More than flowers blossom in this garden

By Rob Yutkins, Sun Staff

Lowell — Among the brown bricks and cracked asphalt of the Aiken Street neighborhood lays an aesthetic oasis Thriving apple trees grow and bright-colored flowers like orange cosmos and cone flowers fill the Community Gardens Greenhouse with color.

Janice Pokorski, co-founder of the Community Gardens, began the project in 2004 with the help of Keep Lowell Beautiful, Lowell: The Flowering City, The Lowell National Historical Park and Lowell Parks and Conservation Land Trust.

Pokorski had to secure a permit to use the piece of federal land that sits in front of the Lowell National Historical Park. “I wanted to move a greenhouse here and do community building through gardening,” says Pokorski, “gardening connects everybody.”

Yesterday morning, several members from Greater Lowell’s Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association worked tirelessly pruning and weeding. Many of these volunteers are Cambodian refugees suffering with from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The disorder stems from years of forced labor and violence when the radical communist group Khmer Rouge occupied Cambodia. “It’s clear these people were brutalized,” say Pokorski. The community garden gives these people a chance to socialize and build friendships with other victims of the Khmer Rouge occupation.

The Community Garden’s “City Gardens Project” targets the sometimes troubled Acre neighborhood in an effort to teach residents about gardening. The initiative also aims to get volunteers involved in gardening projects. A garden is currently being created at St. Patrick Church on Suffolk street by teen volunteers. “We bring young kids in here and it’s great to have a conversation about gardening,” says Pokorski.

The garden consists of donated or rescued plants. Pokorski admits she has rescued hundreds of plants over the years. Recently she was driving by a construction site in North Chelmsford and noticed cone flowers and a chameleon plant.

“I ran in there and said ‘can I rescue these plants?’” says Pokorski. The workers agreed she could come back after hours to get the plants. “I was kind of a rescue mission,” says Pokorski.

The conditions aren’t ideal for growing. Pokorski points out several chunks of asphalt that have surfaced during planting, “I think this used to be a dumping ground,” says Pokorski.

To compensate for less than desirable conditions the Community Garden makes its own compost to stimulate growth in the barren soil. For example, apples that are rotting are buried in the garden in an effort to distribute nutrients to the soil.

The garden also collects scrap food from local restaurants to create compost. Pokorski pulls the cover off of two vats containing decaying scrap food covered in flies, “we got egg shells, skin from potatoes, lettuce, corn husks…” says Pokorski. While the sight is repulsive to the average person, to Pokorski it’s perfection.

This article was published by the Lowell Sun