The Alamo Heights Community Garden is on the mend after vandals attacked it three times since April.
A GoFundMe reward has grown to nearly $8,000 to catch those responsible for one of the attacks involving a chemical.
Garden volunteer Catherine Milbourn believes two of the attacks are related. The garden's community library and picnic tables were damaged.
But in the other instance, a vandal apparently passed through the garden spraying a chemical, killing a bed of herbs and two vegetable beds.
Milbourn said the beds have been replanted with some hearty beans that can survive almost anything.
"On the upper gardens that were sprayed we elected, because we did not know what it was sprayed with, to not plant there for a month or three weeks and then we put in new soil in the parts that were the most damaged," she said.
Police believe the chemical attack on the garden and at 19 area homes were politically motivated.
Most had political yard signs supporting the same two candidates for the Alamo Heights school board. The community garden did not have up political signs, but it is near the home of one of the candidates.
Milbourn said the community garden has been a safe place during the pandemic for community members to socialize and share their love of gardening.
"We have a lot of people come by. They want to know what we're planting, so that they can plant that in their garden. And they'll share their experience with things, you know, 'Oh my beans got something terrible,' and we'll say, 'Ours did, too,'" she said.
Around 25 members work at the garden and share the vegetables it grows. Milbourn said Alamo Heights residents interested in joining the community garden can reach them through Facebook or their website ahgarden.org.
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