Community Garden In Flanders Ready For Planting

Eight beds are ready for planting in Flanders as part of the first community garden built on Southampton Town-owned property.

On Saturday, a handful of volunteers and community leaders, Southampton Town Councilwoman Christine Scalera among them, hammered plywood and shoveled soil in a grassy space just west of the David W. Crohan Community Center on Flanders Road.

Ms. Scalera, who spearheaded the community garden project in an effort to encourage healthy habits, said the project came to fruition quickly thanks to all who jumped on board to help. “I’m excited,” she said.

Rich Naso, chairman of the Flanders Citizens Advisory Committee, as well as Chris Sheldon, a volunteer from the Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association, and Steven Schreiber, vice president of FRNCA, also lent a hand.

The event also attracted Christine Tylee, who works for the Group for the East End and lives on Shelter Island. She explained that she attended a meeting about the garden to discuss the importance of using native plants and bay-friendly landscaping, but decided to jump on the opportunity to garden, which isn’t feasible at her own apartment.

Jamie Cunningham, a legislative aide to the Town Board, said the volunteers plan to schedule a meeting in the next few weeks to discuss what will be planted in each bed and when.

Ms. Scalera will be tending to one of the garden beds, along with volunteers from the Flanders Fire Department. Councilman Brad Bender has volunteered to plant roses in one of the smaller beds, children and teens from the Southampton Town Youth Bureau and volunteers from the Senior Services program will garden two more of the beds. The Flanders, Riverside and Northampton Community Association, the Flanders/Riverside/Northampton Citizens Advisory Committee, as well as the Bay View Pines Civic and Taxpayers Association and the Water’s Edge Civic Association have all agreed to tend to the remaining beds, with help from other community members.

The volunteers will be able to harvest the vegetables for their own enjoyment at the end of the season, although a quarter of the crop will be donated to a local food pantry, Ms. Scalera said.

A grant from the Cornell Cooperative Extension Creating Healthy Places in Suffolk County program covered the cost of the lumber and the fencing that will protect the garden from deer. Elizabeth Takajian, an educator for that program, explained that the New York State Department of Health funds the program in an effort to prevent diabetes and obesity by making positive, healthy changes in the places where people live and work.

She and others from the organization will be on hand during the gardening season to provide tips and guidance to the growers.

The Southampton Town Municipal Works department purchased and delivered the soil for the garden beds. Mr. Schreiber said he and the others planned to seek seed donations from local businesses.

Nancy Lynott, director of the town’s Youth Bureau, said the teens who have helped run the Flanders Farm Fresh Market for the past three summers have learned about the process that delivers fresh food to their plate. “We’re hoping to have a similar experience with this,” she said, of the community garden.

She also added that depending on how many vegetables are grown, a portion could be donated to the Summer Food Service Program, run by the Island Harvest food bank, which provides free lunches to anyone under age 18 during the summer months.