One of Austin’s most active community gardens got even greener on Saturday Oct. 19. Harambee garden at Midway Park and Waller is the oldest and longest-surviving of 11 gardens started by the group Root Riot, garden co-founder Seamus Ford said.
The open space where an apartment building stood 45 years ago was owned by a bankrupt developer and a series of banks until NeighborSpace purchased it a year ago to develop it into a community space. NeighborSpace supplied 26 trees for volunteers to plant on Oct. 19 with the help of Openlands Tree Keepers.
Pecan trees, which bear nuts after 11 years, were planted inside the garden. Along the streets, native Illinois trees were planted for shade, including Kentucky coffee (not really coffee but they do produce bean-like pods), bur oak, black gum and swamp white oak, and a chinquapin.
BONNI McKEOWN
