Gardening Know How Sponsorship Recipient: Roselle Park Environmental Garden

last updated 10 February 2023

This year, Gardening Know How's School and Community Garden Sponsorship Program was fortunate enough to help support 20 gardens with $1,000 each. These gardens represent a wide array of community and school programs, from Florida to Saskatchewan and many places in between. Each has its own unique and powerful story, and we're excited to share them with you. Every other week we'll highlight one of our sponsorship recipients to help spread the word about how amazing they really are. This week we're featuring the Roselle Park Environmental Garden.

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The old straw bales at the beginning of last year's growing season.

This small community garden in Roselle Park, New Jersey has been running for four years with straw bale plots and relative success. Recently, however, bad weather has really given the bales a beating, and production and membership are both down. To save their garden and bring the community back together, the Roselle Park Environmental Commission is taking big steps, replacing their straw bales with tougher and more permanent raised beds.

The straw bales are on the way out and will be replaced by hardier, more practical raised beds.

The Commission also hopes to erect a fence around the garden to keep out deer and poachers, both of which have been problems lately. That's two big projects this coming year, but it's worth it, and with these improvements the future is looking bright. Roselle Park is a close-knit community known for its service, and the members of the Environmental Garden are passionate about their work. Much of the produce grown in the garden is donated to a local food bank. And they've recently brought on a gardener who is certified in organic methods and has been a huge asset.

These gardeners know what their problems are, they've found a clear solution, and they are ready to get to work.

With the grant from Gardening Know How, the Roselle Park Environmental Garden will be able to build new, hardier raised beds and put up a protecting fence around them, making a garden that will last and be able to give back to the community. We're proud to be able to help them realize this dream.

The only child of a horticulturist and an English teacher, Liz Baessler was destined to become a gardening editor. She has been with Gardening Know how since 2015, and a Senior Editor since 2020. She holds a BA in English from Brandeis University and an MA in English from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. After years of gardening in containers and community garden plots, she finally has a backyard of her own, which she is systematically filling with vegetables and flowers.