Sun City Community Garden
A Brief History
The Garden Club and its predecessor, the Agricultural Club, has had a community garden almost since the day Del Webb turned over the keys to the first homeowner. In 1960, the Agricultural Club was provided with a plot of land near Grand and 107th Avenues. Today Fry’s Super Market anchors the King’s Center along with the current occupants of that property. Several other community garden locations came and went over the following 40 years.
In 2003, we lost the use of the property where we had gardened for some 25 years. Escalating real estate prices and the lack of undeveloped property in Sun City led to a 10-year search for a new parcel of land that we could call our own. In the summer of 2013, through the advice of the Recreation Centers of Sun City, the Garden Club partnered with EPCOR Water to open a new community garden on an underutilized 1.5-acre parcel within Water Plant 6. EPCOR’s generous offer of a 25 year right-to-use lease started 3 years of planning and development.
Our Latest and Greatest Community Garden
Today the garden offers thirty-one 20’ x 20’ in-ground gardens, thirteen 10’ x 20’ in-ground and thirty-three 3’x7’ raised beds for lease to Sun City residents.
Click here for a diagram of the plot layouts in the Community Garden.
Our mission has been to establish and sustain an area for community vegetable and flower gardening that provides both individual garden plots for residents and communal areas for growing crops for distribution. The Community Garden has also been a testing ground for evaluating new gardening techniques for our low desert environment.
The current Sun City Community Garden is located at 9106 Greenway Road. The garden site is a gated and fenced area with gravel access roads and paths. Parking is allowed along the curb of Greenway Road. Disabled parking is also available.
The Community Garden supplies wheelbarrows and tools plus water is to each garden or raised bed. Irrigation materials can be purchased at the garden. Trees and shelters provide shade for chairs & tables. The site also offers a porta-potty and wash basins.
Pete’s Patch consists of large communal garden areas where gardeners can volunteer time for planting and harvesting vegetables that are donated to local nonprofit centers. Seasonal produce is also sold at open houses and at the Grand Center office.
What grows in this desert wasteland?
Whether you garden in your backyard or in a community garden you will be amazed by the array of plants that may be grown here in Sun City. All it takes is a little specialized knowledge and planning.
Mid February begins the spring planting season for our summer gardens. All manner of summer crops are grown such as herbs, corn, beans, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, melons and more.
September begins fall garden planning for cool season crops. Our winter gardens produce lettuce, carrots, beets, radishes, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower and cool weather herbs to name a few.
Cool-weather plants can overwinter with frost protection. The cabbage family and root vegetables can be harvested throughout the winter.
Qualifications: To lease garden, Sun City residents must have a valid Recreation Center of Sun City card and a current Garden Club of Sun City membership.
Pricing: A one-time escrow deposit for maintaining a “clean site” is required for all plots and beds. This fee is refundable if you leave the plot/bed in good condition and as clean as you found it.
Please contact the Community Garden Managers to receive current plot availability and pricing.
Annual leases run from March to March and plot lease fees are prorated throughout the year, so you can start a garden at any time and pay only for the current period.
What do you need?: The only thing you really need to bring is your enthusiasm and an investment of time and energy along with your seeds or plants for your garden, small hand tools, water hose and soil amendments.
So ….. come on down to talk dirt –
and make great friends!
Vegetables