FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 • TIMES 27 buzz QUEENS Ridgewood Community Garden invites the community to their Saturday work days BY CRISTIN NOONAN editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com @RidgewoodTimes Following a series of private meetings held at Ridgewood Democratic Club and Woodbine with local civic institutions and politicians, the passionate efforts behind the Ridgewood Community Garden have fi nally found a home at Ridgewood’s Grover Cleveland High School. Now they need help breaking new ground, and invite any able-bodied outdoorsy and teamwork seeking Ridgewood residents to pitch in on their Saturday work days. Detailing how diffi cult it was to fi nd public green space in the area, Ridgewood Community Garden member Matthew Peterson says that in Queens, “a lot of the buildings and all the blocks are totally covered in buildings or little garages, so unfortunately for us there actually weren’t a lot of candidates for garden lots.” Crucial support coming from local Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan and City Councilman Antonio Reynoso introduced members of the Ridgewood Community Garden to Grover Cleveland high school administrators. Immediate approval was secured this past spring for a plot at the local high school, but keys weren’t offi cially disseminated until this August – after the majority of planting season occurs. Peterson said that “some of us who started in the spring were really anxious because we knew that we needed to start then to actually garden.” Because the RCG had to curate their most recent gardening spot to be one underneath the train tracks, their new location at Grover Cleveland offers a ton of relief, meeting criteria that some people may take for granted. “It has direct sunlight, it’s already green, it’s already grass, it’s already designed or laid out for a garden,” Peterson said. Their new 7,000-square-foot garden is signifi cantly larger than their old one and with its positioning on Metropolitan Avenue, it boasts a higher visibility and opportunity for foot traffi c as well. “We’d like to build fruit trees along the fence,” he added. Efforts have no doubt proved fruitful for Ridgewood’s only community garden, and now that there’s a legitimate spot for the community to come together and do work, Peterson stresses that the organization is in need of more participation and is set to launch an ongoing crowdfunding campaign to help purchase tools. So far the group has been meeting on Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to prepare the land and build up necessary infrastructure to contain the garden, and with the days getting cooler they plan on extending their hours until mid-afternoon. They are in need of shovels, wood, experienced gardeners, non-experienced gardeners, you name it! Peterson says that they are hoping to plant fall crops, or at least decorative plants like vines and fruit trees, before winter hits. More importantly, he’s hoping that everything structural and supply-wise is fi gured out for next year. Sounds like a pretty cool way to spend your Saturday morning, Ridgewood! SPROUTING UP
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