Community gardens provide food and serenity

May 26, 2021 | By Jesse McDougall

Waterbury's south community garden sits between Hope Cemetery and the Winooski River. Gardeners have many rows planted for the 2021 season already. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti

Gardeners at the Waterbury and Duxbury community gardens are busy planting seeds and starts for the new growing season, but these public gardens have been providing food and serenity for many years. 

The gardens on either side of the Winooski River are included in the Vermont Community Garden Network which provides resources for gardeners and cultivates a community of hundreds of gardens open to the public around the state. 

Waterbury has two community garden locations -- the North Garden behind the Waterbury Public Library and the South Garden between Hope Cemetery and the Winooski River. The Duxbury Community Garden is a short distance away along River Road just beyond Main Street in Duxbury. 

Both gardens have an active group of members who enjoy sharing tips and materials, and this summer the community hopes to thrive after a year of COVID-19 restrictions and precautions. 

“The Community Gardens are a quiet gem in our town -- if you can get a plot,” said Waterbury’s Recreation Director Nick Nadeau. The community gardens fall under the Recreation Department’s supervision. 

The Waterbury Fire Department last month did a controlled burn along the hillside at Dac Rowe Park and in the North Community Garden behind the Waterbury Public Library. The exercise offers training for firefighters and helps prep the soil for local gardeners. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti

Since the opening of the South Garden in 2013, public gardening space has become very popular and the plots regularly sell out for the season, Nadeau said. Residents appreciate the flexibility offered by the gardens which have fertile soil, on-site water, and annual rototilling to uproot weeds.

Last month, the Waterbury Fire Department conducted a controlled burn at the North Garden which further enriched the soil. “The controlled burn was an opportunity for the department to train in a residential area,” said Nadeau, noting how the gardens adjacent to Dac Rowe Park also are in close proximity to the Winooski Street neighborhood. 

“The ash from the burned brush provides nutrients for the ground,” he said, adding that it also eliminated weeds from the soil, preparing it for summer planting. 

Waterbury resident Jeanne Atchinson manages the Duxbury Community Garden, and she explained how that garden is different. “We have fewer garden plots, but the big difference is that we have no natural water source,” she said. “Instead we use two 265 gallon tanks which give our gardeners water using gravity.” 

Further, the Duxbury garden spaces are not rototilled, allowing perennial plants to remain in the ground all year. 

Atchinson explained that several members of the Duxbury garden live in Waterbury, and the opposite is true for the Waterbury gardens. Non-residents pay a small fee in addition to the roughly $20 annual cost to rent a plot, but everyone is welcome. (Fees vary with plot sizes and whether the gardener is a town resident.) Some gardeners even hail from other surrounding towns as well. 

Duxbury resident Susan Shorey gardens in Waterbury and she said she has enjoyed the gardens for many years. “When I moved to Waterbury six years ago I was disappointed with the gravel-filled soil at my house, so the community garden is a great and inexpensive solution for me,” she said. 

The Duxbury Community Garden, tucked along River Road in Duxbury, is almost completely sold out for this season. Photos by Lisa Scagliotti

Shorey said she is “in it for the pumpkins'' since they are a favorite of her grandchildren. “My grandkids are not big on weeding,” she said, “but this year they hope to have a vegetable stand beside the road where they can sell lemonade and enjoy themselves.”

Shorey expressed how much she looks forward to interacting with fellow gardeners after the pandemic. “Before COVID, we would have 10 friends down there at once -- all sharing seeds and sharing tips,” she said. “Everybody is so pleasant and we often hang out there all afternoon and into the evening.”

Atchinson likens being in the garden to a spiritual experience while growing food amongst nature. “I treasure the feelings I pick up here, and gardening is so incredibly peaceful,” she said. “We’ve had herons, bald eagles, and deer in the gardens (which is a problem we have to work around), and the food we grow is just the best ever.”

Not only do the gardeners produce food for themselves, but some donate their crops to the Waterbury Area Food Shelf. Nadeau recalled people from the Waterbury Community Gardens donating potatoes to the Food Shelf in 2019, and this year Atchinson is planning to ramp up the Duxbury garden’s donations. 

“Last year we had excess plots, so we planted squash, beans, rhubarb and pumpkins to be donated,” said Atchinson. “This year we will do the same with the ‘three sisters’: corn, beans, and squash.” 

To learn more, the Vermont Community Garden Network website, vcgn.org, lists information on more than 500 community gardens throughout the state including those in Waterbury and Duxbury. 

A handbook and reservation form for the Waterbury gardens are online at waterburyvt.com in the Recreation Department section listed under General Information and Forms. The Duxbury Community Garden website is duxburycommunitygarden.business.site. It currently lists availability of two garden plots to rent. 

Overall, the community gardens provide enormous benefits to the community. “We are seeing how important getting outside is for residents’ mental health, and growing plants is great for personal wellness,” said Nadeau. Atchinson agreed. “In the garden you feel the dirt with your hands and you know you’re doing something really wonderful here,” she said.