PERRYSBURG – Organic horticulturalist Vicki Gallagher has had community garden dirt on her fingers for four decades, and on retirement from the 577 Foundation she will continue in community gardening at the Agricultural Incubator Farm in Bowling Green.

“A community garden is a collaborative effort. The space lends itself to a neighborhood, a designated garden spot in a community, a destination point. Most of the amenities are there, with soil and water, but most of all it has interest. It’s good, because it gives people an opportunity to grow their own food,” Gallagher. “I’ve been doing this for over 40 years and I still learn something new from a greenhorn.”

She has been the organic horticulturalist at the 577 Foundation for 18 years, doing volunteer work prior to that, and has handled the community gardening for the organization. That doesn’t mean Gallagher will quit working the soil and promoting the community garden concept, because she is already transitioning into management of the community gardens at the Agricultural Incubator Farm on Middleton Pike.

Regardless of the garden location, Gallagher sees benefits for communities and individuals.

“It’s an opportunity for people to work with each other. There’s a huge social element, or at least the potential for the social element, working with each other,” Gallagher said. “People can kind of look out for each other, growing something that maybe someone else only wants a little bit of. There can be swapping, and some people can grow just for food bank. Some grow just for their families.”

The years of work in the field have not reduced the surprises. She regularly has someone give her a family farming tip that improves her growing techniques.

Gallagher was hired directly by Virginia Secor Stranahan, the founder of the 577 Foundation.

“She tracked me down at the farmers market,” Gallagher said of that first interview in the late-1980s. “We didn’t start right away, but she said ‘I want to have a forum. I want to have a place for people to grow organic and come and have someone talk to them about it and show them what to do.’”

Gallagher was one of the few garden professionals in the area focused on strictly organic growing methods. She retires June 1.

“I love this time of year, garden season, just the newness, the seeding, the planting and then our plant sale, and getting my community gardens set up,” Gallagher said. “We get seeds donated from different places. I give them some of the plants we have left over, because when I give them that, then they are giving back by contributing to food bank.”

She also has offsite gardeners on a similar program that are growing for food banks.

“I don’t want to get philosophical, but over the last couple years there’s been this great reshuffling in our lives and there were real shortages that people faced. Our supply chain of availability, and the disconnect we have with our food and if adults don’t have the knowledge to grow their own food, that information will not trickle down to their kids. That’s something everyone should know how to do.” Gallagher said. “The opportunity for us to ingest good food is just so simple.”

The sale takes place over two weekends, Saturday and Sunday, May 7 and 8, as well as the following weekend, May 14 and 15.

“It’s typically kind of the big Mother’s Day weekend for planting,” Gallagher said, looking forward to the kick-off for planting season.

After that is finished, she moves on to the Ag Incubator.

In her temporary dual role, Gallagher stressed the plant sale that will be happening at the 577 Foundation next weekend.

Community Gardens at the Agricultural Incubator Farm has plots available that are either conventional or organic. Gallagher works with both types and is happy to give all kinds of advice. Visit www.agincubator.org/ for the most current information, as well as plot sizes that are still open and the cost.

Regardless of the community garden one uses, there is typically a fee. Gallagher said that fee is usually modest and used for the cost of diverting water.

Gallagher has also suggested that organizations get a plot to collectively work for food bank donations, as a way to collectively make a difference in the local community. If plots are full, she encourages people to get on a community garden waiting list, because a spot will eventually open up.

“My grandparents were poor simple farmers, but the food they grew was healthy and local,” Gallagher said.