Eco garden — A green area in Utah

Eric, who is originally from back east, likes the color green. After moving to Utah, a desert state, he enjoys doing activities in green areas.

On a recent Saturday, Eric (who declined to give his last name) got his dose of green by working in the Eco Garden at Day-Riverside Library in Salt Lake City.

"It's good to be near plants and with people who like plants," he said. Dave Victor, another volunteer, is a teaching assistant for an organic gardening class at the University of Utah, and that's what brought him to the garden the same Saturday as Eric.

"It's an oasis in the desert," he said. "Every plant is important."

Every Saturday, and sometimes at other times during the week, volunteers like Eric and Victor can work in the Eco Garden, which covers about half an acre of land adjacent to the library at 1575 W. 1000 North in Rose Park. It is a community garden designed to promote permaculture, or a system for human living that emulates and respects nature.

"We're trying to find ways to live closer to the Earth by noticing patterns and working with them instead of against them," said Kendy Radaski, eco-garden coordinator with TreeUtah, which sponsors the project.

Many of the plants are set up into terrace-like structures called swales. Swales are basically ditches dug along the contour of the land, so as water runs downward, it is caught on the formation, and moisture is more effectively contained.

"It's one of the great ways to design our system of living around what the Earth is already giving us," Radaski said.

The garden has more than 300 plants, including fruit and nut trees, herbs, willows, berry bushes and various vegetables. Most of the crops are food-bearing. Many plants are annuals that can survive the winter on their own. Plants are placed in groupings called guilds to attract insects beneficial to all of them.

Artichoke plants bred to withstand Utah winters have recently been added to the garden. The willow forest on the southwest end of the plot is also new. Radaski said willows are known to grow by themselves if their roots can reach the water table.

Although the Eco Garden is a community garden, it's not set up in the traditional sense, where people rent a plot and do what they want with it. The community aspect comes in that anyone can work in it.

"We encourage people to come and learn at the garden and put in hours of volunteer time," Radaski said. "Anybody who puts in time is welcome to share in the harvest."