Croton digs in as demand grows for village garden
Robert Marchant
rmarchan@lohud.com
CROTON-ON-HUDSON - The village is looking for a few good gardeners.
An e-mail and fliers are being distributed around the community, seeking people who want a little patch of land to call their own.
The Board of Trustees unanimously approved spending up to $4,248 to build fencing around a small plot off a village parking lot on Truesdale Avenue near Silver Lake Park that will be home to a new community garden. Another $550 will be spent for a water connection.
In about two weeks, after soil and compost are laid down, residents can set up their own garden plots.
"It could be a wonderful thing for the village," said Trustee Demetra Restuccia, who runs a landscaping and garden business.
Besides enhancing the community, Restuccia said, the garden could fill a need for apartment dwellers who don't have access to a patch of soil. Residents who live on shady lots, or can't keep deer from attacking their vegetables, also would benefit, she said.
Gardeners who sign up will be asked to pitch in for soil and compost. If demand exceeds the number of spots available, gardeners will be chosen through a lottery. The site was chosen because it had parking, sun and relatively easy access. Because of the site's proximity to the Croton River, community gardeners will be asked to abstain from using pesticides and to practice organic methods.
An organizer of the project, Niall Kelleher, met with leaders of the community garden in Nyack, a project that has been active for decades, to learn about pitfalls to avoid.
Kelleher said it seemed like the right time and the right place for the project in Croton-on-Hudson.
"Since Michelle Obama started up a garden at the White House, people are much more interested in doing a garden, raising their own food," he said, "And Croton likes to be a step ahead."
Kelleher said the project was in its early stages, but that if demand grows, other sites could be set up around the village. The community garden also could offer lectures by master gardeners and set up workshops with school groups, he said.
Kelleher, an engineer with UPS, hopes to reconnect with his roots.
"I grew up on a farm in Ireland, and I miss it - the farming experience. It's something everyone should have an opportunity to do," he said.
Residents may call the village's manager's office at 914-271-4848.
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