The St. Peter Claver Community Garden is a Social Justice outreach to our 16th Street neighborhood that has been identified a “food desert.” The garden features “raised beds” with a ledge that allows people to sit on the edge of the bed box to make harvesting easy. A team of parish and community volunteers maintain the garden. Each year the volunteers meet to review the previous seasons harvest. What vegetables were popular or not and what should be planted in the upcoming season. A garden clean-up is done in the very early spring to prepare the beds. Planting is always the Saturday after Mother’s Day to ensure the last frost of the year is past.
During the growing season teams of two “garden stewards” ensure the plants are watered and weeds are pulled. These teams are in the garden every day to make sure everything is ok. The bounty of the garden is free to everyone. There is a chalk board that communicates what is ready to harvest. In each planter box is a sign describing what is planted in the box and what it should look like when ready to harvest.

We are immensely proud of our garden and the dedicated volunteers who work hard each year on this project. For more information about the garden, you can contact Liz Hoffman by calling (304) 315-2695.