Garden to Bring Community Together, Open May 1

During a time when neighbors can be isolated in their daily activities, one Washington Township resident–along with her entire committee–believes a new community initiative will help cure that solitude.

So on May 1, after years of discussion, the Washington Township Community Garden is scheduled to officially open to the public and give residents a chance not only to garden, but communicate with each other and have a gathering place in town.

The garden will offer 71 plots on a first come, first served basis, according to Garden Committee member Denise Tedeschi.

Located at Palmer Park, the garden is 125-feet-squared, and has had fencing and gates installed by Kevin Salamon, a Boy Scout that attained his Eagle ranking because of the project.

Another Scout project in the planning stages is to build work benches within the garden, but that is still subject to approval by the organization, Tedeschi said.

Tedeschi said she hopes it becomes more than just a garden, and the committee plans on bringing in speakers and having pot luck dinners from the garden’s offerings.

Within the upcoming Washington Township budget, a $33,000 line item has been installed to create a water line from the bottom of Palmer Park to the upper baseball fields. The garden would be fed by that line, Tedeschi said.

The garden recently received a $1,000 grant from the Garden Club of New Jersey, Tedeschi said. The group’s mission, according to its website, is:

Our goal is to provide community members of all ages and abilities an accessible place to garden. The WTCG exists to encourage and support members in their common interest in organic gardening, to provide instruction and education to new gardener through our garden mentor program and to provide a place where members can share and exchange ideas while producing healthy food and flowers for friends and family.

The organic garden is placed on the left side of the park behind the back baseball field.

Two plot sizes are available to residents, including an 8’ x 8’ and an 8’ x 16’. The cost for the smaller piece of land is $20 for a year, or $50 for three years. The larger plot is $35 for a year or $80 for three years. There’s a non-resident fee of $10 in addition to plot fees, and there’s a limit of two plots per household.

“It’s a chance for community members, young and old, to spend time together,” Tedeschi said.

More information about the community garden and the Washington Township Garden Committee can be found here.

What do you think of the community garden? Will you be buying space?