Community garden growing in Zelienople
ZELIENOPLE — A community garden continues to grow in its fourth year, teaching residents the joys of gardening while providing food for those in need.
The Oak Grove Community Garden, 432 Harkins Mill Road, has entered its fourth year with more plots and programs than ever.
“We have a problem now: we're running out of land,” said Tom Applequist, community garden president. “That's a good problem to have. We never imagined anything like this so quickly. When we started with 18 (plots) we were just tickled pink with that. We really started from scratch.”
The garden now boasts 60 plots, four beehives, a shed full of equipment and a pavilion complete with electric lights and seating donated by the community.
Much of what the gardeners grow is donated to those who need it.
“Our first year ... we donated about 1,200 pounds of food to the Salvation Army,” Applequist said. “Our goal this year is 4,500 pounds. If we hit that, then we'll hit 10,000 pounds for our fourth year.”
Salvation Army volunteer Ron Swogger stops by every Monday to collect the produce.
“We have a schedule of pickers either Sunday night or Monday morning. A lot of gardeners come and pick their own garden,” Applequist said. “We have a system that you put a flag up that means we're allowed to pick the produce. If you just want to donate everything, but you don't want to pick it then we'll pick it for you and donate it.”
The food goes to help families in Beaver County.
“There are 300 families Ron has told me that we've helped get food,” said Applequist. “It's as fresh as you can get. They're picked Monday and sometimes used Monday night.”
It really helps the local community,” said Christian Shaffer, garden co-chair and incoming president. “Just even having this garden, people are making a huge difference here locally.”
“You can donate some, you can donate all, you can donate none, it's all up to you,” Applequist said. “If you donate everything you don't have to pay the $20 fee.”
The fees, paid annually to reserve a plot, all go back into the garden.
“To do gardening and to provide people with an opportunity for success when they do the gardening, you have to return some nutrients back into the garden,” he said. “It's those kind of things that the membership fee covers.”
By June, gardeners have begun to see the literal fruits of their labors.“You see a lot of tomatoes. Eggplant, maybe, is one of the more unique things that people like to plant,” Shaffer said.Some gardeners grow flowers and pumpkins as well.“They introduced the community garden to sweet potatoes here just because they're much more disease tolerant than Irish potatoes. Insects as well, you don't have to spray them when you plant them,” Shaffer said. “The first year we planted them, Zachary Christman, who's pastor (Nathaneil) Christman's son, they had grown a 6 ½-pound sweet potato which was about the size of a football.”The garden is always looking for new people to join.“There's still time to rent a plot this year,” Applequist said. “We still have a few openings.”No knowledge of gardening is required, and the community garden is happy to help newcomers learn.“I'm glad to see folks of all ages who may have never planted a garden before to get a better understanding of what goes into food production. We've been so far removed from how things get to our refrigerator,” said Shaffer. “Two years ago we had the flea beetles. Last year we had the squash bugs, and for people to see and experience firsthand kind of a failure of a crop is just as educational as growing the largest pumpkin in the community,”said Shaffer.The community garden recently launched a mentoring program and will be offering classes later this year.“It's funny, the way I grew up my grandparents had lived through the Great Depression and then through World War II. Everybody had a garden because of the Great Depression and then everybody had a victory garden in World War II, so to not have a small garden at home is kind of a foreign idea to me,” Shaffer said. “I'm glad to see people coming out to do this work.”To contact the community garden to reserve a plot or for more information, email oglcgarden@gmail.com or follow it on Facebook.
