Sunflowers grow in Over-the-Rhine. Their tall, straight stems reach skyward, topped by big yellow blooms.

Antonio Allen, 10, empties a watering can on a plot of flowers. At left is Gia Giammarinaro, youth education specialist with the Civic Garden Center. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        Cherry tomatoes, sweet as candy, thrive here, too. And peppers and beets, squash and herbs, lettuce, begonias and roses.

        Visit a lush, green garden and it's possible — for a few moments, anyway — to forget that this troubled neighborhood was scarred by recent riots.

        And while something as simple as a garden will never solve the ills of the city, it's a way to bring people together to work toward a common purpose.

        That's one of the benefits of the Civic Garden Center's Neighborhood Gardens program, which this year marks its 20th anniversary. The program began at the Over-the-Rhine People's Garden on East McMicken, and now encompasses about 50 community gardens in 21 Greater Cincinnati neighborhoods.

        “Each garden is really reflective of the neighborhood and the folks who garden there,” says Amie Roberts, Neighborhood Gardens program coordinator.

        We visited two community gardens in Over-the-Rhine to see who was working the soil.

        A butterfly bush pours over a chain-link fence like a waterfall. Nearby, golden petals of black-eyed susans peek through the fence's openings.

        “Hey, you want to garden?” Gia Giammarinaro is saying.

        “We need help!” adds Heather Schmiedicke.

        Ten-year-old Contessa Mathews briefly considers the women's offer, then steps into the Race Street Children's Garden. Contessa, who lives a few blocks away, has been here before, but it's her first time this summer.

        The garden occupies a space between two brick apartment buildings on Race, just north of 14th Street. Styrofoam cups, snack bags and papers litter the sidewalk. Sounds of the city, from sirens to bus engines, surround the small green space.

        But inside the fence, the garden offers “an escape from the streets,” says Ms. Giammarinaro, youth education specialist for the Civic Garden Center. “I know that sounds really cheesy. But it's a different world in the garden. We bill it as that. (Children) sense it. It's like they enter another world for a little while.”

        “Hey, we need you over here!” Mrs. Schmiedicke, a volunteer and education specialist, yells. She has spotted Antonio Allen, who is a few days shy of his 11th birthday. He's a regular at the garden on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, when the garden is open.

        Antonio, with a head of thick dark hair that is all curls and twists, says he enjoys this place. “It's nothing about gardening, it's about the people here,” he says. In particular, he likes seeing one of his old teachers who often volunteers at the garden, but isn't here today.

        After the children help with planting and watering, they receive a fruit snack and drink. Then Ms. Giammarinaro says, “Hold out your hand.”

        She gives both children a bright red cherry tomato. Antonio and Contessa try it, but spit it out.

        It's the only time they show a frown.

        “I like planting stuff,” Contessa says.

        “It's fun getting dirty,” Antonio says.

        The early-morning sun hides behind dense clouds when 41-year-old Ken Carman stops by the Over-the-Rhine People's Garden one day before work.

        He moves among the beds of tomatoes, peppers, onions, beets and Swiss chard, talking about how he'd like to implement low-maintenance gardening techniques that will make it easier for neighborhood residents to tend the vegetables.

        As it is, he's already done much for the garden, which is enclosed by a chain-link fence on a bleak stretch of East McMicken. This was the Civic Garden Center's first community garden.

        Four years ago, Mr. Carman moved into a second-floor apartment in the neighborhood. His first garden consisted of what he could fit on the fire escape — some bell peppers, tomatoes and onions.

        From his apartment, he could see the People's Garden. He inquired about it, and soon became actively involved.

        Then he met a woman who eventually became his wife, and for a couple of years, he didn't plant anything. But Mr. Carman kept tabs on the People's Garden.

        He noticed that weeds were taking over. “I think the thought in my mind was, if something's not done, we're going to lose the space.”

        So last August, he became actively involved again, planting two beds of spinach, and some carrots and onions. Last fall, he turned his attention to improving the soil. He brought in almost 300 garbage cans full of vegetable waste from a produce company, and several thousand pounds of spent grain from local breweries. He got Cincinnati Carriage Co. to donate and deliver two truckloads of horse manure.

        He spent countless hours turning the compost, and then, in the spring, planting and watering. Others also work the garden, but Mr. Carman's devotion is hard to top.

        He has managed to keep gardening despite increasing demands on his time. He works as an estimator for a builder's hardware company. And since April — when his son was born 3 1/2 months prematurely — has has spent many hours at a hospital. The baby is expected to come home soon.

        Mr. Carman's family benefits from his harvests. So do his neighbors. And so does his church, Lighthouse Worship Center, which runs a transition home.

        What's good for the soil, perhaps, is also good for the soul.

        Surveying the People's Garden, Mr. Carman says, “I feel it has a nice look to it now.”

        Tristate Scenes is a periodic series of stories on the people, places and events that help define Greater Cincinnati. If you have a story suggestion, write John Johnston, c/o The Cincinnati Enquirer; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jjohnston@enquirer.com.

Gardens tour Tuesday

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