Two Ogden gardeners spring back to life a community garden

OGDEN — A community garden is springing to life and, through lots of love and hard work, offers a sustainable means of food production.

The Sunflower Community Garden is tucked behind a coffee shop in Ogden at 3005 Harrison Blvd.

“I just love coming out and eating it right off the vine, you know?” said Chris Sandman, a garden organizer.

As gardeners with “I AM BOTANICALS,” Chris and Ally Sandman said they love to help gardens reach their full potential.

“When we have little urban gardens like this, we can actually feed ourselves a little bit more sustainably,” Chris said.

From seed saving to pollination, planting, and growing, the two gardeners spend a lot of time under the sun, pouring a lot of love into the garden.

“We have white radishes, yellow tomatoes, black tomatoes, purple tomatoes, purple peppers, white peppers,” Ally said.

With gardening, hard work pays off tenfold and offers a largely different experience from the grocery store aisles.

“It brings togetherness that the grocery store—yeah, you’re there shopping together—but it’s more like beep beep… gardening kind of helps you slow down and realize what goes into the seed or into the dirt, what goes into your palette, what goes into your belly, and you gotta slow down and really realize that’s where the nutrition of value comes from,” Chris said.

With Earth Day just days away, so is the gardening season following closely behind.

Chris and Ally hope more volunteers and the community will come out to enjoy the garden, help it reach its full potential, and give back to local outreaches.

“I think that’s what Earth Day’s all about, you know, giving back because it gives back to us so much,” Chris said.

They say they have about 20 plots, and five are available for rent. Ally said a good rule of thumb to begin gardening is Mother’s Day.

You can find out more on how to get involved by visiting the I AM BOTANICALS website.