Bridge Gardens To Feature Community Garden Plots This Season

While Mother Nature may be delaying the start of spring, the Peconic Land Trust is nonetheless getting set for next weekend’s opening of Bridge Gardens, which has something new in store.

This year, for the first time, there will be a community garden consisting of 16 personal-sized plots totaling one quarter of an acre. They will be available to community members to grow and tend their own fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs.

Each plot of valuable Bridgehampton loam, measuring 5 by 12 feet, costs $100 to lease for the season. Gardeners can grow just about any kind of crops they would like, although only organic growing practices are permitted.

Bridge Gardens Manager Rick Bogusch said last week that about 10 or so plots are still available to lease by calling (631) 283-3195. And while the garden itself opens to the public on Saturday, April 4—it is located on Mitchell Lane—the plots will not be available for planting until May 1. Starting then, gardeners can grow through October and rotate crops as the seasons change.

Participants will be responsible for all aspects of maintaining and harvesting their plots, and the trust will provide water with overhead sprinklers once or twice a week. A limited number of large tools such as rakes, shovels and wheelbarrows will be available to borrow, but tenants are encouraged to bring their own hand tools.

A community garden is nothing new for the Peconic Land Trust. Since 2010, the trust has managed one on the North Fork at its Agricultural Center at Charnews Farm in Southold, which has about 60 similar-sized plots and hosts students from Southold Elementary School every season.

Mr. Bogusch said it was about time such a garden was established here on the South Fork, as the one in Southold has created a strong sense of community over the years by bringing together people who share a mutual love for gardening.

“It’s something we wanted to do for a while. For this year, we just wanted to get going,” he said. Mr. Bogush explained that the soil at Bridge Gardens is particularly good for gardening. “Ultimately, we’d like to have as much production as possible to take advantage of that soil,” he said.

The community garden will be an ideal setting for all kinds of gardeners, Mr. Bogusch explained, but those who have limited resources at home—poor soil quality, little sunlight—or who have never attempted gardening, but always wanted to, will benefit most: Bridge Gardens serves as an educational institution for the trust. Employees like Mr. Bogusch are at the site every day to answer questions, and there are workshops scheduled throughout the season on subjects ranging from how to create compost and manage pests to how to attract beneficial insects and plant a sustainable lawn. “That’s sort of the point of the community garden—educating people on vegetables,” Mr. Bogusch said.

Mr. Bogusch said he hopes that the number of community garden plots at Bridge Gardens will expand in the future, assuming that participation is high this season. Pam Greene, vice president of stewardship for the Peconic Land Trust, said the popularity of the garden in Southold, and its welcoming atmosphere, is sure to be replicated in Bridgehampton. “They come and they know each other and they have fun,” she said of those with plots at the North Fork farm.

And while education is one of the key components of a community garden, Mr. Bogusch said there is another element that is just as important to ensure that it thrives: fun.

“It seems like there are fewer and fewer places to get a sense of community,” he said. “I think [a community garden] is great—it’s an alternative to a bar.”