Community Group Finds Match in Riverhills Elementary Garden

Temple Terrace green thumbs are being asked to dust off their tools and pitch in to help transform Riverhills Elementary School's garden into a community venture.

The school has agreed to have its existing garden transformed into a community garden by members of the Temple Terrace Community Garden group. The resulting partnership will give residents a place to grow their own vegetables right in the heart of the city.

While it has only been a few weeks since Cathy Givarz invited members of the  to visit the school, the site has been deemed viable and the proposal is moving forward.

The Community Garden group has been conducting a search for a community garden location among possible city, South Florida Water Management District and Tampa Electric Co. sites. The Riverhills Elementary site could be one of many throughout Temple Terrace.

Givarz, the youth committee chairwoman of the , learned about the group’s search for community garden-friendly land through friends and Temple Terrace Patch articles.

“As I was weeding the garden at the time of the , I talked with neighbors passing by about the possibility of the school garden being converted into a Temple Terrace Community Garden,” Givarz said. “Everyone agreed it that would be an excellent idea. It is in a perfect, central location and already established with nutritious organic soil, a micro-watering system, a shed with tools, etc.”

Todd Connolly, newly appointed principal at  this year, said he thinks converting the garden to a community garden is a good idea.

“We always welcome our parents and community members into our school to share their interests and expertise with our students,” Connolly said.

Amy Shell, a third-grade teacher at Riverhills and the youth leader of the school’s garden club, said that more hands are needed to fully develop the site.

“We’d love to have the site become a community garden,” she said. “The work involved in maintaining the garden has gotten overwhelming, and we don’t want it to go to waste.”

School board vice-chairwoman April Griffin said she is also supportive of the conversion of the Riverhills garden to a community garden.

"I am excited about the proposed partnership between the School District of Hillsborough County and our Temple Terrace neighbors,” she said. “This partnership will benefit the community and create opportunities for hands-on student learning.

The 50-plus community garden members have some concern that the new Riverhills Community Garden may not be large enough to accommodate the level of interest. Typically, community gardens include both spaces for small groups to garden together and individual plots. The  and the  are sufficiently large to allow both styles of gardening.

By most estimates, the Riverhills Community Garden is large enough for a communal garden but not big enough for individual plots. The Community Garden group is exploring with the  and the Hillsborough school district the feasibility of other garden sites on city and school properties that will be large enough for both communal and individual plots.

The next meeting of the Community Garden group is scheduled for Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. in the conference room at . Shell will attend the meeting to share information about the Riverhills garden’s infrastructure.

Anyone interested in participating in the communal plot at Riverhills is encouraged to attend the Dec. 10 meeting. All volunteers who sign up to garden at the Community Garden at Riverhills will be asked to register as a Hillsborough schools volunteer through the school’s PTA SERVE program. Volunteers who choose to garden during school hours will need to sign in at the front office. The Dec. 10 meeting will offer volunteers an opportunity to break into work groups in preparation to begin gardening at the Riverhills site.