Parkway Plaza Garden

Project Activities

This installation attracted 10 participants, all residents and staff from the Parkway Plaza Retirement Home. Armed with enthusiasm, good conversation and passion for gardening, the residents of Parkway Plaza made this installation a great experience. This garden came from a collaboration project between Innovative Health Solutions, Sustainable Solano and California Human Development.

To ensure that all residents of Parkway Plaza gave input on the design, we had three community meetings. During each meeting we discussed different aspects of the garden design, and created a list of fruit trees and other plants that residents wanted to see in the garden.

The work performed in this garden took five days and included removing weeds, sheet mulching the garden area and around each raised bed, planting trees, herbs, flowers and seeds, putting a small path in the middle of the garden, seating so people can sit in the garden and a trellis. The goal was to make the garden feel more welcoming to everyone.

Results and Impact

This garden was created inside a retirement home that already had raised beds. Due to that, the residents were more interested in adding herbs and flowers to the garden, along with making it a place to relax and enjoy themselves, which is why we included benches and a walking path in the middle of the garden. This garden will not only provide food, but a place for people to gather and enjoy for many years to come!

Over the next five years, this garden will create at least 435 pounds of food, which is about 362 meals.

Lessons Learned

This garden highlighted the importance of collaboration and having a trusted person working with the residents. Without the help of the wonderful Jenalee, we would not have been able to gather as much input from the residents, or be as efficient with the installation days.