ROCKY RIVER, Ohio – Maybe it takes a community to start a garden. Or a garden to build a community.
Rocky River Public Security Director Rich Snyder invited residents to a community gardening event for the first time on September 3 at the Rocky River Senior Center, just a stone’s throw from the city’s community garden.
It was an educational gold mine for gardeners. Experts were available to advise on topics that interest residents in their own garden and landscaping.
The master gardeners were joined by representatives from Cuyahoga County’s Solid Waste District, Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District, Rust Belt Riders, Kays BouKays & Flower Farm, and Snyder himself, who demonstrated how to make lightweight outdoor flower pots.
Cuyahoga County’s Solid Waste District is all about recycling and composting. Recycling efforts have been limited to glass and plastic bottles and jars due to a lack of companies accepting other types of trash for recycling.
However, composting is another way to keep food scraps out of the landfill every year – at £ 500 a year, according to the Rust Belt Riders.
If the visions of piles of leftover food in your yard keep you from the idea of composting, visit www.rustbeltriders.com they will collect the leftovers for you in buckets that they deliver. The leftovers, they say, are processed into earth. (Yes, worms are used, as you demonstrated with a large box of them on your display table.)
The Rocky River Community Garden in the Senior Center hosted a home gardening event. (Linda Gandee, specially for cleveland.com)
The Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District had some pretty amazing information about water conservation, which is rainwater. They have rain barrel kits available and can teach you how to build a rain garden.
Kays BouKays won the “price” for the most beautiful table. Kay Spiros showed off a range of simply beautiful, casual flower arrangements – the kind we’d all love to cut and bring indoors from our own gardens. Spiros specializes in locally grown fresh cut flowers. Your business is in Oberlin.
The Rocky River Green Team was also represented at the event. According to him, the team is “a purely voluntary organization committed to making Rocky River a greener, more sustainable place to live. Our goal is to help Rocky River become a more sustainable community through a variety of innovative and collaborative efforts. ”
It’s a great organization to team up with for those who really love being outside and making a difference in the community as a team.
Snyder beamed (and up to his elbow in what looked like children’s mud brought home after a rainstorm) as he showed attendees how to make their own simple, lightweight garden pots – Hypertufa pots – for the garden or for the Landscaping manufactures.
The pots have a rustic look and fit anywhere in the garden. They are made from Portland cement, perlite (or vermiculite), and water. With Snyder’s mixing technology, you can make bespoke containers in the size, shape, and look of your choice, he said.
Snyder is available for questions and further information. He can be reached at 440-331-0600, ext. 2581.
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