In a matter of just three weeks, a city-owned boulevard on the south side of Kalispell was transformed from a weed-infested plot with four-foot high grass to a community garden with planting boxes and rock and tile walkways.

The effort has been led by Merry Elerick, who has lived in a nearby townhome on Meadow Court for about three years.

“I’ve loved gardening all my life, so I thought, do I need to move to have a garden or do I need to figure something else out?” Elerick said.

The rough boulevard caught her attention, and she saw potential. Elerick contacted the city and got permission for the Meadow Court Community Garden with some guidelines from Mike Baker, the city’s parks and recreation director.

“Once I got permission, I contacted some local businesses. I just needed a little help getting it off the ground,” she said.

And help she got.

“Every single person I approached and explained what I was trying to do, was absolutely positive and very giving,” said Elerick, who has been involved with similar projects before and has completed a master gardener class through the University of Wyoming.

Elerick distributed fliers in the neighborhood and got help from about 10 people. But she sees potential for up to 100 people to eventually get involved.

“Some people are much more interested in getting their hands dirty than others. I think once it really bushes out and you can see the fruit people will get interested ... at least it will give people a reason to walk around the block and take a look,” she said.

“I believe that we will grow enough food to supply all of the families in our immediate vicinity and my hope is to be able to donate to the food bank periodically,” she added. “It’s amazing what can grow in a small place.”

It took about three weeks to build the garden. About 20 types of vegetables, along with six types of herbs and several varieties of flowers were planted just over two weeks ago.

“It is so exciting to walk out there and see those little plants pop out of the dirt,” she said.

Elerick got supplies and materials from Western Building Center, Montana Ace, Montana Rock Works, Whitefish Landscaping, Black Gold Top Soil and American Tile.

The donations allowed for construction of raised and weed-blocked garden beds, as well as slate, stone and tile walkways through the garden.

“In a way, I think the project was just meant to happen,” Elerick said. “Nobody said no.”

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.