Numerous Community Gardens in Phoenixville and throughout the Philadelphia region support food production and neighborhood activities bringing people together outside.
Reservoir Community Garden
Phoenixville
Reservoir Community Garden was initiated about ten years ago by “a bunch of crazy kids” who came to the Phoenixville Green Team to start a Community Garden at Reservoir Park. Board Member Adam Supplee, well-known local landscape architect developed the first site plan. Kyle Guie, a former Board Member worked with Boro Council to get permission from the Borough. Today the garden thrives with more than thirty subscribers paying as they are able and with schools and community organizations lending help. The “Giving Garden” plot, cultivated by a team from Phoenixville Area Transition, supplied more than 200 pounds of produce to Pxv food pantries in 2021. The Medicinal Herb Garden plot, cultivated by folks from Transition’s Living Landscapes Working Group, supplied tea bags to shelters last winter. Living Landscapes also hosts popular workshops on using native plants and herbs
Trellis for Tomorrow, Hall Street
Phoenixville
Trellis for Tomorrow, a regional youth empowerment gardening program, built a demonstration garden outside their headquarters at the HEART Center at 35 Hall Street in Phoenixville. While this garden enlists help from neighbors, the wide-ranging work of Trellis gives Phoenixville a premier resource for community gardening. See their video
Brightside Farm
Charlestown Twp
In 1996 the Township purchased 20 acres of the Brightside Farm located on the northeast side of Yellow Springs Road in order to preserve it from impending development. In 2000 the Township added 55 additional acres to the parcel with the purchase of the rest of the farm with the help of a significant grant from Chester County.
The Township is committed to preserving the farm as an agricultural asset for the residents to enjoy and a portion of the property is under a conservation easement with the French & Pickering Creeks Trust.
For the past several years, the farm offers over 50 garden plots to township residents. A small fee is assessed to defray some of the costs of the garden. The program has been very popular, and residents meet new friends and old, and exchange ideas while growing their vegetables and flowers. Plots are approximately 20 feet square within a fenced-in area, and water is conveniently available nearby.
The Spring Garden
Philadelphia
Converted from an abandoned lot in 1995, we started breaking ground and literally picking out the rubble from recently razed housing. We were fortunate to receive help from our Councilman, Darrell Clarke, who helped us to remove the rubble and who provided a layer of topsoil the first season.
By the second season, we had received a nice grant from Philadelphia Green and were able to purchase soil, materials and wood to build the raised beds on the property.
The Spring Gardens Community Gardens are currently managed by a volunteer Steering Committee of neighborhood gardeners. The Steering Committee, which meets monthly, oversees planning, project implementation, fundraising, and policy making. All gardeners contribute to the Gardens’ maintenance, including general weeding, planting, mowing, and carpentry. Membership meetings, garden events, and dinners occur regularly. Additional Operational Committees contribute much of the ongoing design, maintenance, volunteer coordination, and other activities necessary to ensure a smooth operation of the community resource.
The landscape of this community space enhances the area with its plentiful trees, bamboo grove, and large open space for picnics and gatherings. Because of its beauty, the Gardens routinely earn recognition from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s City Gardens Contest. PHS also supports The Spring Gardens through its urban greening initiative, Philadelphia Green. Local elected leaders, restaurants, and other businesses, also strongly endorse the garden.
