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Let's grow something together
By JACK DOWNS
Design Editor
Got the garden buttoned up for winter? Are the last of the green tomatoes picked, the last of the giant zucchini piled like firewood?
Here's some thing to think about growing for next year: a community garden for Plattsburgh.
If you can look into your back yard and see a tidy garden plot and a productive compost pile, you may not feel the need for a community garden. But look around you. If you live in the City of Plattsburgh you are surrounded by hundreds of apartment buildings. Gardening is not an option for people who live there. Look around again, and you'll also see dozens of single-family homes with yards that are too shaded, wooded or tiny for gardens.
Community gardens grow all sorts of good things: healthy and affordable food, environmental awareness, community bonding, stress relief.Community gardens are a great way to teach kids about healthy foods, agriculture and the value of self-reliance.The list goes on and on.
Visit the American Community Gardening Association at http://www.communitygarden.org and learn more.
Where should a Plattsburgh Community Garden be located? Let's put it where people live, someplace in the center of the city. How big should it be? It's OK to start small as long as we have room to grow. What about insurance, bylaws, etc.? Visit the Web site for those answers.
Is this just some "vegetable-pie-in-the-sky" dream? There are 18,000 community gardens across the United States and Canada; why not Plattsburgh?
So I call on city leaders, gardening clubs, Cooperative Extension and just plain citizens to join in this effort. Let's grow something together.
Comments
I was surprised to learn Plattsburgh didn't already have a community garden. As for a potential location, maybe some vacant land along Sharon Ave? Set aside part of Baily Avenue Park, South Acres, or another city park? Could SUNY step in with some donated land and a little horticultural assistance? Hmmm... something to ponder over the winter months.
Posted by: jt772@yahoo.com | October 16, 2008 7:11 PM
I may be wrong, but I believe that the original plan for Bailey Avenue Park included a community garden. I don't know if it was never implemented, or if it failed.
Cooperation from Plattsburgh State is great idea.
Posted by: Jack Downs | October 20, 2008 2:38 PM
Greetings!
Please consider joining the Dec 2nd meeting of the Plattsburgh Green Committee where we will discuss development of a Community Garden project. We may have access to the athletic fields behind St. Peters Parish for a season and there are other locations in the city that could be purposed. Join Us on Dec 2nd at 6:30 p.m. in the community meeting room of City Hall.
Thanks!
Doug Butdorf
Posted by: Doug Butdorf | November 27, 2008 6:24 PM
Doug,
I was very pleased with the Green Committee's reception, and your enthusiasm in particular. Between you, the committee, Cooperative Extension and PSU I think we really can grow something together.
Jack
Posted by: Jack Downs | December 8, 2008 1:27 PM
Jack, et al,
Stemming from our meeting in early December, I've been working to get a core group of volunteers set up and running toward the goal of creating an allotment style community garden in plattsburgh where small plots are rented on a first come, first served basis to any community member for a modest fee.
Our inaugural meeting for people interested in getting the group off the ground will be held on Feb 2nd at 6PM at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Plattsburgh at 4 Palmer Street. (Groundhog Day!)
I look forward to seeing you and any other interested people at the meeting.
Thanks!
Doug
Posted by: Doug Butdorf | January 1, 2009 9:37 AM
For more information on the Plattsburgh Community Garden group, please visit: http://www.plattsburghcommunitygarden.org.
Thanks!
Doug
Posted by: Doug Butdorf | January 12, 2009 1:13 PM