East Vernon Neighborhood Garden & Orchard

The Common Ground Community Garden & Orchard has several goals: improve access to healthy foods, encourage physical activity, teach sustainable growing methods, grow community, promote self-reliance, and increase the local leadership capacity.

The community garden promotes sustainable growing methods, and prohibits the use of synthetic insecticides or pesticides. It is an allotment-style garden with both individual and communal plots. Plots are mounded into raised beds that are four feet wide by fifteen feet long. For $15 (or equivalent in sweat equity) per season (summer or winter) an individual/family can plant their own beds and enjoy their harvest as they choose. We are exploring sharing a portion of weekly harvest with food insecure residents of surrounding neighborhood, a designated food desert. Space-hogging crops like corn, watermelon, and okra get planted in communal beds and are tended collectively in exchange for a share of the harvest.  Gardeners participate in the Garden Club, and elect leaders to oversee the day-to-day operations of the garden.

This season we built a composting station, and brought our main source of water to a convenient location inside the garden. We also began harvesting rain water from two sheds at the Food Park where our garden & orchard are located.

The orchard survived this summer’s heat without a functioning irrigation system. We plan to repair it before the spring.

Garden Information