The Opening Day Celebration for the Barton Street P-Patch located at the corner of 34th s.w and s.w. Barton Street is March 11. Time TBA.

Through the group's Facebook page Randee Frost writes:

"All beds are a minimum of 100 sq ft and all very close to each other in size. The intent is to give gardeners an idea of how the plots are numbered and where the plots are if offered a plot during phase 12 by the Department of Neighborhoods.

Plots are assigned based on the number of hours contributed during the build. They will be assigned sometime between Monday Feb 27th and March 11 by the Department of Neighborhoods P-Patch program.

We are talking phase 1, tiers 1 and 2. If you don't have enough hours for phase , fear not, phase 2 will be started in the spring with hopes of being ready for a late summer crop. There are about 15 additional plots in tier 3. There is still time to volunteer and be a part of this fabulous new Community Garden and P-Patch.

Randee"

Click the link above to see larger version of the plot map.

The P-Patch itself was made possible through the Parks and Green Spaces Levy and was given the grant by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. The land was owned by the city but has been unused for many years. Neighbors came forward and suggested the P-Patch idea and planning for the space began.

Designs for the project were finalized after several reviews and the final, radial pattern was chosen.

Every Saturday from 9:30-3:00 and Sunday from 11:00-3:00 the 34th s.w. and s.w. Barton has been home to a work party. The first of these took place last May.

This has been a true community effort. Randee Frost said, "If we start right at the beginning it would amount to more than a hundred people," who have been involved in making the garden a reality.

Volunteer Kate Farley who was there at the beginning of the construction process said, " I think actively there have been more than 50 people who have put in work hours here." She's enjoyed it all. "It's been fabulous. I've lived in this neighborhood for 30 years and it wasn't until this started that the community really came together for me. So people who lived blocks away, like Randee or Molly I had never met. It's cool."

Many people have put hundreds of hours into the garden and it shows in the quality of the wall construction, the well maintained paths and clear organization of the area.

Frost said of the goals of the garden, "it's to get people to solve problems together," making the point that a community P-Patch is as much a social effort as it is a resource. "One of our features is going to be the Food Bank garden," said Frost. The harvest will go to the White Center Food Bank. They are growing Broccoli (already planted and ready to harvest soon), greens, peas, beans and all of it is being grown organically.

You can also check out the Barton Street P-Patch page on the Seattle Deparment of Neighborhoods site.