- Installed a protective fence to prevent deer damage to vegetable crops, and to ensure safety of the gardeners, particularly youth and elderly members.
- Provided teachers of special needs students (aged 6-21) with a venue for outdoor environmental education, allowing for their incorporation of the garden as a sensory learning experience for youth.
- Conducted needs assessment of Mamie D. Lee Garden Association members regarding improvements to garden infrastructure.
- Reached out to Mamie D. Lee Garden’s neighbors, connecting them more closely with the garden by increasing its visibility within the park.
A deer fence was installed to protect gardeners’ plants, and new tools were purchased for gardeners’ use in cultivating a variety of organic vegetables. Part of this grant provided for the purchase of deer fencing materials, while volunteer labor from members of the Mamie D. Lee Garden Association and the Neighborhood Farm Initiative provided for its installation. The completed fence is 800’ in length and surrounds three sides of the 1.5 acre garden (~70,000 square feet), with the 4th side tying into an existing fence owned by adjacent partner Mamie D. Lee School.
Six pedestrian access gates were installed around the perimeter of the garden. In addition, two 12’ wide gates were installed to allow for vehicular passage, following consultation with elderly/handicapped gardeners to assess their needs.
While the total amount of food harvested by all gardeners was not tracked, over 550 pounds of the vegetables grown in the garden were donated to local non-profit food banks during the grant period. This number is a significant increase over the 215 pounds of the garden’s food that was donated last year, and is a direct result of the new fence preventing herds of deer from grazing in the garden.
This grant also provided for purchase of new tools for use by the 103 community gardeners and an additional 410 volunteers who helped in the garden over the course of the 2011 growing season. After assessing the needs of community gardeners (who range from youth with special needs to young adults to elderly gardeners), the Garden Association used the tools portion of grant funds to purchase the following equipment:
- (1) heavy duty wheelbarrow
- (1) lawn mower
- (2) 4-cycle weed whackers
- (3) round-point shovels
- (2) square point shovels
- (1) garden spade
- (3) stirrup hoes
- (2) flat-point hoes
- (4) heavy duty ergonomic digging forks
- (2) bow rakes
These infrastructure improvements have resulted in park patrons and passersby taking more notice of the garden. Gardeners regularly field questions about what we are doing, what vegetables are growing, and how people can get involved either as a volunteer or by securing a garden plot of their own. Once the raised beds and signage are in place, these types of questions can be answered even when none of the gardeners are present on-site. Having a project with clear objectives and funding to achieve it has also built a clearer sense of community within the Garden Association. Members have come together to make decisions throughout the season and pitched in their volunteer labor on construction projects, and also contributed pro bono professional design services. We are looking forward to completing the raised beds and signage as the final piece of the project.
I did a tour of the garden on November 30th, and took a few snapshots to document our progress this season. Enjoy, and see you all in the spring!
