North Beach Community Garden provides an opportunity to take part in an evolving garden that grows corn for the neighborhood's September potluck as well as growing prize winning garlic, potatoes and a host of relatively low maintenance edibles.

Lars and Lucille Watson had a garden on this land for about 20 years before it became a community garden. The land belongs to an emergency room doctor named Doug Nelson who was willing to let them garden there with the understanding that if he wants to do something else with the land he will be able to do so with no protest. This will be the 26th year that a garden has existed at this location.

The North Beach Community Garden is an offshoot of The North Beach Neighbors who started meeting the first Monday of each month about 6 years ago as an outgrowth of the Northwest Earth Institute course “Discovering a Sense of Place”.  At first the meetings were held in people’s homes and later to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds 4H building. At one of these meetings Lars and Lucille Watson asked if there was interest in the idea of a community garden. There were quite a few people who said “yes”. So the Watson’s asked Dr Doug if he would agree to the idea of making the land they had been cultivating into a community garden. He did. The first couple of years there was no real organization but we muddled along and made friends in the process. Eventually after Lucille died Lars felt like gardening was too much for him so that's when I, (Marla Streator) stepped up to be the garden’s volunteer coordinator which I have done for the past five years. Among changes made since then are the additions of deer fencing, a tool chest, communication center, and watering system that runs on a timer. Also the garden has moved away from rototilling in favor of a raised bed system with permanent walkways using organic gardening practices and building up the soil structure.  At our garden in North Beach we are growing topnotch vegetables and we are proud of it.