How does your garden grow?
If you don’t have space at your home or you just want to have an opportunity to interact with other people, Seymour’s community garden is an option to raise crops and produce.
For the eighth year in a row, the garden will be in a fenced-in area just south of Margaret R. Brown Elementary School along Miller Lane.
Approximately 60 10-by-20-foot plots will be available to rent for $10 each. A gardener can rent up to four plots.
Southern Indiana Hispanic Services will be administering the garden this year, and applications may be picked up at its office in Suite 203 in the Community Agency Building, 113 N. Chestnut St., Seymour.
They also are available at Seymour City Hall (301 N. Chestnut St.), Jackson County Public Library (303 W. Second St.), Seymour Chamber of Commerce (105 S. Chestnut St.) or Jackson County Health Department (801 W. Second St.).
Applications should be returned to SIHS with payment by mail at P.O. Box 49, Seymour, IN 47274 or to the office in person. If the office is closed, slip the application and payment under the door.
As administrator of the garden, SIHS will benefit from the plot rent. The organization serves the Spanish-speaking population of Seymour and Jackson County with interpretation, translation and referrals.
“This garden offers space for many to have a garden that otherwise could not because of where they live in town,” said Jeanna Eppley, an agriculture teacher and FFA adviser at Seymour High School whose students assist with the garden.
“Having the plots available for the community allows for neighbors to meet and bond over a new hobby,” she said. “We see multiple families joining plots together to raise their crops and divide the produce. It provides bonding, entertainment and accomplishment in the community.”
Joyce Stuckwisch, a volunteer with SIHS, said SHS ag students will till the area and mark the plots so they are available beginning April 15, weather permitting, and can be used from dawn to dusk seven days a week until Oct. 31. Gardeners will be notified of their plot number by April 15.
Water will be available, but gardeners must provide their own tools and hose. Those items cannot be left at the garden and must be carried in and out on each visit.
Herbicides and insecticides are prohibited, but a list of natural insecticides will be provided on request. Also, all gardeners should adhere to appropriate social distancing and masking when necessary due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, there were only four gardeners on 13 plots. This year, organizers hope for more.
“The garden was open last year; however, we got a slow start on it,” Stuckwisch said. “The ag department had it tilled and ready to go in April; however, SIHS was closed at the time and without a director. I found out about it in May and got info from Mrs. Eppley since I couldn’t find anything in the office. We put up posters and had info available at PNC Bank.”
Eppley said gardening is a great way to get the family involved in an active and rewarding activity
“Many people are gardening for the first time this year or just started last year,” she said.
She, however, has found that purchasing seeds and plants for the SHS greenhouse has been more challenging this year because the demand is up.
“The pandemic has brought this pastime and way of producing extra food back to the forefront of families,” she said. “Teaching your family to grow a garden and feeling the accomplishment as you feast on the products of your work is a great value gardening brings in addition to saving money.”
After seeing the success of community gardens in places like Columbus and Bloomington, two started in 2014 in Seymour: Near Brown Elementary School on the southeast side of the city and on school-owned farm ground in Freeman Field on the southwest side.
The project was a partnership between the SHS ag department and Seymour Chamber of Commerce environmental committee and received support from Cummins Seymour Engine Plant and Purdue Extension Jackson County.
Cummins engineers designed and plotted the gardens, and Seymour FFA students helped get the ground ready for planting. The students also helped gardeners with planting, maintaining and harvesting plots.
Since then, the garden has continued near Brown.
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Seymour’s community garden will be in a fenced-in area just south of Margaret R. Brown Elementary School along Miller Lane.
Approximately 60 10-by-20-foot plots will be available to rent for $10 each. A gardener can rent up to four plots.
Applications may be picked up at the Southern Indiana Hispanic Services office in the Community Agency Building, 113 N. Chestnut St., Suite 203, Seymour; Seymour City Hall, 301 N. Chestnut St.; Jackson County Public Library, 303 W. Second St.; Seymour Chamber of Commerce, 105 S. Chestnut St.; or Jackson County Health Department, 801 W. Second St.
Applications should be returned to SIHS with payment by mail at P.O. Box 49, Seymour, IN 47274 or to the office in person. If the office is closed, slip the application and payment under the door.
Information: 812-524-8618 or 812-525-7138
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