Since 2000, the Iowa State University Extension Office has considered Bonnie Reeb a Master Gardener, but it wasn’t until this year the 77-year-old nature enthusiast was awarded the first-ever Muscatine County Master Gardener of the Year award on March 16.
Instrumental in helping feed hundreds through the Muscatine Food Pantry annually, Reeb has utilized a unique gardening technique at her church’s garden to grow countless fresh vegetables and fruits.
That garden – nearly a quarter acre in size – sits behind the Church of Christ on West Mulberry Street in Muscatine, started with the help of an Iowa State grant.
The retired registered nurse who once was a school nurse in West Liberty and also was a former hospice nurse believes in helping the less fortunate in any way she can.
“I’m a giver,” she said. “It gives me pleasure to give to someone else.”
But Reeb, who resides in Muscatine, isn’t alone in her mission and says even husband Paul, a school bus driver, “does 75 percent of everything.” Then there’s John Kiwaia, who used to run a truck farm south of Muscatine and has been a kingpin in the gardening mission, in particularly with advice, along with Lynn Pruitt of Nichols, who also plays a leadership role and is a firm believer in vertical gardening.
Tending to the garden became tedious for the few gardeners involved until the church started a “volunteer night,” inviting anyone and everyone to help plant, weed and pick crops on Monday evenings, something Reeb says has made a lot of difference. “People put their heart and soul into it,” she said.
Created about five years ago, the garden grows all types of vegetables and some fruit as well as a patch of flowers. The menu includes a variety of tomatoes, cabbage, green peppers, jalapeños, rhubarb, green beans, asparagus, melons and more – all going to the food pantry at the MCSA building, where local residents gather twice a week.
The group has been instrumental in getting the most from their acreage by utilizing a rather new method called “vertical gardening,” something Reeb discovered about eight years ago at an Iowa State Fair ISU Extension gardens visit and later in a Master Gardener visit in Newton.
The group utilizes trellises and 15-foot farm cattle panels, secured by a few steel poles, to grow things like cucumbers, squash, string beans and some tomatoes, although most are grown vertically anyway thanks to the standard wire cages.
The gardeners are working on creating more raised beds to “save our backs” and Reeb says the garden is “always changing” as they learn new tricks to farm more crops in the same amount of space.
She says there is an advantage of vertical gardening in the fact there are “less insects, less rot and it’s simply easier to pick.”
The leadership trio typically spends anywhere from two to six hours a week at the garden, depending on what needs to be done.
Reeb said she was “totally surprised” in getting the award, attending an annual all-day Master Gardeners conference at Muscatine Community College that was attended by MG’s from at least 10 different counties.
“Oh, my goodness, yes,” Reeb said of being surprised by the first-time honor, noting there are “so many others who qualify.” Growing up in urban Chicago, where her mom planted a garden on a small patch of soil in the middle of a city block, Reeb said she fell in love with gardening and her mother would share her excess harvest with neighbors, teaching her daughter a valuable lesson in giving.
She said becoming a Master Gardener is a lifetime of learning new skills and the nearly 30 sessions that day, highlighted by the award presentation, was rewarding. In particular, she liked a segment on how gardening is good for your “body and soul” and is good therapy for the mind.
Reeb says she continually learns from other master gardeners and has friends all over the county and eastern Iowa. She said one thing she learned was that produce at the local grocery stores isn’t nearly the same as home-grown fruits and vegetables, losing nutrition and taste aspects because of shipping and storage time – the reason fresh produce tastes so much better and is better for you.
“Getting outside in the fresh air and working in the soil – there’s nothing like it,” she said. “And there’s nothing like eating your own vegetables.”