Greenwich Community Gardens is holding their Big Tomato event on September 17 at 6:30 pm. The cocktail party benefit held at the Greenwich Historical Society Barn to celebrate and support Greenwich Community Gardens. Tickets can be purchased here.
“We create organic community gardening opportunities for Greenwich residents and support a sustainable food culture. We promote community building, garden education, environmental health and wellness. That is our mission,” said Terri Browne Kutzen, Board Chair.
Community gardens are places where people come together to grow a variety of vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers. In 2009, Patti Sechi, a local Greenwich resident, fulfilled her vision to create a flourishing garden space where residents could come together to grow a variety of organic vegetable, herb and flower gardens together and learn from one another – the savvy gardeners with years of experience teaching the neophyte newbies with brown thumbs.
Eleven years later, the gardens have grown by leaps and bounds with nearly 200 gardeners each summer tending 244 raised garden beds at two locations – the Armstrong Court and the Bible Street Community Gardens.
Several of the plots are reserved for growing fresh produce to be donated to the Neighbor to Neighbor food pantry.
Pre-schoolers enrolled in the Head Start Program are active and eager gardeners at Armstrong Court thanks to the generous donation of time by local volunteers.
Education is an ongoing focus for Greenwich Community Gardens and children are not the only students. Many gardeners learn from each other in the garden and in classes that the organization offers.
Learning what a sustainable food culture means and how to move in that direction has been a theme in several of the community film and discussion events that have been held in recent years. More information can be found on their website at
www.greenwichcommunitygardens.org.
This summer, Greenwich Community Gardens is pitching in at the Culinary Wellness Garden at Nathaniel Witherell by tending a significant organic vegetable and herb garden there so that the residents can enjoy an ongoing harvest of fresh, organic produce prepared by their chef.
The Big Tomato 2019 will celebrate the history of gardening in Greenwich and will recognize Sam Bridge Nursery and Greenhouses and McArdle’s Florist and Garden Center for their long-standing history in Greenwich and
for their many contributions to our community.