Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at the Garland County Libraries Hot Springs Book Festival.
This two day festival had talks scheduled both days. Their theme was based around gardening this year, since they are kicking off a new community garden program on the library grounds. They had chosen the holiday weekend because it was supposed to be the grand opening of their new community gardening program. Weather had delayed some of the gardens, so they pushed the gardening opening back to this coming weekend—June 10 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
I arrived early and got to tour the new garden site.
What they are doing is pretty amazing. They decided to turn the upper part of their property into a community garden and park. They have 26 new raised bed gardens
that library patrons can “check out” for free for a season. A small shed will house tools that can be used. In addition to the gardens, they have planted a small field of blueberries
, the fence is planted with grape vines,
and there are fruit trees
and native plant gardens. They already have pawpaws on their young trees.
A wildflower meadow was hydroseeded in late winter, but torrential rains washed them down to a lower area.
Reseeding was done, but it may be too hot for the cool season wildflowers to bloom well this season. A small amphitheater can house concerts or outside talks, and eventually there will be picnic tables for gatherings.
The site is definitely a work in progress, but unbelievably they didn’t even get started until this past January. They have done an amazing amount of work in a short time and have more to do.
I can’t wait to see the “fruits” of their labor. In addition, there are some lovely pollinator gardens all around the library.
The Garland County Master Gardeners do help with this site, and I got the opportunity to visit with many of them at my talk.
I love reading as much as I love gardening and I am a huge fan of public libraries. We are blessed in central Arkansas with CALS, and Garland County is blessed with this library. Libraries do so much more than provide books these days. Go out and support your local public library!
The Garland County Library will celebrate the opening of the new Community Garden and Park, Saturday, June 10 from 10 – 11 a.m. Join library staff, board members, and more for a special flower chain cutting and dedication ceremony. The event is free to the public. You can see firsthand what they have been doing. In addition, they will have live music from Charlie Moore and the Arkansas Highlands Folk Project jam band. The Garland County library is located at 1427 Malvern Avenue in Hot Springs.