P-Patch Community Gardens

Estelle Street

Trading Blackberries for Gardens

As the third grade class visited the Mayor's office, one of the children complained that his walking route to school was scary. There were people hiding in the blackberries, dealing drugs. And so South East Effective Development started to clear the street right-of-way. Their landscape design required frequent care from the SEED crew......At the same time, residents of the adjacent tenant-managed apartment wanted a garden. The two ideas blended into one at the Estelle Street P-Patch. In a few short weeks SEED crews built a garden which reflected the gardeners needs. The neighbors, who had gardened nearby and whose gardens were lost to development, were delighted to regain space for their greens, their mustards, and their onions. Estelle P-Patch is located behind John Muir Elementary in what used to be a carriage road onto Rainier Avenue. Nestled between an apartment complex and residential houses, the patch has the feeling of an old English garden. Estelle features a diversity of growing techniques and styles especially by our Asian gardeners.

The gardens blossomed with children and adults, tomatoes and garlic, basil and cilantro. The scary place become safe, and the heady smells and bright colors were a magnet to come visit. Now the only drugs are in the occasional opium poppy, seeds from the past.