Corte Madera Sowing Seeds for Garden

It could take some extra work to prime the fields of Corte Madera.

"A group of us got together several months ago, in fact it was a year ago in January, and walked by a site there in Town Park and though this was a cute place for a garden,'" said Mary Warner, a master gardener.

Residents filled town hall to hear a presentation for the proposed Corte Madera Community Garden on Monday night. The seeds for idea fell on fallow ground, however. The general consensus regarding the garden was that it was a great idea, but in the wrong place.

Town officials toured a handful of sites, including the San Clemente area, and found a portion of Town Park near Neil Cummins Elementary School offered the best conditions … or so they thought.

Among the laundry list of concerns are the health of the ducks that enjoy the nearby waterway, the visual disruption, and the simple desire to keep the park space open.

"I would rather see it someplace else. It's a fabulous idea and I don't want to rain on your parade but I don't think that's right location," said Quail Baez, wife of Parks & Recreation Committee member Kim Noble Baez. "Traffic is (an issue) and rodents are a problem, especially so close to kids."

Quail Baez's concerns were echoed throughout the night.

The plans call for an 8,500 square foot garden, with 6-foot fences. The garden would include raised beds and compost bins.

"Gardening is an opportunity to bring together families and maybe older people who would like a sense of community and would like to garden because there is some good evidence that gardening makes you feel younger," Warner said.

Larkspur has maintained a community garden in Piper Park for the past 24 years and there are 86 community or school gardens in Marin County.

"The idea of this is to have a central place for residents who are hill dwellers or who have sunshine or deer issues to come and grow vegetables, fruits or flowers," Warner said. "We are part of a larger movement to bring a more local way of having vegetables rather than using fossil fuels to truck everything everywhere. It's a real movement to localize things and have people be able to produce their own food."