Gardening brings Cloverdale neighborhood collectively

To create a garden means to believe in tomorrow. -Audrey Hepburn

Cloverdale has a strong gardening tradition. You never know when a bag of oranges, vegetables or of course zucchini will show up on your doorstep or when a neighborhood kid will come by to pick up a bunch of green grapes at the height of their sweetness. Brooke’s favorite vegetable to grow and share is the Purple Tree Collard. This perennial grows from cuttings so collard greens can be shared for dinner or forever!

What Ashley Porter of The Cloverdale Nursery enjoys most about her job is connecting people with nature and helping them transform their personal space into something they enjoy. The kindergarten opened in November 2015 and has been in business for 5 years. They are a retail garden and hardware store selling high quality ornamental and edible plants, organic flooring and garden management products, as well as unique gifts and stylish housewares.

The business owners believe that Cloverdale is a very strong and supportive community and that giving back is important to them. As Ashley says, “It was really special for us to be part of the Future Farmers of America revival in high school. We are also donating seeds to all the different local schools. Future generations have a deep connection with gardening and the outdoors Resonance.” with us, because this connection is needed now more than ever. We are all there for one another and when you are part of this community you will always know that others are there for you through thick and thin. “

She adds, “Gardening is not about success or failure, it is about the process and connection to our natural world. In this process of caring for living things, we also learn a lot about ourselves and our own lives. Nature is imperfect, humans are imperfect, but we are all beautiful in our own way. All of us: plants, animals, and humans, we feel it is our job to help you nurture that connection and learn from it. “The Cloverdale Nursery is located at 216 S. Cloverdale Blvd. Visit them there or online at http://www.cloverdalenursery.info/.

Thomas Jefferson said: “No job is as appealing to me as the culture of the earth and no culture that is comparable to that of the garden.” It appears that much of Cloverdale shares this culture. The members of the Cloverdale Green Thumb Garden Club won’t let Covid restrictions stop them from holding their annual plant sale, which will be back online again this year. They plan to go live with the virtual sale link on April 9th. Customers can pick up their orders or members can deliver to the porch for free. The money from the sale supports educational gardening courses, SRJC scholarships, and community projects. Check out the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/110119729661020.

If Melanie only plants one vegetable (actually fruit) every year, it’s a tomato. She remembers walking around her family’s garden as a young child, inhaling the fresh smell of the tomatoes they planted while eating all the tomatoes her little tummy could hold. When her parents planted this garden, they planted memories along with good things to eat. And we do that in Cloverdale every year.

Melanie Hall moved to Cloverdale with her family in 1994. Since then, her children have grown and she and her 40-year-old husband have great roots in the city they love. She commutes ten minutes to her job as program manager for the Cloverdale Senior Multipurpose Center, where many members also share the love of the Cloverdale community.

Brooke Greene and her family moved to Cloverdale from the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1984. Over the years she has worked for the school district, private companies and the Cloverdale Senior Center where she still volunteers.