BY STEPHANIE FOX
At the February NENA board meeting, three new projects, designed to help residents beautify their neighborhood, were approved. Grants to improve curb appeal, matching grants to create butterfly and pollinator friendly boulevard strips and an expansion of the community garden at St. James Episcopal Church were given the go-ahead by the board, and in the next few months, the work will begin to make these a reality.
Curb Appeal Matching Grant Lottery
Matching grants of up to $500, awarded through a lottery and designed to help pay for home landscaping projects, will become available to homeowners living in any of the East Nokomis neighborhoods. The idea behind this project is that attractive landscaping can improve the cosmetic look of a property and therefore, the value of the home and the neighborhood. Lottery winners will be required to pay half the costs themselves and the new yard scape must be visible from the sidewalk.
The NENA board hopes to get at least 15 applications this year and if the project is successful, expand the program next year. Lottery winners will be required to take “before” and “after” photos to post on social media and to install NENA signs in their yards. In future years, the board also hopes to organize popular summer walking tours to view the new landscaped properties.
Applications for the grants will be accepted from qualified applicants from the beginning of March through May 12. The winners will be chosen by lottery on May 17 at a public event. The first year’s total budget, $7,800, includes money for public relations efforts, such as newspaper ads, postcards and online efforts to get the word out to the neighborhood.
50th Street Monarch Corridor Match Grants
Plans are also underway to create a 50th Street Monarch Corridor. NENA will be awarding grants to homeowners and to renters who live between Gateway Gardens and Nature Scape. NENA is hoping that up to 15 volunteers will step up to create a pollinator pathway along the 17 blocks on 50th Street between the two gardens, with installations of a variety of pollinator friendly plants.
The installation will be carried out by the local nonprofit Metro Blooms, which works with community and neighborhood groups on various projects around Lake Nokomis, Diamond Lake and other neighborhoods. They are the also the group behind Blooming Alleys.
This pilot program will focus on providing habitat and protecting water quality. Metro Blooms will advise the homeowners on choosing plants for shade, partial-shade and bright sun. They will also dig up sod, install the garden, and help educate the new growers on how to care for their gardens.
The plants would be part of a native Minnesotan plant palate with deep water-conserving roots. Plants might include short milkweed varieties, a butterfly’s favorite.
In addition to attracting Monarchs, the new landscaping loosens the heavily compacted soil, allowing water to soak into the soil instead of running off into sewers and lakes.
NENA is hoping to identify appropriate property owners within the next few weeks.
Community Food Garden Expansion
St. James Episcopal Church, better known as St. James on-the-Parkway, located at 3225 Minnehaha Pkwy., is hoping to expand its community garden, offering new vegetable garden plots to volunteers. Gardeners must promise to donate a portion of their harvest to a food shelf. The garden plots will be open to anyone who applies and meets the qualifications, until all the plots are taken. Good community garden space is hard to find inside Minneapolis, but the church property already has about 350 sq. ft. of gardening space, started three years ago as an Eagle Scout project. Just how many new plots will be opened up for growing vegetables has not yet been determined.
NENA plans to provide promotion and marketing and will lend gardening tools and supplies to the gardeners.
Members of the congregation and the NENA board have also yet to determine other details, including the new community garden’s name, guidelines for gardeners, whether the gardens will be individual or communal, how someone signs up for a garden spot, and when the rototillers will break ground. According to NENA board member Ted Gerold, these decisions and the budget should be decided at a meeting scheduled for March 23.
