Spruce Street Community Garden
The Spruce Street Community Garden's 2024 Prospective Gardener Application will launch on Wednesday, January 3rd at 9:00 AM. Click here for the digital application!
2024 Growing Season
Spruce Street Community Garden: Prospective Gardener Application
Welcome in the new year by completing the Prospective Gardener Application for the 2024 Spruce Street Community Gardens growing season! Completion of this application does not guarantee a garden bed for the growing season. Registration will officially open at the Spruce Street Community Garden Registration Day event on Thursday, March 21.
- Meets: W, 01/03/24, 9:00 AM (application opens)
- Registration: Apply online or call (860)647-3089
- Ages: 16+
- Fee: No cost to apply
Spruce Street Community Garden: Registration Day
Get your green thumbs ready for the start of the 2024 growing season! Come join us for a tour of the Spruce Street Community Garden, sign up to secure a bed of your own & meet your fellow community gardeners! Garden plots are available for Manchester residents only.
- Location: Eastside Neighborhood Resource Center
- Meets: Th, 03/21/24, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
- Ages: 18+
- Fee: $35/plot
Sustainability Learnshops
Vermiculture - Composting with Worms!
Looking to compost, but don't have the space? Learn from a UConn Master Composter how to compost indoors with the magic of worms! A method that's suitable for almost any household!
- Meets: W, 03/06/24, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
- Location: Eastside Neighborhood Resource Center, 153 Spruce Street
- Ages: All welcome
- Fee: No cost
At-Home Composting
Want to get started on composting and don't know how? Have you been composting, but have been unhappy with the results? Join us for our At-Home Composting workshop to learn from a UConn Master Composter!
- Meets: W, 04/03/24, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM
- Location: Eastside Neighborhood Resource Center, 153 Spruce Street
- Ages: All welcome
- Fee: No cost
Virtual Garden Learnshops
November 2: Putting Your Gardens to Bed
December 1: Stocking Up for Winter
January 4: Growing Food Indoors
February 15: Starting Plants from Seeds
About
The Spruce Street Community Garden began as a volunteer project in March 2014 with a small group of after school students from 1st-4th grade. Together, with the guidance of the Spruce Street Community Garden Coordinator Bettylou Sandy, they were able to build, plant and harvest the first four beds for the spring & feast on their own food in June! Some of the student's parents and neighbors adopted these beds to grow in throughout the summer, and in the spring of 2015, the town adopted the garden and started to build more beds through the help of volunteers, grant funding and town support.
In the following years, the garden grew to 28 framed raised beds of various heights. In November 2020, the Neighborhoods and Families Division, in collaboration with Fresh Start Pallet Products and the Town of Manchester's Public Works Department, were able to rebuild the garden as an inclusive and accessible community garden for the East Side neighborhood and the broader Manchester community. The garden then consisted of 28 framed raised beds, all of which are 4 feet wide by 8 feet long by 3 feet high. In addition to the garden bed renovations, the garden also received improvements to its composting system, water harvesting system and a stable footpath.
In 2022, the Neighborhoods and Families Division, in collaboration with Fresh Start Pallet Products and the Town of Manchester's Public Works Department, added 6 single-high beds, 6 double-high beds and a learning rotary garden. The Spruce Street Community Garden now consists of 41 accessible community garden beds.