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How does the community garden grow? Find out with a tour

JANESVILLE — Thousands of people drive by the community garden every day.

But not many people know what goes on there.

From 5 to 6:30 p.m. today, the Rock Prairie Master Gardeners and Extension educators will host an open house at the garden.

The community gardens, which are located next to the Rock County Sheriff's Office on Highway 14, consist of three areas: garden plots rented to community residents, a half-acre run by jail inmates and volunteers and another half-acre run by work-release inmates who are unemployed.

"We're going to be giving tours of the gardens and showing people the different things we're doing out there," said Deb Grams, Rock Prairie Master Gardener volunteer.

Most recently, a new hoop house was built to help extend the growing season.

Master Gardeners will show the public the demonstration compost bins, and visitors also will taste a variety of heirloom tomatoes and other produce grown at the gardens.

Perhaps most important, they'll also get to see how jail and work-release inmates contribute to the community by growing vegetables. Those vegetables are given to local food pantries or sold, at very low cost, to participants in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

Julie Gibes, an extension nutrition educator, works with the WIC low-income participants to get the most out of their produce.

Members of the Rock County Board and officials from the sheriff's office also will be on hand to tour the garden.