COMMUNITY GARDEN TAKES ROOT MIRAMAR HAS PRODUCED URBAN GARDENING HANDBOOK AND IS WORKING ON VIDEO SERIES

What started as a small community garden in Miramar has now led to a video series and citywide fundraising effort.

The Miramar Community Garden was planted in May at Fairway Park, 3700 Largo Drive. The idea was to have residents work in the garden as volunteers and keep the crops the garden produces each harvest. Each week, a group of 15 volunteers divides the work to maintain the garden and watch over the crops.

"It's a perfect example of how a simple idea expands and grows legs by itself," said Mayor Lori Moseley, one of the garden's proponents.

Since its creation, the garden has produced a variety of crops, including tomatoes, watermelons, yucca, peppers, cabbage, peanuts and oregano. Miramar Police Athletic League members are helping to prepare the soil for a sweet potato planting, said Elsi Rose, the city's development and capital management coordinator.

Rose said the garden's early days featured some trial and error as some crops thrived and others didn't, but the city was able to rely on local experts for help.

"Some seeds germinated and some didn't," Rose said. "It was like a laboratory, and we reached out to our experts."

Rose said the city partnered with students from DeVry University to work on an urban gardening handbook. The city is now partnering with local restaurants as part of the new Garden Treasures video series. The short videos feature cooking tips based on crops that are in the garden, such as basil. Four episodes have been produced so far and can be viewed on the city's website, its local access TV channels or on YouTube. Moseley said the videos were a way to combine enthusiasm for community gardening and cooking shows.

Although the garden has a dedicated group of volunteers, Rose said the city is looking for 10 more to spread the workload around. Rose said word about the garden is getting around, with teachers from neighboring Fairway Park Elementary School expressing interest in buying produce.

The city also is running a fundraiser with La Famiglia Italian Restaurant, 11655 Red Road, to help keep the garden self-sustaining. On Tuesday and Wednesday, customers who bring in a flier downloaded from the city's website can have 20 percent of their bill donated to the garden.

Moseley said that given the amount of work volunteers have put in so far, she isn't worried about the garden's sustainability.

"If you build it, they will come," she said, quoting the 1989 movie "Field of Dreams."