Plots Assigned at Community Garden

Plots have been assigned at the Chatham Community Garden and a variety of volunteers are ready to prepare the garden for the planting season, according to garden officials who spoke at a Borough Council meeting Monday.

Community Garden Engineer Paul Suszczynski said at the meeting that people who volunteered to help with the community garden—which is in its first year—were the first ones considered for plots. A total of 15 borough volunteers and four township volunteers decided they wanted plots.

There are a total of 40 half plots in the garden, and each measures 10 by 10 feet. (Typical full plots in a community garden measure 10 by 20 feet.) Thirteen borough residents and eight township residents received the remaining half-plots. They will attend a community garden information session at The Library of the Chathams March 31.

Those 21 were selected by a lottery that was governed by a ratio—for every three borough residents chosen, two township residents were picked. Because the garden is in the borough—it is located on PSE&G land at the intersection of Main and Division Streets—the borough is planning to pay for some of the garden upkeep, and garden organizers took that into account when devising the borough/township resident ratio.

Even so, Community Gardens Coordinator Marcy Wecker said the township has done lots for the garden.

"They really got the ball rolling," she said.

Twenty-five others applied but were not selected in the lottery. Those 11 borough residents and 14 township residents are now on a waiting list for a half-plot.

Borough Engineer Vince DeNave said the borough might expect to pay about $4,000 this year in garden-related costs. Those costs will include fencing installments and water hookups. Department of Public Works mowing at the site could also cost some money.

Garden organizers have collected $1,400 in donations. The $4,000 would be used to supplement that money.

DeNave said it is not a big deal for the DPW to mow near the 20 plots on the PSE&G land, which the electric company is leasing to the borough for $1 a year. But he noted that mowing costs could go up in future years.

Garden organizers are hoping to expand the garden by an additional 60 plots on PSE&G land across Main Street from where the garden now stands. If that happens, he said, mowing costs could start to add up.

"I think we start to spread our crew thin," DeNave said.

Wecker said the mowing would take place twice a month. She said it would be difficult for a resident to bring their personal lawnmower to the area to do the job, and so she said she hoped the DPW could pick up the work.

Borough officials agreed to do so this year, since it is a pilot year of sorts. They will revisit the situation next year.

A variety of volunteers will continue to work on developing and maintaining the garden. Green Path Organic Landcare has donated its labor and will help set up fencing, and Coviello Brothers will work compost on site into the ground. In addition, gardener Marta McDowell—who is blogging about the garden—is donating planting beds, various herbs and edible flowers to the garden that will decorate the land.

The fencing placement is expected to be complete by mid-April.