New for Summer 2016! The Boundless Garden at Georgetown-Newtown
Behind the Charles Chipman Cultural Center and the Boundless Playground is Salisbury’s second community garden. Cooperating and contributing funding and labor are Newtown neighbors, City government, and area churches. Support was provided from a grant from Canada!
Dr. Manav Ratti, professor of English at Salisbury University since 2011, received a grant from the Fulbright Canada-RBC Eco-Leadership Program that was used to provide essential equipment, supplies, and infrastructure. Collaboration occurred among Mayor Jake Day’s Office, GreenSBY, area churches, and the Newtown Historic neighborhood. The first harvest will be this summer.
Volunteers from the Newtown and Georgetown neighborhoods; from churches St. Francis de Sales, Bethesda, and Trinity Methodist; and from Bennett High School and Catholic Campus Ministry made the garden come alive in early April. Lumber for raised beds was delivered, cut to size, and assembled by volunteers who brought and shared their tools. Soil was delivered and trundled to more than a dozen beds. Rain barrels were donated, and irrigation lines were set up. The city of Salisbury is donating the water.
The summer’s harvest of produce will be shared on a first-come, first-served basis. According to Nicole Long, Garden Coordinator, “We know that sometimes people who have not worked will take a share of the garden’s fruits. This is our spirit: mercy and love of neighbor. This love takes the form of our produce, and we will give it freely.”
- Note to gardeners: if you have perennials that need to be divided, bring your extras to the Boundless Garden; especially wanted are plants attractive for pollinators, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
- Donations are always welcome to extend the irrigation necessary in our long, hot, Eastern Shore summer!
- Come out and share some time with neighbors and friends, meet new friends, and enjoy the fruits of your labor!
- For more on the garden’s story and to keep up to date with its progress, see Boundless Garden on Facebook and the website growboundless.com
As Head Gardener Greg Zaczkiewicz says, “We’re growing not vegetables, but community.”