Cultivating H.O.P.E. For Ledyard’s Food Pantry

Members of the Ledyard Garden Club are walking (or kneeling) outside their colorful comfort zone of flowering plants to test their green thumbs among new rows of vegetables planted behind the former Gales Ferry School.

The 25x36-foot plot was planted for the sole purpose of Helping Other People Eat and is nicknamed the H.O.P.E. Garden, said Gayle Wilson, a member of the club who also tends the garden.

The group broke ground in mid-May and they have delivered 36 pounds of leafy greens and fresh produce to the Ledyard Food Pantry, according Wilson.

Five members of the garden club have been spending time on the garden but community members are invited and welcome to participate, according to Wilson. She said that so far they’ve got the plot “pretty well filled up” and expects cucumbers, squash, peppers and tomatoes this season.

“So far things are going really well, we’re really pleased so far,” she said. “We think we’re doing OK for beginners.”

Doris Fonner works at the food pantry and said that she washes and freezes the produce and clients are eager for the fresh vegetables.

“It’s amazing, they love it,” Fonner said of her clients.

Wilson said the peas were a failure but other than that everything else, like radishes, strawberries did really well and “Swiss chard is doing beautifully.” Tomatoes broccoli and cantaloupe are in the ground now.

“We trying cantaloupe,” she said. “We don’t’ have a whole lot of hope for that but its just for fun.”

The group hasn’t spent one penny on the venture, she said, although if deer or rabbits discover the garden, they may have to purchase products to protect the growing crops.

Patrick Kelley, of the Eastern Connecticut Community Garden Association says growing your own food or growing food for others can be as easy as finding a couple friends and a place to plant the seeds.

Patch spoke with Kelley to find out how to get a community garden started. ECCGA is an educational non-profit that has a passion for helping communities and groups get their own gardens started.

What are the benefits of a community garden?
Kelley said that aside from being a fun thing to do, gardening provides exercise and is a good way to get fresh air and a good dose of sunshine but the benefits are more than physical.

“Building trust and communication and the satisfaction of knowing where your food is coming from,” he said are key components of gardening with neighbors. “There’s just the sense of community, he said. “Gardens often bring people who wouldn’t normally meet – together.”

Kelley said people will also find financial savings in growing their own herbs, fruits and vegetables.

What types of community gardens can people do?

Key idea here: anything you want. Kelley said he has seen vegetable gardens, potato gardens, butterfly gardens, sensory gardens, flower gardens, herb gardens, fruit gardens…you name it. He has seen gardens in raised beds, in the ground, in window boxes, in old laundry baskets.

Is it too late to start a garden now?

Absolutely not, according to Kelley who can help anyone begin a community garden now and make it a four-season garden.

So, what do I need to get started?

Kelley said the most important ingredient in any community garden is enthusiasm and passion. Next, people need a plot of land that gets sunlight and access to water.

He said find some friends or a group and a patch of land for the garden. Kelley said a lot of gardens start at churches and parks and people need to get permission from the property owners.

The next step he said is getting the soil tested, and ECCGA helps groups do that and interpret the results. Kelley has a background in soil science and in some cases he can do bio-remediation on the soil and other cases he’ll help find wood donations and help build raised beds.

Kelley said people have to show up on the first day of community gardening ready to break ground and get their hands dirty. Shovels and tillers are recommended. The second workday consists of garden design and by the third workday, Kelley said groups have a working viable community garden.

Kelley said there are more than 30 community gardens in the area and a bunch in development.