Levittown's Award-Winning Community Garden Seeks Volunteers

Three years ago, Crystal Lecuyer of the Middletown Township Parks & Recreation Department started with a blank slate: a 48' x 48' plot of land behind the Middletown Community Center building. After putting a plan together with other volunteers to try "lasagna" gardening, the garden has flourished, producing hundreds of pounds of produce each year that are donated to a local food bank. Volunteers are always needed to help maintain the garden and harvest vegetables.

Chris McCarron, Sesame Place's landscape manager, Levittown resident and volunteer community gardener, suggested lasagna gardening in raised beds. The volunteer group, which included members of the Middletown Township Environmental Advisory Council, thought it was an excellent idea.

"We read Pat Lanza's book on lasagna gardening that involved no tilling and layers of organic material," Crystal said. "We began by laying cardboard and newspapers right on top of the existing grass without any digging or tilling. It's an easy way to start a new planting bed."

"Lasagna gardening" is an non-labor intensive method to create organic gardens popularized by Patricia Lanza in 1998 in her first book on the topic, "Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding!" If you don't have the time or energy to create a planting bed, try this method.

Many gardeners will tell you about their great success with this low-labor method. When you alternate layers that may include grass clippings, leaves, newspapers (no color or shiny print), produce scraps, coffee grounds, manure, compost, peat moss, or wood ashes you will be surprised by the results. You can start layering an area now to be ready for spring, or you can start layering in the spring and plant right away. According to Lanza, it doesn't matter!

No pesticides are used in the garden and Crystal tries to use recycled materials whenever possible.

"We take pride in maintaining an organic garden," Crystal said. "We use things such as vinegar to kill weeds. It may take longer, but the reward is worth it," she added. The creative gardeners use framing wire left over from discarded political signs as supports in the garden.

Everything in the garden was donated largely by residents and some organizations. The raised beds were built by volunteers from untreated donated lumber. Seeds, plants, bricks, and peat moss were donated.

"A lot of us bring our own seeds from our own gardens," Crystal said. "I start plants at my house and then transplant them into the community garden. Crystal noted that most of the tomatoes growing in the garden this year are "volunteers" or those that sprung up from last year's tomatoes and reseeded in the fertile soil.

This year tomatoes, green beans, squash, cantaloupe, strawberries, peppers, and sweet potatoes, beets, herbs, and even Jerusalem artichokes are flourishing in the garden.

The garden received several awards including a Community Greening Award from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and a Bucks Beautiful award.

A small group of volunteers donate their time and labor to the garden, however, more volunteers are needed. Only a handful of volunteers help now twice a month. "Anyone can come and help," Crystal said. "It's a challenge to maintain the garden and harvest the vegetables, so we are asking members of the community to volunteer when they can and see what we're all about. Anyone can come out and help."

The Middletown Community Garden is located at 2140 Trenton Road in Levittown (Forsythia Gate section), behind the Middletown Community Center building. If you are knowledgeable about gardening or just love to get your hands dirty, please contact Crystal at 215-750-3890 for volunteer meeting dates. http://www.middletowntwpbucks.org/pdf/RecCalendar.pdf