The Birth of the St. Bernard Community Garden
By Carole Browne, Garden Coordinator
Our garden started out of a desire from a resident, who thought a community garden and garden club would be a good fit for the village. A five-page presentation of pros and cons was given to the mayor of St. Bernard, and he happily worked with us to get this thing up and running.
We decided on an area of Ross Park that is unusable space because of two old, buried tennis courts, and this alleviated the need for the Service Department to continue to cut the grass and maintain the spot. We raised enough money to build 36 4’x8’ raised beds from cinderblock for two very hot weekends in April of 2022, with a group of volunteers who did all the work. Residents, family, Fire Department and Service Department members did a fantastic job!
Our club president was able to get a 300-gallon tank for free, and we installed it for our water reserves. We don’t have any kind of water available, but the St. Bernard Fire Department came several times that first summer and filled our tank. They must flush the pumper tanks occasionally, and we reaped the benefits. When the need to stop flooding that disturbed the adjacent tennis court happened, the village put in a French drain and dry riverbed to carry that water away, and we gained some useable space which was once a “bog.” We also hooked into the drains of the building above the garden that was contributing to the flooding, and the Service Department had two green water tanks they were not using, so they made a home at the garden. We were able to also tap into the house next door’s drainpipe and now all three of our tanks are catching rainwater.
After a theft was reported of our wheelbarrow from a little Rubbermaid shed that had been donated, The St Bernard Positive Action Committee generously donated the money for us to build a 10 X 8 shed on the property, which greatly enhanced the security. There is a camera in the park that covers the area of the garden and can be assured that any issues at the garden are taken care of by the St. Bernard Police Department.
We were given the property by the village to use as our garden space, and we will maintain the property indefinitely to fulfill the promise of keeping it as a garden. We are growing crops to donate to our local food pantry as well as produce for the adjacent neighbors for keeping an eye on the property. Being a non-profit, we send out donation letters to all the businesses in the village and some are very generous. Anyone who donates over $100 gets their name and logo displayed at the garden for the season. We are offering service hours to the Roger Bacon and St. Bernard-Elmwood Place High Schools to come and work in the garden, which they need for graduation.
We try to be as eco-friendly as possible and recycle as much as we can for use of the garden. We are starting our third season and look forward to celebrating more parties and functions in the garden. We currently have a party each month that’s open to all, with our “Sunset in the Garden” party the highlight of the summer. This year we will be having a fall party and will be selling pumpkins at the garden in September.
It just takes a little drive and work to get a garden started. If you see a spot in your area that is always overgrown, find out who owns it and see if you can make a Community Garden out of it!