Verona’s community garden formed, seeds to be planted
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A community garden project several years in the making has taken root in Verona.
More than 50 volunteers spent their afternoons Sept. 25 and 26 building wooden beds, shoveling dirt, moving stones and laying hay on a vacant lot along West Railroad Avenue in the lower section of the borough.
The goal is to soon plant fruits, vegetables and flowers, and install benches made from recycled plastics in order to create a peaceful place to gather and get healthy.
“We are so excited to be able to have a project like this that is not only good for the environment and good for helping to bring some food to our local (parish) that we’ll be working with, but just brings the community together,” Verona Councilwoman Trish Hredzak-Showalter said. “We have residents not only from Verona, but from Penn Hills, from Oakmont, various schools and churches and community groups. It’s really exciting to have everyone working together on this long-standing goal.”
The project is spearheaded by a rec board subcommittee called SEE Green.
SEE stands for social equity, environmental quality and economic development.
Rhea Homa, Laura Jacko and Hredzak-Showalter are its members.
“It’s been amazing to see everybody come out,” Jacko said about the two-day work effort. “A lot of people brought their kids. I brought my kid. He had the time of his life. … I love things like this that bring all of the residents together from neighboring communities. It gets people outdoors breathing the fresh air and working together as a community to make something wonderful happen.”
The beds are about 12 feet by 3 feet. Some are raised a couple of feet to help those with back trouble plant.
Some of the beds will be for community use while others may be rented to maintain the lot and possibly fund more projects, Homa said.
She said proposed plants include garlic, tomatoes, native pollinators such as milkweeds and goldenrod as well as an apple tree.
Kim Roller, vice president of the garden club, said her group will be helping manage the beds and working with SEE Green to ensure everything blooms.
“I think it’s amazing for kids,” Roller said. “There’s something about gardening and putting things in the ground and seeing it grow that I think is wonderful to teach at a young age. The kids can see what is done in relatively short time and get their hands a little dirty.”
Oakmont resident Bob Federline agreed.
He is the catechetical administrator for Holy Family Parish, which has churches in Verona, Oakmont and Plum.
Federline brought several students in the parish’s confirmation class to volunteer and perform community service.
“They’re all good kids, very hard workers,” said Federline, who moved from Penn Hills to the borough. “I think it’s marvelous. I think every community should have a project like this. We have grown very urbanized. Kids don’t know where food comes from. They think it comes from Giant Eagle. They don’t know that it comes from farms. They don’t know that people work to grow these things.
“I think it’s great to be in touch with the earth and our origins. The best part about it isn’t the food that’s going to grow. It’s the friendships that will grow.”
The garden has been several years in the making.
Parks and recreation had three spots in mind last year: Railroad Park near the borough building, a vacant lot along Second Street and some borough-owned space along Vogel Street.
Hredzak-Showalter said further work by the committee resulted in the discovery of the West Railroad Avenue lot, and the borough was able to work out an amicable deal with the property owner to acquire the site.
People who want to help with the garden can email veronaparksandrec@gmail.com.
More information and photos from the project is available on Facebook and Instagram @VeronaCommunityGarden.