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The Croton Community Garden is entering its second year of crops, and will participate for the first time in the Croton Arboretums 15th Annual Garden Tour around the village, on Sunday, July 10.
This year the membership is very involved, said Sabina Barach, theres a lot of community work to run a garden.
The garden was originally spearheaded by Demetra Restuccio, a former Croton Village Trustee, and a small group of the current Steering Committee members. The first crop was harvested in the summer of 2010.
Prospective members have practically sprung up overnight, with a 15-person waiting list hoping to receive plots in the fall, after the summer gardening season ends. The waiting list has grown precipitously since the gardens inception. Getting the garden up and running had required a larger time commitment from members, according to Barach, including building beds and laying soil.
The garden is made up of full size plots, of about 16 feet long, and half plots, about eight feet long. The entire garden is fenced in with chain link donated by the village, for the purpose of starting the Community Garden.
The garden has built each of the raised plots, made compost from fall leaves donated by the village, and uses donated horse manure to fertilize the plots. The garden hopes to eventually be able to share the compost made on site throughout the community. The garden is completely organic, and uses one half-plot to grow food for the Cortlandt Emergency Food Bank, in the Asbury Methodist Church in Croton. Recent garden events include the March 25th Potting Party sponsored by the Community Garden, and held at the Croton Free Library.
For those wishing to become members, a lottery is held each year to determine which prospective gardeners on the waiting list will receive plots. For more information, contact Barach at communitygarden@crotononhudson-ny.gov
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