‘Streetscape Salsa Garden’ is free for the community!
Ingersoll Avenue is home a community garden this summer – dubbed the “Streetscape Salsa Garden” – located between Louie’s Floor Covering and STAR Gas Station.
The Avenues of Ingersoll & Grand decided to convert two of the flower planter beds into vegetable gardens after an unknown neighbor planted the first tomato starter.
Before the new planter beds (constructed in Fall 2021 as part of the multi-phase streetscape project) were filled with perennials and shrubs, The Avenues reached out to community partners to help turn the idea sparked by the single tomato plant into a larger community garden reality.
“The Avenues community garden is our first-time planting plants for passersby on a city street to eat,” said Aubrey Alvarez, executive director of Eat Greater Des Moines, a local nonprofit dedicated to creating innovative, forward-thinking solutions within the central Iowa food system.
Her team donated their time to plant the gardens in late May (pictured top).
A donation of tomato and pepper plants from a EGDM donor in Urbandale found their new home on Ingersoll and by mid-July – there is now produce ready to harvest! Look for green peppers, banana peppers and tomatoes in the beds.
The beds are marked with signs reminding the public that anyone is welcome to pick and eat the produce for free (pictured bottom).
Thank you to the Woodland Heights Neighborhood Association for assisting with weeding and care of the vegetable gardens.
If you’d like to learn more about the Streetscape Salsa Garden or partner with us to continue the effort into future years, contact info@theavenuesdsm.com.
