Community Garden packed with variety, character
Robbinsville – As inflation hits families in the pocketbook, Robbinsville Community Garden offers an inexpensive way to grow your own food, especially if you don’t have gardening space of your own.
Garden members typically stop by to do their gardening while they are out running errands, Garden Director Erin Emmons said.
Tomatoes and cucumbers are popular crops and are being harvested right now.
“It’s a really good practice to get into,” she said.
The garden was created with grants from Evergreen Foundation, Mission Health and Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, as well as numerous local donations, Emmons said. Work to build infrastructure started in 2018 and the garden opened in summer 2020.
The garden includes 25 raised-bed plots, some of which are wheelchair-accessible. There is a shaded picnic area, locked storage closet for personal and community tools, and even a misting station. Solar-powered lighting allows work to continue into the early evening hours.
Community tools include a tiller, blower, and “all the tools you would need,” Emmons said.
“This makes gardening very easy,” she said. “I don’t know how to make it easier.”
There are about a dozen participants in the garden so far this growing season, including individuals and groups.
Emmons is planning a tea party sometime in August for the public to visit and learn more about the garden. Details and date are still being worked out.
“We want to celebrate how far the garden has come,” she said.
For those still sitting on the fence, there is plots available and still plenty of time to plant for summer crops, not to mention fall crops, Emmons said.
Membership costs $30 – $50 per year, depending on the size of the plot. Proceeds pay for supplies, water and maintenance. Members are expected to participate in work days in addition to the time they spend with their own plots. Work days total about five or six hours a month for clean-up, weeding, and any other tasks that need to be done.
Members are also expected to watch out for neighbor’s plots and water them if they can. Members also get to keep everything they grow and any surplus crops are given away free at the Church Mouse – first come, first served.
To apply, email grahammouse1@gmail.com, call (828) 479-3038, or stop by the Church Mouse store at the corner of North Main Street and Ford Street.
The garden is located off Ford Street, behind the Church Mouse.