Community

Volunteers wanted for community garden in Flanders

Anyone interested in the garden project should visit the David Crohan Community Center on Tuesday March 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. Or call (631) 287-5745. (Credit: Carrie Miller photo)
Anyone interested in the garden project should visit the David Crohan Community Center on Tuesday March 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. Or call (631) 287-5745. (Credit: Carrie Miller photo)

Southampton Town and the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County are teaming up to start a community garden in Flanders.

The garden will be built on the David W. Crohan Community Center property on Route 24. 

To get the garden growing, organizers are looking for civic group help, volunteers from the area, and any community leaders who may want to get involved in the start-up project.

Southampton Councilwoman Christine Scalera said she had been working with Cornell officials to gauge the community’s interest in such a project — which has now reached its initial planning stages.

The garden is expected to be made up of eight raised bedding plots that will grow produce, with different organizations taking care of each one.

A grant through Cornell will supply some of the wood and supplies needed to construct the beds, as well as cover the cost of a master gardener to come in to work with different groups at the center.

Information on the total amount of grant being used was not immediately available.

Two plots have already been assigned to the town’s youth program and the senior services center, an arrangement designed to promote an intergenerational project between youths and seniors, said Jamie Cunningham, Ms. Scalera’s aide.

Young volunteers who have already helping at the center’s farmer’s market will also have an opportunity to try growing fruit and vegetables in the garden, as there are plans to set a plot aside for them as well.

Riverhead’s Phillip’s Avenue school district may also be managing a plot, Ms. Cunningham said.

Ms. Scalera and Cornell officials are hosting an informational meeting for anyone interested in the project on Tuesday March 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the David Crohan Community Center.

For additional information contact Ms. Scalera’s office at (631) 287-5745.

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