Navigation Bar

A bit of history about the SLAC Garden Club

I'll fill in more details (I'm terrible at remembering years) when I find all my old records, but the Garden Club has been at SLAC for a very long time. When I started gardening (1991), our garden plots were located over near Hwy 280, in front of Building 35 and we shared the plots with Addison Wesley folk. There were over 150 plots, most filled with very tall weeds, and anyone who wanted a plot and paid the $2 fee could have one. Prior to that, the garden was located under what is now the Computer building.

Then a few years ago (1994 or 1995, time sure flies.) Addison Wesley decided to build a new building and they wiped out our plots. They gave us $2500 to recreate a garden on the SLAC site. After quite a bit of negotiating and pleading, we obtained approval to use the area behind the Training Center for the new garden. The upper area was covered in scrub trees and tall weeds. This area was used to dump fill from other excavations at SLAC. The lower area was native soil, but also covered in small scrub trees.

The land sat for a year or so until one very industrious employee, Rudy Malimban, now retired, took it upon himself to start clearing the land. He would come out on his breaks and work on little areas at a time. He cut down all the trees, soaked the roots, and pulled the stumps. He cut down the weeds. We hired a local guy to come out and disc the area so we could see what we really had. We decided on a grid of plots, 10' x 20' - same as the old site - and Rudy dug all the ditches for the plumbing. We had some help putting in all the plumbing, but Rudy did most of the work. We gave him two plots to work for free - a bargain.

The next year (1996) we used some of the remaining funds to purchase the garden shed. Several people (my husband, Yo and her kids) helped me paint the exterior and I took care of the interior modifications.

Most of the people who have multiple plots now have them because they were involved in this changeover from the old to new sites. The land was in terrible shape when we started and no fences existed. All the fencing that currently exists was paid for by the gardener, not by the club or SLAC. It took several years of growing and conditioning the soil to get to where the plots are today and yet we still fight the deer and gophers. And even though the multiple plots are listed under one name, they all have several partners who work the plots with them. It is just easier, for record keeping purposes, to list them under a single name. And forcing those who have been with the garden since that time to give up their plots is impossible.

If anyone has corrections or additions to this story, please feel free to send them to me (mcdunn@slac.stanford.edu) and I'll add them to the page.

mcdunn
04/12/03