26TH AND GUILFORD DEMONSTRATION GARDEN

Location:  Southwest corner of 26th and Guilford Ave. 

Description:  In an area with many challenges on the near-north-side of Indianapolis, one might not expect to see volunteers and neighbors from the community converting a vacant lot from trash pile to vegetable garden.  The land was donated for use by the owner who wants to see it used for good and produce some goods.  After literally chopping down the overgrown weeds on the huge lot and removing the honeysuckle from the beautiful apple tree, we started to see some progress.  While tilling the soil, we noticed that much of the old house had, more or less, just been left on the land, bricks and all.  Rather than dumping the remains, the volunteer group from LifePoint Church decided to make a border around the proposed garden with them.  A donated gazebo has been erected and will be covered with a portion of the RCA Dome roof material to facilitate the collection of rain water for the garden.  The garden should be ready to plant by spring of 2010 and entrusted to the neighborhood shortly thereafter.