Forty-three people showed up to the Eastpointe Community Garden today. Let that sink in for a second. Forty-three! On the very first seed planting day of the 2026 season, our little garden on Nine Mile Road was absolutely buzzing.

Bill and Jen were already at it when people started rolling in around 10 a.m. – gathering materials, organizing seed packets, getting the plans dialed in. And then the people just kept coming. Teenagers. Families with kids. Neighbors from down the street. Two separate groups rolled up on bicycles. Jen’s friend Angela drove all the way from Marine City – her first time ever visiting the garden. By mid-morning, the place looked like a block party that just happened to have shovels.

A freshly planted raised bed in the Giving Garden.

The Giving Garden Gets Planted – In Record Time

The main event was planting the Giving Garden, and honestly, we’ve never seen anything like this. Jen was a force of nature, bouncing between new helpers and experienced volunteers, getting everyone organized and pointed in the right direction. Peas, kohlrabi, beets, radishes, and carrots all went into the ground across 13 beds. With that many hands working together, the whole thing was done in about an hour and a half. Jen said it was the fastest the Giving Garden has ever been planted, and looking around at the sheer number of people out there, it’s easy to see why.

Every single one of those seeds will grow into food that gets donated directly to our neighbors. That’s what the Giving Garden is all about – 100% of the produce goes to people in the community who need it. Last year we donated more than 1,700 pounds of fresh food. This year, with a start like today, who knows what’s possible.

Becky and her family installing trellis at the Giving Garden

Way More Than Just Seeds

The planting was the headline, but an unbelievable amount of work got done beyond the beds. Becky and her family – who are quickly becoming regulars around here – installed the pea trellis that was built a couple weeks ago. Sheet composting got started. The rental beds were cleaned out. The sponsor beds got tidied up. And Compost Alley? It finally has numbered bins. Jen’s been waiting for that one.

A volunteer from Macomb Community College and Yosy’s mother clean a flower bed.

Over by the flagpole, Yosy’s mom and the film crew from Macomb Community College cleaned up the front flower beds. They cut back everything that needed it and hauled away the debris. Yosy is a professor at MCC, and her students have been working on a video project about Urban Seed – they did interviews a few weeks back and came out today to capture some B-roll. Yosy brought her mom along, and watching her react to the garden was something special. She was genuinely surprised at how welcoming everyone was. They ended up staying the entire day.

Close-up photo of the leak on our new watering timer.

Drip Irrigation: Almost Perfect

While the planting crew was doing their thing, Jeff was heads-down on the new irrigation system. We’re installing timers so the garden can be watered automatically – a huge upgrade that’s going to make a real difference as the season heats up. Jeff got the last three timers installed and hooked up, and we ran a test on the drip irrigation. The good news: it works. The drip lines are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do. The less-good news: a few of the fittings are leaking. We’ll order replacements and get those sorted out, but the system is close. Really close.

Zeke Gets His Close-Up

You can’t talk about a day at the Eastpointe Community Garden without mentioning Zeke. For anyone who hasn’t met him yet, Zeke is the dog whose backyard backs right up to the garden. He’s our unofficial mascot, and he’s got a move: he picks up his ball, gently tosses it over the fence, and then waits for someone to throw it back. It works every single time. Today was no exception, and Yosy was especially excited to finally meet him – apparently multiple people mentioned Zeke during the video interviews a few weeks ago. The man is famous.

Deep dish pizza for our volunteer gardeners.

Pizza, Bikes, and Compost Donations

We grabbed some Ferlito’s pizza to feed all the volunteers, because when 43 people show up to work, you feed them. Two groups of people showed up on bicycles today, and one of them brought bags of food scraps for our compost project. They just pedaled over with kitchen scraps because they knew we could use them. That kind of thing doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because this community pays attention to each other.

Numerous gardeners working on multiple projects.

The Season Is Here

Bill said it best in our group chat after we wrapped up: “I can’t thank the people that came out enough for helping us crush today’s goals plus get more done than I could have hoped.” That about covers it. We had all ages out there. New faces and familiar ones. People who’ve been here since the beginning and people who showed up for the very first time. And together, they planted an entire Giving Garden in 90 minutes.

This is just the beginning of the 2026 growing season. If you’ve been thinking about stopping by, consider this your sign. We’re at the garden every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 16425 Nine Mile Road in Eastpointe. No experience needed. No sign-up required. Just show up – we’ll put you to work and probably hand you a slice of pizza while we’re at it.