Water Flows, Plants Grow at Cinnaminson Community Garden

The dry weather that’s been affecting several South Jersey farms hasn’t made it way to the Cinnaminson community garden. Township resident Doug Sell, , said things are growing.

“We’re not feeling it down here,” Sell said.

In the second year since neighbors started a community garden at the park, the tomatoes are getting ripe, the flowers are blooming and the weeds…well some of the weeds need picking.

But the members of the community garden did overcome one of the biggest obstacles—running water.

“The way we used to get water over there was either pray for rain or fill a bucket and physically carry it over there,” Sell said.

One neighbor put buckets of water in their car, until they spilled; that idea went down the drain.

So one of the gardeners called a friend at NJ American Water and after the township approved an application, a spigot was set up and the water is pumping, paid for by the gardeners.

“So now, to have a spigot within 20 yards of the garden is a godsend,” Sell said.

The community garden started out as an . He and his family moved to Cinnaminson in 2006 and wanted a way to meet neighbors. Sell works in Haddonfield and knows of a community garden—a piece of land gardened by several members of the neighborhood and beyond—there.

After neighborhood meetings and the OK from the , which Sell said has been “extremely helpful”—last spring saw the first crop.

This year, there are 12 thriving plots among seven families—one even coming over from Palmyra to garden. Earlier this season, Sell was getting squash and lettuce. Lately, it’s been tomatoes, eggplants and cucumbers.

“Flowers are a big thing now,” he said.

The reason to garden outside of his own yard goes beyond meeting neighbors and beautifying the pocket park; Sell gets no sun in his backyard.

“For the people who are gardening here,” Sell said, “pretty much everyone has some sort of barrier in their yards. I have too many trees. I know that’s true for a lot of my neighbors.”

This year’s gardening started in May with some tilling; a lot of the neighbors share equipment.

“But everyone moves at their own pace,” Sell said. “It’s your plot. Whatever you plant is going to produce at a certain point.”

During a trip there Wednesday, eggplants were getting bigger and darker and green tomatoes looked like they would turn red any day now.

Sell said his lettuce was plentiful this year and some nights, if he wanted a salad for dinner, he would just walk up to the garden and pick some. The same goes for tomatoes and basil.

“It’s been very rewarding,” Sell said. “It’s really taught me a lot about hard work. It’s one of those things where you get out of it proportionately how much you put into it.”

One gardener, Sharon Tetlow, started last year but didn’t give her plot the love it deserved. But this year, Sell said she’s made a great effort to weed and water her plants.

“As far as I’m concerned,” he said, “her plot looks fantastic. It’s the best looking plot.”

The community garden has also brought neighbors together.

“There’s people who may have just been a face you see walking down the street,” said Sell. “Now, you have a real conversation with them. You have a bond that wasn’t there before.”

For the second year in a row, the neighbors participated in . This year, they finished cleaning up the park in half the time than at last year’s event.

“I was actually surprised at what little we had to do,” he said.

And the extra presence just may keep away the trash and vandalism.

“It created that ownership,” Sell said. “That constant presence. I’m going to be down there if not every day, every other day. It’s always being used to watched.”

Depending on the weather, Sell said the community garden should thrive until at least October. The Cinnaminson Community Gardeners stay in touch through a Facebook group and the idea has spread mostly through there and by word of mouth.

There are still plots available—if you want to try out your green thumb.