Manteca’s new community garden isn’t just a place created to grow food.

It is being programmed as a learning center, a place to promote good nutrition, a community gathering place, and a way to learn that working in the soil with plants can elevate one’s well-being.

The venture that replaced grass along Poplar Avenue at the Center Street tennis courts across from the library in downtown is a joint venture between the City of Manteca and Urban Green Project.

It’s completion is being marked with a ribbon cutting planned for Thursday, June 12, at 10 a.m.

Rajnish Khanna, a plant scientist serves as the Urban Green executive director, notes how the food system in place often means the fresh produce labeled as local in a supermarket can come from 400 miles away, almost as far as it is to Manteca from San Diego.

And while that can compromise the freshness and taste, it is common that other produce making its way to local supermarkets from as far away as Chile often spending weeks, and even months, in transit and storage.

“Local should mean within 40 miles of where you live,” pointed out Sarah Miller, owner of Archers Horticulture and Urban Green Project president.

Sourcing local produce provides better quality and freshness.

Learning how to grow your own or raising it at a community garden such as the one Urban Green is overseeing means even better and fresher vegetables.

The city, using pass-through federal COVID relief funds, created a community garden to the non-profit’s specifications.

A community garden was high on a Millennial Advisory Committee’s recommendation for amenities given more people in Manteca are residing in apartments and it is a proven vehicle to engage people with others in the community.

Manteca’s new community garden includes:

*a series of raised planting beds with their own water supply.

*gravel that helps to control the weeds around the planter boxes and control potential dust.

*a turf area for community events and such.

*security fencing.

*a storage container that has been adorned with a mural.

The raised beds allow for better control of weeds and other issues.

The lights allow work to take place in the garden in early evenings as well as the winter as Urban Green plans to run a year-round program to take advantage of a wide repertoire of prime growing seasons for various vegetables.

The high profile site next to the tennis court not only provides exposure for the community garden, but Urban Green can take advantage of the meeting room at the library located across Center Street.

It can also build synergy with the food court endeavor in nearby Library Park and other downtown events such as the street fairs.

Urban Green plans to participate in the farmers market taking place this year at Orchard Valley.

Urban Green’s vision is for people to be able to access fresh food all the time.

The goal is to create community gardens that function as educational and research hubs, community driven spaces and a place to grow food locally.

Ideally, the Center Street effort will eventually be replicated with other community gardens across Manteca.

They hope to connect each garden with a market to sell fresh goods, supporting local farmers and businesses and providing a full circle connection to restaurants, consumers and sustainable agriculture.

The organization is looking for volunteers as well as sponsors to help cover start-up costs.

Khanna emphasize the endeavor is not just about people learning to grow their own food.

“Many people don’t know where their food comes from,” Khanna said.

It’s a tad ironic given Manteca is part of the San Joaquin Valley, arguably the most fertile agricultural region on earth.

The San Joaquin Valley grows more than 40 percent of the nation’s vegetables, fruits, and nuts. There are more than 250 crops grown in the eight-county region.

California is by far largest farm state in the nation with $59 billion in annual crop production.

It also creates numerous jobs including head-of-household employment as well as specialty fields such as plant science that is aimed at providing better growing outcomes.

Khanna is helping educate future researchers through teaching a Contra Costa Community College class on bio tech education.

Miller also noted growing your own food isn’t one dimensional.

She pointed out working in a garden gives one a sense of well-being.

There is a possibility of further expansion at the Center Street site including the possibility of adding a greenhouse.

They are developing partnerships including the Manteca Garden Club and Delta College.

Urban Green’s  mission is to” create beautiful functioning community spaces with sustainable capabilities and ties to educational opportunities and city program.”

That means using the space “created to its full capacity, celebrating community, growing edible items year-round and providing diverse educational opportunities from background growing to sustainable agricultural research.”

To contact Urban Green, email hello@urbangreenproject.org,

The website can be found at urbangreenproject.org.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com