The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Bob McCauley wasn't a master gardener but just a community-minded retiree living next door to a piece of city land. He happened to be paying attention one day as citizens discussed community development in Dayton.

"They were talking about things we could do, or needed to do," McCauley said. "One thing that came up was a community garden."

McCauley nominated himself to head the push for an all-access gardening spot. He had just the place in mind. His father had farmed the land adjoining the family home at the base of Cemetery Road off Mustard Street for years. The city now owns that land, but it was lying vacant.

So McCauley went out and tilled it. He piped in water from his own well and a loose association of Dayton dwellers dug in.

For the last few years, McCauley and others have planted small gardens there. The wind, which blows along the side of that hill with an eerie whistle and shakes the tall trees up in the cemetery, makes it tough to grow corn.

But growers like Kassandra Dedloff, Frank Demaris, Deb Hays and Neal Williams have had success with everything from beets, to pumpkins, beans, zucchini, gourds, potatoes and tomatoes.

In 2010, the Community Garden Association Board was reorganized, complete with bylaws, with Williams as chair, Demaris as vicechair, Dedloff as secretary/ treasurer - and McCauley as water master.

The garden has room for 18 20x20 plots, available to anyone who pays the $35 annual fee. The fee covers the cost of watering, now that the garden has been set up with access to city water, and the occasional cost for fence repairs, fertilizer, and other garden-related needs that would otherwise come out of association members' pockets.

The garden has a relatively new upgrade, too. Much to the dismay of the Columbia County deer population - and one bear with a taste for corn, so this reporter was told - McCauley recently persuaded the city to contribute a tall, chain-link fence to the project.

Trina Cole, city clerk, said the fence had been used around the city pool, but the city had to replace it to match Department of Health codes. So it was rolled up and not being used.

"Frank (Demaris) and I had actually put up an electric fence around the garden, to keep out the deer," Mc- Cauley said. "But the city really didn't like that. So, I said to them, 'Do you want the garden to succeed or not?'"

Without a fence, gardening was next to impossible, he said. "Man, the deer would come in and eat green pumpkins. You couldn't believe what they'd eat."

So the city, with help from garden association volunteers and McCauley, installed the fence. It's been a big improvement, McCauley said.

Interested growers are encouraged to attend a community garden meeting on Thursday, March 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Delany Room of the Dayton Memorial Library. Plots are available beginning April 1.

Last year, seven gardeners filled nine plots with veggies, annuals and more. McCauley tends to the watering needs evenings and early mornings. The city won't allow watering devises to be left running and unattended at the garden, so McCauley fills that need as the garden's next-door neighbor.

He's also purchased some guinea fowls that he may allow to do eco-friendly pest removal during the day. He's been told they won't bother the plants or dig up seeds. Weed management has been tough in the past, too, but the association has worked to keep unwanted growth down through regular tilling, but gardeners are advised to be prepared.

Gardeners will likely draw lots for prime plot locations. Anyone wanting to do organic gardening can request plots upwind and uphill from other gardeners, McCauley said.