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One day recently I chose to go to the Soulard Garden located near the corner of 9th and Barton to take some pictures of beautiful flowers that were in bloom for the season. I happened to come across a very friendly woman who introduced herself to me as Marie. Marie is a member of the Soulard Garden Co-op and she was out in the garden tending to her plants. She was a plethora of knowledge when it came to gardening. I tried to absorb as much as I could while we chatted. A few things I remembered was that the garden was created in 1992. They took a vacant, weedy, trash-filled lot and turned it into a fantastic community garden in the heart of Soulard! The garden is one of a very few St. Louis City gardens that does not have a fence surrounding it, leaving it accessible to all.

For people like me who just love to be in nature taking photos it is wonderful, but Marie reminded me that the downfall to having an open garden is that people don't know or understand that the garden is a co-op and that the people that participate in the garden co-op pay fees to be able to grow their plants in there. Many people wrongly come in freely picking and taking whatever they see fit. I can understand her and the other people in the co-op's frustration. Imagine planting something like tomatoes in the spring and tending to this plant all summer so that you could have a great harvest in the fall. Then the time has come to harvest the crop of tomatoes and you get there to find out someone has picked your plant CLEAN!!!!!! Could you imagine how you would feel if it was you? So please Don't Pick and take what you want, remember someone had to pay for the privilege to plant there and I'm sure they would like to reap the "fruits" of their labor.

Marie did also tell me that there is compost and mulch that is available to ALL Soulard residents not just the Soulard Garden Co-op. This is sponsored by Gateway Greening.

FYI Soulard Garden Co-op has no chicken coops or chickens. Apparently some people have thought that there were chickens and that they ran freely through there.

If you want to learn about gardening or would like to join the Soulard Garden Co-op, check out their Facebook page, or send them an email SoulardGardenCoop@gmail.com

If you are you looking to buy fresh floral arrangements or live plants visit the florist at Soulard Market.