One of the best promises of spring is the renewal of community activities that bring family, friends and neighbors together. This is especially true in the community of Mountain Park because of the Community Organic Garden. Planting and growing seemslike a natural activity where an appreciation of the outdoors is second nature.
In 2010, a small group of citizens organized our Mountain Park Organic Garden site by leasing an overgrown, vacant lot from the City and turning it into a wonderful garden spot. The open membership has grown to approximately 40-50 households consisting of residents from Mountain Park, Roswell or the surrounding areas.
Members meet every Saturday morning during the growing season and work the garden beds preparing for planting the variety of flowers, herbs and vegetables that are grown. Composting and horse manure from an area horse farm are part of the process for developing the beds to be planted. The best homegrown tomatoes, pole and bush beans, okra, potatoes and zucchini are just a few of the items produced during the spring and summer season. During these months, volunteers have a watering schedule for every day of the week to make sure everything is getting plenty of water, and anyone with a little free time can go do some weeding whenever they desire. At the end of the summer, everyone gathers at the garden for a cookout picnic of dishes made from things grown in the garden.
Once the spring planting season is over, the beds are prepared for planting a fall season garden. This usually includes broccoli, greens, carrots, beets, lettuce and sweet peas. Even the kids have their own area for planting and harvesting their favorites — watermelons and pumpkins. Because we are an “all plant-all harvest” garden, members can pick anything they can use from everything growing there. Not only are the vegetables and herbs great for cooking, but taking home a bunch of fresh flowers for the table makes it that much better.
The community organic garden is not only a hit with the “green thumbs,” it has also become part of the weekly bus tours for various assisted living facilities in the area. We love having these folks come by just to walk around and look at the beautiful plants and flowers we’ve grown. We don’t even mind if they pick a flower or two to take back with them.
You cannot help but feel immense satisfaction from working side by side with others to produce what has become another Mountain Park icon and a lovely example of what it’s like to live in this wonderfully unique little community. For more information about the garden, visit MountainParkGarden.org.
to your business!