A collaboration of the Bellefonte Garden Club, the Centre County Library and Historical Museum and Penn State Extension Master Gardeners of Centre County has provided the community with a brilliant tapestry of blooming flowers, herbs and vegetables. The volunteers who maintain and manage the Bellefonte Community Children’s Garden have several noteworthy items they’d like everyone to know about.
These dedicated individuals generated a great deal of enthusiasm in the spring when they gave local second-graders the chance to plant, cultivate, harvest and taste vegetables they grew themselves.
‘Beginning in mid-April, second-graders come every week to learn to grow salad,’ said Ann Baughman, co-coordinator for the education program. ‘They each get a 12-inch-square plot in a raised bed where they have radishes, spinach and lettuce.’
Baughman described how, each week, the young gardeners could see how their little plot fared. ‘They learned about soil, weather, compost, how to thin it if it got crowded.’
During the final week, they harvested what they grew.
‘They always say they won’t eat it,’ Baughman said, ‘but they always do.’
Moving through the season to the next event, Baughman spoke of the first Family Discovery Day, scheduled 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6.
‘We’ll have stations set up throughout the garden, where families can roam at leisure,’ she said. ‘For instance, we’ll have packets of seeds that kids can match to plants in the garden.’
Garden coordinator Lisa Duchene emphasized that the Discovery Day will appeal to all ages.
‘Come see these bugs,’ Duchene said. ‘Preying mantis or something interesting always shows up.’
Presenters will include Cynthia Van Druff, who specializes in small-scale vermicomposting, or using worms to enrich the soil.
‘She’ll show how to feed worms with newspapers, and how you can use kitchen scraps to make compost,’ Duchene said.
Beekeeper Stephanie Szakal will share her knowledge of that particular pollinator.
Duchene and Baughman hope to keep the focus on family and community with this garden. Earlier this year, the garden won a 2016 Search for Excellence award from the statewide Master Gardener program. They won second place in the youth category, and a $100 prize.
The Penn State Master Gardener program encourages community involvement. And the Bellefonte Community Children’s Garden provides abundant opportunities for the community to participate in cultivating, maintaining and celebrating this little space on the corner of North Allegheny and Howard streets.
Wednesday evenings throughout the growing season volunteers gather at the garden to pull weeds, spread mulch, prune and perform all manner of tasks necessary to make the garden grown.
They also open the evenings to public participation.
‘If anyone walking by wants to talk or ask questions, they can come in,’ said Baughman.
Duchene agreed. ‘This is a community space,’ she said, ‘by and for the community.’
