Community garden gets green light
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Tillsonburg Town Council gave Tillsonburg Community Garden project the green light to move forward at its current location, at Monday night’s open council meeting.
“We’re very optimistic that they’re going to give it to us. Council has shown quite a bit of interest when we first approached them,” said garden plot manager, Ray Sorochan prior to Monday’s meeting. “We’re looking for a very positive response from them.”
Sorochan was in attendance at Monday’s meeting to hear the decision council was expected to make regarding the present location for the Tillsonburg Community Garden.
“I understand they’re going to give us a lease for another five years,” he said.
Council did adopt the staff report which recommended entering into the extended agreement for five years. Passage of this recommendation as a by-law will finalize and cement it.
Since January, the community garden has had to work through several delays, and plots and work on the community garden had essentially been put on hold this spring, until council had reviewed the report pertaining to the garden’s current location.
Sorochan has been at the Tillsonburg Community Garden the past few days, and was there Monday afternoon upgrading and working on details in preparation for the growing season.
“What I’m trying to do now is put up a kind of bulk head to keep the mulch from overflowing onto the garden and to keep it on the path,” said Sorochan.
And now that the community garden has been given the proverbial ‘green light’ plans can move ahead for the 2013 spring growing season.
“As soon as I’m finished the pathway, I’m going to get a rototiller in here and we’re going to rototill everything, stake out the lots so people that want to use a lot – and we’re aiming at some of the people that can’t really afford a lot, that don’t know much about gardening and we’re going to try to help the ones that need to have a garden.
“Some of the food is going to go to the food bank, we’re going to keep a couple of plots for ourselves and I’ve got an extra plot outside the garden for potatoes for them the food bank.”
Members of the public who can afford a plot and who perhaps don’t live in a house or have access to a garden, but who would like to learn about gardening or grow their own vegetables (and possibly a few select fruits such as cantaloupe) will also have an opportunity.
“A suggested donation (for those who can pay) is going to be $20 for a 10-by-10-foot plot and $25 for a 10-by-20-foot plot for the season – they’re pretty good sized lots.
“That’s a lot of gardening.”
This spring a number of Tillsonburg residents have expressed interest in using a plot in the community garden, and as a result, limited space is available.
“We’ve had quite a few people show interest in the garden, to use a plot for the season – we have about 12 or 14 names and we will have about 18 plots here,” said Sorochan.
There could possibly be more plots available if more people choose the smaller size to grow their vegetables.
In addition, there will be approximately three or four plots for the food bank, with an extra plot for potatoes.
A variety of vegetables and a few select fruits could be grown in the Tillsonburg Community Garden in 2013.
“I think whatever people want to put in - last year we had cantaloupe growing here, we had pumpkins, cucumbers, lots of tomatoes and lots of hot peppers, a real variety of things.”
If Mother Nature cooperates, Sorochan said they hope to have the community garden tilled this week or the following week at the latest, and will continue to move forward with planting during the last week in May.
“We’ll probably be up and running by then – ready for planting,” said Sorochan, noting people could start planting tomatoes, root vegetables such as peas, carrots, beans, lettuce and onions.
“Pretty much anything you would grow in your own home garden.”
In addition to growing healthy, local food and providing the food bank with fresh produce, the Tillsonburg Community Garden also gives local residents an enjoyable learning experience.
“If they don’t know anything about gardening, there’ll be someone here to teach them,” said Sorochan. “We’ll teach them how to plant, how to maintain a garden, and how to make sure the plants are watered and fed properly.”
All plot donations are due by May 31. The Tillsonburg Community Garden is holding an information meeting at the community garden, rain or shine on Wednesday, May 22 at 7 p.m.
If you would like to volunteer with the Tillsonburg Community Garden, or for more information, contact Ray Sorochan at (519) 842-2372.