Plans for Ballston Spa Community Garden grow
BALLSTON SPA — Working together, the people of Ballston Spa will soon break ground on their new community garden, a project three years in the making.
Among those tending the plots will be Ballston Spa high school and middle school students, members of the group Friends and Neighbors (FANs) of Ballston Spa, the Milton Grange and community participants.
The 80- foot by 90- foot garden will be planted in raised beds in front of the high school, which has installed a fence around the plots. The town of Ballston will provide topsoil. Compost, including kitchen waste from the Ballston Spa school kitchens, also will be donated.
Local landscape architects Jessy and Michael Marquard volunteered to design the garden. The topography defined the garden’s boundaries, Jessy Marquard said.
In the center of the garden, the Marquards designed a gathering space with benches, a sandbox for children and cubicles for storing gardening tools. Outside the garden will be a roadside planting bed, and the school will erect a sign for the space.
“Jessy and Michael have been instrumental in making this plan happen in a way that will provide efficiency and aesthetics to our garden,” said Shannon Hansen, chairwoman of FANs.
The garden is the brainchild of FANs, and Hansen obtained land-use permits and starter funds as well as support both from workers and donors.
Brookside Nursery staff members are donating their time, and students will plant a perennial flower border around the garden.
So many plans and so much enthusiasm are satisfying, but the community garden still needs more funding. Hansen said she has plans for several upcoming donation opportunities for money, time and materials.
“I’m hoping the local businesses will each give a little,” she said. “If we receive $25 from each, that adds up to a lot.”
The project also needs lumber and garden tools.
People who divide their own plants are invited to bring their potted divisions to Brookside Nursery, where staff will care for these contributions until the community gardeners are ready to put the plants in the ground. People also can buy Brookside plants and donate them. The perennial drive will start May 15.
A “fun- raiser” for the garden will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at 39 Ralph St., at the FANs Kids’ Creekside Village Playground. For $ 30 each, children will once more be able to press their painted handprints onto tiles, which will be fastened to the playground fence. The handprint tiles raised money for the play- ground project five years ago. Hansen found 40 blank tiles remaining in a box and decided to do handprints again, since they were popular the first time around.
To maintain one of the community garden plots, people must fill out an application and pay a deposit. The organizers want their gardeners to be committed and to share in such communal tasks as watering.
“We want to go forward the last weekend in May and make the garden beds,” Hansen said. “This garden is as much about community-building as it is about fresh produce and healthy eating.”
A portion of the produce will be given to local food pantries, she said.
To get a plot application, write bspagarden@yahoo.com. For further information, contact Hansen at 885- 1525 or shannonm hansen@yahoo.com.