CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, a small community in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, now has a beautiful crevice garden thanks to you and our committed volunteers. Scraps-to-Soil volunteers Ursula Cruzalegui and Margie Marlin took care of design, coordination, construction, planting, and everything in between. The project would have not been possible without some key sponsors. The North American Rock Garden Society provided the financial support to purchase the alpine plants native to the Rocky Mountains and their labels, and local Albert Frei & Sons/ Walstrum Quarry provided sand, rocks, and pea gravel. Special thanks to Jeff Stzermantoni for his help transporting the material from the quarry to the community garden.
Scraps-to-Soil (S2S) is an all-volunteer nonprofit founded in 2010. Our goal is to develop a synergistic set of programs that increase access to sustainable and healthy lifestyle options for residents of communities in Clear Creek County.
We have been through a whirlwind since the original community garden was removed in 2016 to make room for road improvements. We were able to secure funding and space to rebuild on city property managed by S2S volunteers. The new garden is open to the public in the heart of Idaho Springs.
Once the community garden was built, the last piece of the puzzle was to landscape a uniquely shaped space between the garden and our neighbors. This space is called the Pocket Garden, and it’s a space for the community to enjoy. The crevice garden is on the north side, crowned by the garden sign. There is a bench between it and a strawberry patch, next to a native plants area on the southern end of the property.
The crevice garden is 140 square feet (13 m2) at an elevation of 7,526 feet (2,294 m). Our goal for this project was to beautify the space and better define the property line while educating the residents about the benefits of rock gardens in our area. We accomplished this by inviting the community to participate in the construction and have a hands-on experience. Scraps-to-Soil hopes to find more opportunities to build crevice gardens in our community and keep inspiring our neighbors and our municipalities to embrace this option.
We were finally able to celebrate the reconstruction of the garden with the community on July 17th, 2022. Everyone loved the pocket garden and all the details and hard work put into it by so many volunteers. Thanks again to everyone who made this possible in one way or another, please don’t hesitate to contact us at scraps.to.soil@gmail.com if you would like to get a tour of the garden if you are ever visiting the area!
