Willow Glen Resident

News

Summer Harvest: Wallenberg garden offers a therapeutic bounty

By Alicia Upano

Seasons come and go, but gardeners at the Wallenberg Community Garden stick around.

"I've been here for about 10 years or so," says Bill Kay, a gardener who sauntered into the garden one Saturday in August.

"Oh, longer than that," gardener Tom Nishida says.

Nishida is the garden's volunteer manager; he has been gardening at Wallenberg for 16 years. Kay has been around nearly as long, Nishida says.

Kay, 83, is surprised, counting backward to his retirement as a veterinarian 12 years ago. Like Nishida, a former school administrator, Kay began seriously gardening after his retirement.

Saverio Maietta greets the two men in the quiet garden. Maietta has been coming to Wallenberg for nearly 10 years.

"He's a newcomer," says Nishida with a laugh, pointing to Maietta.

According to the men, there's good reason to stay. They have more room to garden here than at their own homes. At Wallenberg each gardener works a spacious 15-foot by 35-foot plot. Nishida grows cucumber plants that reach over his head, Kay grows butternut squash that sprawls along the ground, and Maietta maintains orderly rows of Italian vegetables--shelling beans, plump eggplants and a rainbow of sweet peppers.

This is a secret garden, Nishida says, tucked away on the corner of Curtner Avenue and Cottle Road, next to Willow Glen Middle School. Passersby can smell basil and lavender, see the large stalks of sunflowers peeking above the fence, and with a closer look, see rows of fluted tomatoes heavy and ready to harvest, corn stalks reaching up to the sky and butterflies flitting from flower to flower.

Gardeners say strangers have been known to appear at the garden gate, asking, "How can I get in?"

Prospective gardeners may have to wait a year or more to get into one of the 80 plots. Many gardeners till their plot loyally year after year. The garden has a 20-person waiting list; only a lucky half-dozen will make it into the garden each year, Nishida says. As at other city gardens, gardeners pay only for water.

"It's a good deal," says Kay, who got a taste of gardening as a child on his parents' San Jose prune farm.

"Good sunshine, and no one bothers your stuff," he says.

Along with growing their food, several gardeners grow food for family members. Even with the unusual weather this year, there's still enough bounty in the Wallenberg Community Garden to eat fresh vegetables daily and preserve salsa and dill pickles for later snacking. Many gardeners donate their excess to food banks.

The Wallenberg garden began in 1981 when the city gave Willow Glen resident Salvatore Papa permission to create the community garden, a longtime dream of his. Community gardening in San Jose had only begun in 1977, as a way to use "undeveloped park land."

Yet the city's program attracted a following, sometimes as an outlet for refugees, for people who live in small apartments and for those who grew up on farmland as Kay, Nishida and Maietta did.

The gardens generally mirror the ethnicity of the surrounding community, according to a survey conducted by the city in the late 1990s. The survey found that regardless of background, working together in community gardens generated mutual respect and a sense of belonging.

At Wallenberg, people make friends, share community gardening tools and keep their plots tidy. Nishida volunteers to oversee the garden, while Maietta fixes pipes and plot borders and gardener Leon Yengoyan assigns the plots. In more casual ways, the gardeners share produce and advice. As Nishida walks through the garden, he points out the different ways people plant--in furrows, or between them, and how they trellis their vegetables. He stops now and again to pick a sweet strawberry, admire a Kentucky wonder bean, and tell stories about the people who till the soil.

Nishida greets Don Kim, who is planting greens. After a yearlong wait, Kim received a plot four years ago and he now gardens as a way "to keep out of trouble" during his retirement years, Kim says.

Next, Nishida finds Fred and Bea Groppuso busy in their plot. "We just love it," Bea Groppuso says, her hands in the plants. "We couldn't live without it."

The Groppusos are native New Yorkers, who grew up in the era of the Depression and World War II. During World War II, Victory Gardens were planted as part of the self-reliance movement. In addition to providing food for their families, Victory Gardens enabled more supplies to be shipped to troops abroad. Although she was surrounded by these gardens, Bea Groppuso says she was clueless.

"I couldn't tell a blade of parsley from a carrot leaf," she says.

But gardening became a passion when the couple moved to San Jose in 1960. She began learning about gardening by reading Sunset magazine.

Soon, the Groppusos were growing their favorite produce for their home-cooked meals. Both husband and wife are Sicilian.

"She's a great Italian cook, too," says Fred Groppuso, patting his belly. "Magnifico."

In 1984, Fred Groppuso retired from IBM and the couple moved to Southern California, living on 15 acres of land. The land had 40 trees, including fruit, nuts and olives. The year-round climate gave Bea Groppuso an opportunity to grow both a summer and a winter garden. It was a dream come true.

Then the couple moved back to San Jose into a townhouse in Willow Glen to be near their daughter.

"We don't have to mow the lawn," Fred Groppuso says.

"But we miss the gardening," his wife adds.

The year wait to get into the garden was worth it, they say.

"As much work as it is, it is therapy, and it's great," Bea Groppuso says.

For more information on San Jose community gardens, visit www.sjcommunitygardens.org.