The Powell Community Garden facilities continue to grow just as the vegetables, fruits and flowers flourish throughout the summer.

The garden, begun in 2013, is located in Veterans Park on Fifth Street, across from the Park County Fairgrounds’ main entrance. Anyone can rent a raised bed for the growing season for $20. Scholarships are available  for families that need a little extra help.

“It is a great way to teach children how to raise and store their own food,” said Sandra Frost with the Powell Community Garden.

Winter squash, broccoli and cabbage do particularly well in the raised beds, she said. Each bed is 4-feet by 20-feet.

“You can produce a great deal of cabbage in that space,” Frost said. “Homemade sauerkraut is delicious, much more mild than commercial sauerkraut.”

You can steam a whole winter squash in a Dutch oven, or wrapped in foil in the oven.

“The flavors are tender and sweet,” she said.

The garden is run on organic principles; no pesticides are used.

“Good old muscle does the weeding,” Frost said.

Fertilizers are blood meal and kelp, both certified organic.

In the summer of 2016 drip irrigation was installed to each raised bed by Pawnee Irrigation of Cody.

The drip irrigation system is on a timer that connects to the well in Veterans Park so each bed is watered daily.

There are two workdays during the year. In the spring, volunteers put out the irrigation and do general cleanup. In October they take down the drip system, pull out plant materials and generally prepare the site for winter.

Northwest College students have helped with spring and fall maintenance over the years.

For more information or to rent a raised bed for the 2020 season, contact Patti Paulsen at Big Horn Enterprises, 307-754-5101 ext. 2.