Avant Gardening

Within earshot of roaring Red Sox fans in Fenway Park and nestled in the shadow of the Prudential Center are the Fenway Victory Gardens ‘-‘- a green suburban oasis built in 1942 that continue to cultivate community.

The gardens, created as a part of the war effort, were modeled after the British Victory Gardens. During WWII, the United Kingdom had gardens planted ‘-‘- sometimes prying up old pavement to find soil in cities ‘-‘- in order to grow plants to feed the hungry. German U-Boats were successfully cutting off England’s imports and exports; food was scarce and the Victory gardens were a necessity.

Although people in the U.S. were not as hard pressed to find fresh food, Victory Gardens were created as encouragement from the federal government in order to promote community and improve morale. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt even built her own Victory Garden on the White House lawn as an example of their importance.

‘Whereas British and German gardens were a vital necessity for blockaded nations, American gardens served a primarily symbolic function, encouraging and signaling civilian patriotism and support for the armed services and allies,’ Boston University International History Institute Executive Director Cathal Nolan said. Today, the Fenway gardens are one of the last remaining Victory Gardens from WWII in the country.

In order to be part of this small piece of history and urban wonder, gardeners pay an annual fee of $30 for a plot in the Fenway Victory gardens. The money collected from the annuals fees go toward providing gardeners with wheelbarrows, woodchips and water, among other things.

GREEN GRASS AND COMMUNITY BONDING

On Sunday, the Fenway Garden Society, the organization that manages the Victory Gardens, hosted FensFest, an annual block party-like celebration with free food and music where garden owners honored for their work throughout the year and neighbors gathered to enjoy the gardens.

City Council President Mike Ross stopped by the event, and after addressing the crowd, spent some time talking with the gardeners and event attendees.

‘This [garden] just makes for a stronger community,’ Ross said. ‘This is why people will want to come and live in Boston.’

Tim Horn, president of the Fenway Garden Society, estimated that 200 burgers, 220 hotdogs, 75 sausages and 50 knockwurst were consumed during the four-hour event ‘-‘- a success, he said.

Horn, who has lived in the area for 22 years, has had a garden since 1994. His involvement with the Fenway Garden Society has steadily escalated throughout those years, landing him in the president’s seat this year.

‘We are trying to get the rest of the neighborhood out here,’ he said. ‘The community is changing. There are a lot more families here now, but when I moved here that was unheard of because it was a bad neighborhood.’

Horn, who is the manager of services at local law firm Reimer and Braunstein, spends about 10 to 12 hours a week maintaining his vegetable garden of cucumbers, kale, eggplant, peppers and 8-ball zucchini. He grows multiple kinds of heirloom tomatoes as well, including Cherokee purple, Brandywine and green zebra.

THE SUCCESS OF FENSFEST

FensFest started as a neighborhood cookout, but as the years passed, and as more people in the community became involved, The Garden Society started to receive grants and assistance from the Boston Parks Department to help pay for the food and music. On Sunday, steel drum covers of Jimmy Buffet, Bob Marley and the Latin standard Guantanamera serenaded those who waited in a seemingly never-ending line for food. Local businesses provided raffle prizes ‘-‘- $1 tickets yielded prizes like a $50 value gift bag from Trader Joe’s, a $100 gift certificate to Winchester Florists, a $25 gift certificate to Shaw’s and dinner for four at Top of the Hub.

Marian Saban, who has attended the event in the past, said people used to bring their own chairs for the cookout. Costs were kept low in order for the organization to break even. Now, with the success of the gardens, the grants for the events allow for any money generated from the raffle to be put back into the maintenance of the gardens.

It’s not easy work keeping a garden looking nice, Saban said.

‘ ‘It takes a lot of time. People don’t realize ‘-‘- they think it’s all just pretty,’ Saban said.

Bob Roppolo, whose plot has a pond, sitting area and fir trees, has maintained his garden for 17 years and won Best Landscape Garden in the center section in both 2006 and 2009.

‘I’ve been coming to this event since before I had a garden here,’ he said. ‘It has become bigger and there is better food. There is more effort put into it and it is more neighborhood oriented now.’

Liz Saumsiegle only recently was granted a plot, beginning work on her garden this past Memorial Day. ‘There were four foot-high weeds when I came in,’ she said.

Her garden now, however, is clean-cut and luscious ‘-‘- she even won two awards at the event on Sunday: Best New Gardener and Best Vegetable for her savory ace green cabbage.

Saumsiegle said she uses the ‘Square foot gardening method’ where each square foot of her garden is marked by long thin strips of wood so that se knows exactly how many plants she can put in each square foot without the area becoming overcrowded. ‘It maximizes how much you can grow,’ she said.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO . . .

The Gardens are divided into four sections: Boylston, Center North, Center South and Park, and are then classified by whether they grow vegetables, flowers or are only for landscaping.

Dave St. Jean, vice president of the Garden Society, sorted the green ribbons and certificates to be awarded to gardens in each section of the park and for each category at the event on Sunday. ‘It was a much harder decision this year because the gardens were so good,’ St. Jean said.

The members and garden owners are mostly older, Horn said, since it is tough for college students to maintain a garden because of the time investment. However, Horn said that events like FensFest aim to attract younger people in the neighborhood.

If a student group that was interested in maintaining a garden, it would be much easier to divide the work among the group members than leaving the work to one owner. So far, the only college students who have been directly involved are two Berklee students who maintain plots, he said.

The gardens also promote a better sense of community. Issues like vandalism, which used to pose a larger problem, hardly exist Because more families have moved into the neighborhood and events like FensFest have helped bring the community together, incidents have declined.

And though FensFest is an event for the benefit of the gardens, it is also a chance for neighbors to get together and enjoy a cookout in the one of the greenest chunks of the city.

Glenda Tall, an artist at who has a gallery at Fenway Studios, said even though she has had problems in the past with theft of her ripe tomatoes, people look out for each other more now as the garden’s community grows. ‘There is a real camaraderie among people with gardens here.’