The Sunnyvale Sustainable Gardening group met with city staff over the past two months to hammer out a proposal for funds from the Satterberg Foundation. Those funds include $10,000 for a 15-plot senior garden and $30,000 for a 40-plot community garden.

Satterberg is a philanthropic organization dedicated to supporting children's programs, education and environmental work.

The senior center and Sustainable Gardening member Josh Salans have discussed combining the two gardens into one large community space and having the Sustainable Gardens group manage the project. The first hurdle on that road was the matter of the city applying for the grant money by the Sept. 15 deadline.

The application approval was on the Sept. 14 city council consent calendar, meaning it was not seen as controversial and would not need discussion before approval, although the matter could still be pulled by a council member and voted down.

But even with the proposal expected to go through the council, the largest hurdle still looms: finding a suitable place for such a large garden--a 40-plot space alone needs almost 17,000 square feet.

The gardening group wants to see fruits and vegetables sprout in the empty lot at Charles and Olive streets. The city is currently holding that spot for undecided future use--which could include new city buildings, private developments or gardens.

"The problem is we're an unproven group asking for a gem of a piece of land," Salans said. "But I imagine people walking from a new downtown to the garden a few blocks away, picking fruit in the spring."

Salans said it would benefit the city to build a garden of this size--in such a central location--because Sunnyvale needs to join other neighboring cities in encouraging community growing.

"There's no space for gardens anymore, so there's this need for people to touch soil, so they feel that their lives can slow down a little," Salans said.

Director of Parks and Recreation Robert Walker said the city is looking at a number of sites, including part of the Peterson Middle School field, Sunnyvale Baylands Park and the Charles Street lot.

If the grant application is approved, Walker and Salans will begin writing a report to council on the various sites, listing benefits and drawbacks to each site, from which the council can then choose a location.

"We'd usually want to have an agreement and know where we're going to be building, but there was this deadline for the money," Walker said.

Salans said he's talked to a number of the council members and thinks he has the support he needs, but doesn't want to get excited before the report reaches the council.

"I'm actually tempering myself from thinking that it will be a piece of cake and flow right through," Salans said.

Even though he's guarding his enthusiasm, Salans said he has been impressed by the process so far. Working with the gardening group and the city has been a great experience, and he said it seems as if all the players are "moving forward as one positive force."

"I'm encouraged by the group. Everyone is so excited and wants to hit the ground running with this and get their hands dirty," he said.

He would like to see the application and garden construction approved before winter, to take advantage of the rainy season to prepare the soil for gardening.

Before community members can begin planting fruits, vegetables and herbs, "green manure plants" such as fava beans and annual rye need to be planted. Those crops are adept at taking nitrogen--necessary for healthy plant growth--from the air and putting it into the soil. Rains would help this process along.

Once those plants have grown and "fixed" the nitrogen, they can be cut down and rototilled into the soil, and garden growing can begin.

For information on the community garden or Sunnyvale Sustainable Gardening, contact Josh Salans at jsalans@aol.com.