Home & Garden

Community Garden Grows in Falls

Plots are available in the community garden established at the Falls Community Park. Interested gardeners have until April 1 to fill out an application.

Volunteering a Saturday morning to shovel piles of dirt in under-40 degree weather is not something you do because you have to, it's something you do because you want to.

The five members of the Falls Community Garden Club steering committee definitely want to be at the park this chilly Saturday morning because they want to. They are hard at work preparing for the opening of the garden's second year at Falls Community Park, expanding the area with six more raised beds, increasing the total to 46 inside the 60-foot-by-100-foot plot, located next to the playground in Phase One of the park.

Garden club president Phil McAloon and Hank Ward, a Falls Township police officer, spent the past two weeks constructing the bed frames. After placing the 4-foot-by-10-foot frames in their new homes, McAloon, Ward, Eileen Donahue, Lois Glasscock and Joann Cosgrove shoveled the soil and prepped the plots for planting season.

Find out what's happening in Levittownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We were inspired by the public to expand the plots," said McAloon. "We started the club three years ago, but last year was our first with the garden. We filled up pretty quickly."

Falls residents interested in claiming a plot have until April 1 to fill out an application. Those who participated last year will have first dibs this year. Once all who applied receive their first plots, second plots will be assigned to those who want them. 

Find out what's happening in Levittownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"We had 27 members last year," said McAloon. "16 of them had more than one bed. However, just because you had two or three plots doesn't guarantee you will have that many this year."

All of the plots are free, but it is up to the caretakers to plant and manage the beds. The only things the committee asks is that all seeds are planted by June 1.

"Plus," McAloon adds with a grin, "you can only grow legal plants."

McAloon is grateful for the township's assistance in finding and maintaining a public area for the garden. It was originally planned to be located near the Falls firehouse, but the public did not like that site, McAloon said. Instead, the township allowed them to set up in the park and donated a deer fence to surround the area.

"The deer fence has work great," said McAloon. "However, rabbits are trying to eat through it. We are adding chicken wire around the fence to deal with it. Getting water to the garden has also been a problem. We have a 150-foot hose that reaches the pavillion, but that can be a hassle to carry it over there in the middle of summer."

To assist with this issue, the township will allow the garden club to tap into nearby irrigation pipes with a fire hose and spray the vegetation from behind the fence.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here