Get Involved with the Grant Park Community Garden

Gardeners ready to plant. Photo by Suzanne Welander

By Jim Williamson and Suzanne Welander
All too often, those of us on the verge of gardening begin to get motivated just after the sweet spot of the spring planting season has passed. We are left like a pokeweed next to a goat field as another gardening season passes us by, hoping that the dream to garden will still be within us in the fall–and not subsumed by college football and barbecues.
If only there was a way to experience gardening without having the land and all the maintenance that goes with it…without the long-term commitment. Fortunately, there is. You can participate in cultivating food for donation to the Plant-A-Row-For-The-Hungry program at the new Grant Park Community Garden.
The community garden is located on a hilly vacant lot located on Grant Street south of Kendrick Avenue, north of the police horse pastures. The property owner, looking to keep the lot maintained and learn a little bit about gardening in the process, leased the lot to a group of community-minded organic gardeners for $0 in the summer of 2011. A core of dedicated volunteers—supported by occasional work groups from the Atlanta Community Food Bank—created and executed a plan that mixed raised beds with trails and common gardening areas. A clever, almost whimsical, series of trails threads through the growing areas to the top level of the property.
Using building materials donated by Carolina Lumber mixed with other scavenged (free!) materials, 11 raised beds were built and are currently under lease to private gardeners. Roughly one-third of the garden’s active space is dedicated to growing food for donation to the Plant-A-Row program. Since the garden’s inception, 150 pounds of food—all grown using organic techniques—has been donated to the Clifton Road Men’s Shelter, helping the center’s chef prepare healthful and delicious meals. With more growing spaces online in 2012, including a tomato patch propagated with plants donated by Hope’s Gardens, the garden will begin also donating food to the Georgia Avenue Cooperative this summer.
Though all of the currently available private plots are leased, new gardeners are welcome to participate in maintaining the plots for the Plant-A-Row program. Regular garden gatherings are held on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. Another pair of hands can make a significant impact! As more raised beds are developed on the top level of the property, gardeners who have been helping with the Plant-A-Row work will be first in line for the new private plots.
You can learn more about the garden by visiting their tent at the Grant Park Farmers Market the second Sunday of every month. At the June 10 market, they’ll be raffling a rain barrel donated to the garden by the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. Since the community garden is an official project of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association, all donations are tax-deductible and help us defray costs. You can also find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GrantParkCommunityGarden or email them at GrantParkCommunityGarden@gmail.com.
Join a wonderful community of fellow gardeners who are making a difference in the lives of others. The Grant Park Community Garden offers an introduction to gardening for newbies and a super-sunny growing space for experienced gardeners wanting to keep their hands in the dirt.