Community Garden possibility in Kentlands, Gaithersburg MD

PRESENTATION OF A POSSIBLE COMMUNITY GARDEN in the KENTLANDS
I and a few others have started up a GO GREEN group within our community here in Gaithersburg, MD. The purpose of this group is to educate ourselves about all environmental issues that touch our lives. We are currently looking at the possibility of starting a community garden where people can start growing their own veggies.

If any of you have experience in this kind of gardening, would love to hear from you.
Below is a brief article I wrote up for the local Town Crier paper to get people to come to listen to the proposed project.

The Go GREEN group has changed its summer family program in August to listen to an idea for a community garden in the Kentlands, presented by DPZ Architectural firm designers.

The August GO GREEN tree planting activity is rescheduled for September.

DPZ Architectural designers Ruthzaly Weich and Andrew Moneyheffer will present a design for a community garden that has been drawn out for the current green grass area that sits lies between the DPZ firm and the Carriage House, next to the Arts Barn.

The two young designers came up with the idea for a community garden while in the process of designing current and future new urbanism communities that incorporate community gardens in their layout.

“Gardens where you can grow your own vegetables are becoming more and more popular. There are so many rewards to growing your own food,” says Ruthzaly.

Community gardens historically in the US developed and evolved where people wanted to grow their own vegetables or flowers and were committed to taking care of the land and space. World War II saw the rise of the “Victory Garden”, community vegetable gardens designed by people to feed themselves and the troops.

The Kentlands was designed with various open spaces that are currently either green grass areas or have woodchips in them. These areas could also be considered for future community garden areas if there is interest in such projects.

The proposed community garden design envisions a common sitting area, nine raised beds for access by people of all ages. The aisles would accommodate wheel chairs and there would also be a tool shed. Rain barrels and a composting area are also part of the
suggested garden design.

Someone from a local community garden will also be at the GO GREEN meeting to discuss how their community garden is allotted and run, so as to educate those interested in actually maintaining a plot as to how the garden can work. Another suggestion to be discussed is the possibility of having one plot designated as an educational children’s garden.

For more information on community gardens visit: www.communitygarden.org

Questions: Call Alex Stavitsky-Zeineddin GO GREEN 240-246-1645