On July 21, Alice April watered the Crosbie Heights community garden. That night, volunteers began installing drip lines. It was ordinary summer garden work, but in this neighborhood just west of downtown Tulsa, reliable water had been one of the biggest obstacles to keeping anything growing.

For years, neighbors had wanted a garden they could tend together. Earlier attempts faltered when volunteers dwindled, the heat set in and plants couldn't get enough water. They even tried a water-reclamation system, neighborhood association president Fletcher Stewart told the Tulsa Flyer in February. It wasn't enough to get the garden through an Oklahoma summer.

This year, neighbors had some help with the problem. Funding through the city's Vibrant Neighborhoods Partnership supported a water line, while donated seeds, garden beds, drip lines and volunteer labor helped make the growing space work. The water line wasn't the sort of improvement anyone would mistake for a grand opening. For the people trying to keep plants alive, it was much more useful.

The work unfolded a little at a time. A May compost workday brought volunteers together around mulch and roughly a thousand pounds of food scraps. Families helped in the garden. By early July, a cushaw squash was growing there. Tulsa Flyer reporter Libby Hobbs documented the garden's progress through the season, from the workdays to the summer plants to a neighborhood gathering in October.

There's a practical appeal to all of this. When groceries take a larger share of a family's budget, growing fresh food close to home is an opportunity worth exploring. A shared garden gives people a place to learn, contribute and grow food together, including those who don't have a vegetable patch in their own backyard.

The published reporting doesn't establish how many pounds of produce Crosbie Heights harvested, how many households received it or how much money anyone saved. The achievement it does establish is a necessary beginning: a neighborhood food garden that had struggled through earlier attempts finally made it through the summer.

By October 10, there was another reason for people to come to the garden. Neighbors closed a stretch of street for a block party with live music, a popup art market, food and activities for children. A place that had needed people to show up and tend it became a place for the neighborhood to gather.

Stewart told Hobbs that he appreciated the unusual common ground the project had created. His description was simple: “I appreciate this weird commonality that we've found.” The neighbors came together over the very ordinary work of growing things, and they had something to show for it when summer ended.

There is still plenty to do. Stewart says they're preparing to plant onions and garlic for winter, and a greenhouse and more compost work remain on the list. Those are plans for the next stage, alongside the beds and irrigation that carried the garden through this one.

Earlier in the year, making it through the heat was the goal. Now the neighbors in Crosbie Heights are already talking about what to plant when the weather turns cold.