be transplanted outside later this spring). Other recent events include free public talks about composting and the 1,000 Acres More program by Amy Roseman of the Butte County Local Food Network.
The Local Food Network of Butte County has donated a “Free the Food” stand to St. Timothy’s Garden, so gardeners can share their produce with the community, and the community can bring food to share with others as well : fresh and healthy vegetables. and fruits are welcome. The food stand will soon be located in front of the church at 410 Jackson St.
Volunteers are needed for a variety of projects at the Garden at St. Timothy’s, ranging from garden and compost maintenance to construction, advertising and social media projects. If you want to know more about what is happening, volunteer to help or donate to the garden, email st.timothygarden@gmail.com.
The Garden of St. Timothy is growing, thanks to the many gardeners, volunteers and other people who have provided ideas, effort, enthusiasm and support. There is a lot of space in the garden and it is always open – come and see.
The Master Gardener Spring Workshop Series has begun. There will be 15 more workshops on a variety of topics (including composting) between now and May 22. For information about the workshops, and to register, go to Workshops – UC Master Gardeners of Butte County at https://ucanr.edu/sites/bcmg. All workshops are free, but registration is required.
The UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension system, serving our community in a variety of ways, including 4-H, agricultural advisors, and nutrition and physical activity programs. To learn more about the UCCE Butte County Master Gardeners, and for help with gardening in our area, visit https://ucanr.edu/sites/bcmg/. If you have a gardening question or problem, call the hotline at 552-5812 or email mgbutte@ucanr.edu.
