“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” ~ Audrey Hepburn

 

Built on a former school campus, DePaul’s Port Byron Apartments are surrounded by a playground, walking paths, and a pet park and over this past year, those opportunities grew to include a community garden.

Property Manager Jaclyn Coyle built the beds and gathered the necessary supplies along with assistance from other staff. Some materials were donated by Anthony DeMarco and Sons, a local garden center. Jackie said the goal was to bring the residents together to learn more about growing their own food.

“We have a lot of residents that utilize our local food pantry and struggle with food security,” said Jackie. “Port Byron is a very small town and options for groceries are limited.”

Cornell Cooperative Extension taught a gardening class at the start of the summer season and provided the residents with seeds, plants, and other information to make their gardens successful. There were a total of 34 beds, 27 of which were utilized by residents. The remaining beds were planted with produce and herbs which were harvested and offered to the community for free.

Zachary Mason has had success growing tropical houseplants indoors, however this was his first time growing a garden. He grew tomatoes and carrots from seed.

“I’m going to share most of it with the community,” he said. “Mainly, I wanted to experiment with it and see what could happen.”

It turns out, the garden grew more than produce!

“It brings us together,” he said. “It creates community. It’s nice to be able to get out and talk to other people.”

Justin Pendelton grew a wide variety of produce and microgreens, much of which he fed to his lizards.

“It’s just amazing and very rewarding to feed healthy foods to your live animals,” he said.

Justin enjoyed the communal nature of the garden project, learning things such as to avoid watering mid-day to prevent plants from burning or adjusting the watering schedule to the climate.

“Having a garden forces you to be engaged with your environment – the weather, the sun – because your plants depend on it,” he said.

Originally from Las Vegas, tending to a garden bed was “all magic” for Justin.

“For me, it’s been very rewarding reaping the rewards of nurturing the plants, there’s just some level of peace to it.”

For a quick virtual tour of the gardens, check out the video below: