Last year someone looking at the land behind Lakeside Curative Services might have seen a nicely maintained lawn.

Today, if you look at the same plot of land, you can see nearly 6,000 square feet of vegetable garden. And if you take a really good look, you'll see partnership, a community effort, dedication to the needy, a therapeutic and educational environment, and hope.

The Garden of Giving, as the master gardener volunteers from the University of Wisconsin-Extension have named the community garden, is exceptionally impressive because it has only existed for two months. The garden, which provides fresh produce to the Racine County Food Bank, was started in mid-June.

"We got a late start," said Jim Kairis, who oversees the community garden.

But to see the garden now, you wouldn't know it.

There are about 25 raised beds and 5,500 square feet of in-ground planting.

"It's pretty amazing what they've done is such a short time," said Dan Taivalkoski, director of the Racine County Food Bank. "They really rolled up their sleeves and got down to business fast. It's truly amazing."

Starting from scratch

The Garden of Giving has replaced the group's former Garden of Eatin' at 3936 North Bay Drive, which had to be abandoned last year after possible soil contamination at an adjacent property was discovered. The garden soil turned out to be fine, but the site couldn't be used for produce gardening anymore.

The master gardeners had been at the old garden since 2000. When it closed, the group had to leave everything behind.

"We had to abandon all the beds, said Nancy Harland, a volunteer. "We started over from scratch. Everything that's here is brand new.

"We have high hopes for this garden," she said. "Most of us came in thinking we'd be lucky to get the raised beds built by fall. I thought we might get them built, but not planted. I'm impressed."

The garden is now located just behind Lakeside Curative at 2503 Lincolnwood Court, in a beautiful green space that gets plenty of sun and has the great soil of a former farm.

Kairis said master gardener volunteers work in the garden Monday morning and Wednesday afternoons. About eight to 10 volunteers come out each time, but there is a total of 25 to 30 master gardeners who participate.

They are growing mustard greens, peppers, turnips, beans, beets, spinach, eggplant, kale, cucumbers, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, carrots, radishes, onions, cabbage, butternut squash, okra and tomatoes.

They've already harvested the lettuce they planted. Now, they're pulling out the collard greens.

There's even a few flowers planted to make the garden cheerful.

Beneficial to all

The spot for the garden turned out to be a win-win situation for both the master gardener volunteers and Lakeside Curative. As the gardeners were seeking a new plot of land, Lakeside Curative had been looking for some master gardeners to assist in a new program teaching their disabled clients about gardening.

Lakeside Curative started a day service program that has their clients planting and caring for vegetables and flowers. Angeline Markiewicz, their director of vocational services, said they started the program last year, but were lacking expertise. "This year it's definitely flourished," she said of the program.

Across the yard from the Garden of Giving is the garden that has been planted and cared for by Curative clients. It has a lot of flowers and vegetables, including pumpkins and carrots. The 17 participants who work in the garden have their own watering cans and really enjoy taking care of the plantings, Markiewicz said.

"It's therapeutic," she said.

Maggie White, the executive director of Lakeside Curative said they and the master gardeners have long-term agreement they hope will benefit all involved for years to come.

Harland said it was "serendipity."

"Everything just fell into place," Kairis said of the partnership. To get the garden going, donations were made by Allen and Virginia Buhler, Pheasant Run in Kenosha, Klaus Services and Home Depot.

In a very short time, the land was ready for planting.

"The first week they had five raised planting beds built," said Corrine Dowd, a volunteer.

And an expansion is already being planned, including more garden beds and a greenhouse that would allow Lakeside Curative to keep their gardening program going all year long.

"We'll be in full swing next year," Kairis said.

Harland said the group believes when the garden is expanded and planted, they'll be able to donate up to 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of fresh produce to the food bank annually.

"It will be more than the old place," Dowd said.

Other than a few sample crops the master gardeners have munched on, everything in the Garden of Giving will be donated to the food bank here.

Taivalkoski said they are looking forward to this year's harvest.

"It's a nice change from the canned goods," he said. "It's something fresh."

Plans for a second garden

In addition to the Garden of Giving, the master gardeners also have started preparing an area near the food bank as the site of a second community garden.

Taivalkoski said soon after the Garden of Eatin' was closed down, the volunteers discussed moving to a plot near the food bank at 2000 DeKoven Ave. But the land wasn't nearly as ready as the Lakeside Curative site, plus there were other hurdles to overcome.

"It wasn't moving along fast enough," Taivalkoski said. "They wanted to get their hands in the dirt."

But even after the amazing success they've found at the Lakeside Curative site, no one has abandoned the plans for a garden near the food bank. In fact, that plot is already on its way to becoming a second site.

"The goal is to still get the site up and running here," Taivalkoski said.

Patti Nagai, the horticulture educator for UW-Extension, said they have completely renovated the area to make it suitable for gardening. They've had extensive soil testing done, replaced about 3 to 4 feet of the top soil, because the original land had a lot of concrete in it, and recently built a 400-square-foot rain garden on the site.

"It improves the ground water," she said. "We just planted it a few weeks ago."

The rain garden is full of native plants that are attractive and functional, Nagai said. "It's the first stage of planting this area," she said.

Future plans include planting a cover crop this season, and later planting berms with a combination of native and perennial plants, and, of course, planting vegetables to be donated to the food bank.

In addition, the gardeners also hope the garden will become an urban teaching site. "The rain garden is a super demonstration tool," Nagai said. "It will be a great demonstration area for native grasses and flowers. It will also be a habitat area for native wildlife."

They hope to be able to use the garden to teach adult gardeners, youth groups and even residents of HALO, which is located in the same building as the food bank. "It will be a fun place for people to come," Nagai said.

The gardeners have already received a lot of support in the form of donations from SC Johnson of the top soil and a grant from the Root-Pike Watershed Initiative for the rain garden plants, but they are still looking for additional funding.

"To completely replace everything we had at the other garden, it's going to take a little while," Nagai said. "But we're really positive about what has happened so far. We've gotten an amazing amount done already. The master gardeners are an incredible group of people. It never ceases to amaze me what they are able to accomplish."

She said their passion for gardening is perhaps only overshadowed by their drive to help others.