It’s important to get out of town sometime to recharge and explore and see new sights. That’s exactly what we did recently when we packed up the family and headed to the Texas beaches. It fed our souls, regenerated our spirits and we were able to explore some new areas of Texas we have not been to in many years.
On one of our exploratory jaunts we ran across the Padres Isles Community Gardens at Douden Park. It is a sprawling community garden with dozens of raised vegetable beds and few, small, thought-out flower gardens. We of course had to take some time to see what all was able to grow in the scorching Texas sun.
Sadly the summer is the most brutal time of the year to have a vegetable garden in the Texas Coastal Bend area. We were visiting around 10:30 in the morning but it was already so hot that we only saw two people tending to their gardens. One of the intrepid gardeners was David, the community garden coordinator, who told us how special the gardens are, especially in the springtime. He enthusiastically spoke about all the fabulous fruits and vegetables they are able to grow. Even though we were visiting during the most challenging growing season, we were still able to see asparagus, beans, peppers, melons, blackberries, okra and a few eggplants.
Community gardens bring so much to a neighborhood. You not only are able to grow THE most local and nutritious produce, but you are able to get to know your neighbors and learn and share with each other.