A Closer Look at Watkins Glen

Roger Ort, Horticulture Program Assistant at the Schuyler County Coopertive Extension Office, was kind enough to inform me that Watkins Glen has not one but four community gardens, all built within the last 3 years.

In addition to the Catholic Charities community garden built at Watkins Glen Elementary (described previously), there are:

• The HeadStart Garden - Built with a small community grant, this garden provides an opportunity for pre-school children in the HeadStart program to get outside and get their hands dirty.
• The Hidden Valley 4-H Camp Garden - Using only help provided by town residents, this garden was started on site to provide gardening activities for campers and fresh vegetables for the first ever salad bar at camp. Plant donations from Cornell support the vegetable production, and the CCE teaches a week long gardening program for each of the six weeks of camp.
• The CCE Teaching Garden - Built using a Department of Health grant for Healthy Living, this garden was built on the grass island next to the Schulyer County Cooperative Extension office. The goal is to use the plantings to provide gardening and healthy eating workshops to community residents, local students, and organizations like 4-H, ARC, Office for the Aging, and WIC. The garden now contains a straw bale garden, butterfly and permaculture gardens, berries, hardy kiwi, roses, composting area, espaliered fruit trees, grape arbor, wheel chair accessible beds, heirloom vegetables, potatoes, and fruits from around the world. All the plants were donated to the garden by local businesses, Cornell University, and various nurseries around the country.

View pictures of the gardens here:
Schuyler County Community Gardens
And a great slideshow of the construction:
Schuyler County Land Use - Horticulture Program

CCE Demonstration Garden in Watkins Glen, NY

Are you as impressed as I am? In 2009 Watkins Glen had no community gardens at all, and look at what they have achieved! Theirs is a particularly successful example of how creative use of grant funding can build gardens that serve many different groups of people in their community.

Congratulations to Watkins Glen for your inspiring example and hats off for a job well done!