A dream is taking root in Kingsville, where two local women are bringing neighbors together to learn, grow, and live healthier.
With the support of the Kingsville City Commission, the Parks and Recreation Department, and a donation from the Boys and Girls Club, Kim McClure and Gretchen Stinson are co-creating the city’s first-ever Community Teaching Garden at the Maggie Salinas Pavilion.
For McClure, the project represents more than just planting seeds.
“It feels good to be part of something growing and being successful,” she said. The garden will stretch 30 by 80 feet, featuring four-by-eight raised beds, picnic tables, benches, and fruit trees native to South Texas, including pomegranate, fig, and mulberry.
Stinson says the benefits of gardening go far beyond produce.
“It helps with vitamin D, it helps getting out in the sunlight, it helps with physical fitness, it helps with mental health. It can help with socialization,” she explained. Part of their mission is teaching residents what works — and what doesn’t — in this region’s unique climate.
“A lot of people don’t understand how to grow native things in South Texas,” McClure said. “They follow gardening advice from somebody that is in Pennsylvania or something and that doesn’t work. Apples won’t grow down here and even lemons from the valley won’t either."
For the two co-creators, this effort is about more than instruction. They envision a space that belongs to the entire community.
“People can help come out and water, people can come out and help pull weeds,” Stinson said. “We want it to be our community garden for the city of Kingsville and surrounding areas.”
The Kingsville Community Teaching Garden will officially open with a special event on October 11, where 4-H members will lead fall gardening activities.
For McClure and Stinson, the garden is just the beginning of something bigger — a place to grow food, friendship, and a stronger community.
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