St. Peter Claver Community Garden
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.
2023 Community Garden Planting
(May 21, 2023) A great big thanks to everyone who worked in the garden Saturday and/or Sunday. We were able to get all the plants in place with a good helping of compost around them and a layer of straw as mulch. Unfortunately, Eileen discovered a big colony of very unfriendly looking ants in one of the beds that was supposed to have the bush beans, so the bush beans will be planted in the near future when Eileen’s trap is successful in sending the ants to their eternal reward.
The Garden Stewards’ schedule started Monday Take the time to meet with your partner(s) and take a look with all that has been accomplished so far this growing season.
Jim assures me that the irrigation system is all ready to function. The timer is set to start watering at 8:00 am every other day and to run for 20 min. If you ever see the water spraying at any other time immediately turn the timer off and shut off the main valve.
We had several individuals stop by the garden today and offered to help. It’s nice to know our work is appreciated. Here are some pix of the planting.
Liz H