- April 24, 2024
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The Community Gardens Council is set to build the first of three gardens next spring that will be available to all city residents who wish to lease a plot to grow their own vegetables or other plants.
The council has met throughout the year to finalize the location, design and rules, and is now set to start planning construction of the first garden west of the tennis court in Central Park on Hammock Lane.
“This is the time we’ve been looking forward to,” said Co-Chairman Steve Packard.
The next task facing the group is to raise the money. A fence around the perimeter, wood to build garden plots, 6,400 square feet of fabric cloth, an irrigation system and a half dozen truckloads of soil must be purchased.
At a Nov. 20 planning meeting, the group discussed plans to approach businesses in the city for donations. A variety of sponsorship levels will offer benefits such as naming rights for a plot, recognition in printed material and on the website, a certificate, an invitation to events and more.
The city of Ormond Beach has provided space for the garden as well as tools, but materials for construction must come from donors. The city has a liaison on the council.
The idea for the community gardens began with the City Commission, according to Lori Tolland, co-chairwoman of the Council.
“They wanted to promote a healthy lifestyle,” Tolland said. “It came out of those discussions.”
They are using an expert from the University of Florida extension office for gardening advice, and the Volusia County Health Department has taken an interest and placed has a member on the council.
Tolland said the council has worked together.
“It’s a good little group,” she said.
They plan to have a website up and running in the next few weeks. They also have work days ahead early next year to build the planting boxes and fill them with soil.
When the plans are farther along, they will be submitted to the Leisure Services Department and then the City Commission for approval, according to the city liaison, Maryann Zeledon.
She said city officials have shown an interest in having the second garden near the planned Environmental Learning Center.
Zeledon said the fee for the plots will go back into the garden for educational materials, tools and other garden needs.
The tentative schedule calls for the fence to be installed in December and advertising to lease plots to begin in January.
“The gardens will be for anyone who wants to learn or has a love of gardening and wants to grow their on veggies,” Zeledon said.
The council has made a big step toward the first task, installing the fence, after receiving $5,000 from the Friends of Recreation, a nonprofit entity that was formed to funnel private donations toward community or city projects. Previous projects aided by the Friends group include the Magic Forest Playground and the Police Athletic League.
Contact Zeledon at 676-3293 or [email protected].
