Gardens grow community as well as flowers and vegetables. Come meet your neighbors and kick off the garden season at Roslindale Green & Clean’s 5th Annual Green Garden Exchange on Saturday, April 11th, 10am – 1 pm at the Emerald Society, 10 Birch Street, Roslindale Village, immediately following the annual Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by Roslindale Village Main Streets. This free event is sponsored by Roslindale Green & Clean (RGC), a nonprofit volunteer organization committed to green education, advocacy, and maintaining green public spaces for everyone to enjoy.
«Our theme this year, Let’s Grow Together, is based on the need for neighbors to garden and learn from each other during these difficult economic times,» says Cynthia Donnelly, RGC board member and coordinator of this year’s event. «Each and every one of us can have a positive impact on our community, and this event is a great way to share ideas on how gardens can help us save money and get healthy, add value to our neighborhood, and connect with other people» adds Donnelly. «When times are tough, putting food on the table can be a struggle, so we are asking folks to bring a non-perishable food donation for the Roslindale Food Pantry, and as thanks you’ll get a free raffle ticket,» she concludes.
Local experts will provide information on reusing, recycling, and composting in the garden, starting a vegetable garden to save money, pesticide-free lawn care and harvesting rainwater with a rain barrel. Residents who have limited or no yard space can learn about growing herbs and vegetables in containers, setting up an indoor «worm-composting bin,» and how to join a community garden. Gardeners and non-gardeners alike can benefit from sources for locally grown produce through community-supported agriculture, and learn how to get a free street tree from the City of Boston.
This year there are expanded kids activities to help growing minds get excited about gardening and the community. Village Books will be on hand with gardening books. A children’s sing-a-long with musician Deborah Galiga will take place at noon. Kids can make a newspaper pot and plant it with seeds. Kids of all ages will be encouraged to hang a «wish» leaf on the wishing-tree sculpture created by kids in the Roslindale Arts Alliance after-school art program.
Bring a canned food donation for the Roslindale Food Pantry to the Green Garden Exchange and get a free raffle ticket. Additional raffle tickets can be purchased.
Raffle prizes include two backyard compost bins (provided by the City of Boston), a rain barrel (from the Boston Building Materials Co-op), planted container gardens, a family membership to the Arnold Arboretum, a tango lesson, and more.
Roslindale Green and Clean is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating and maintaining a clean and healthy Roslindale through advocacy, outreach, public green space improvements, and the preservation and expansion of Roslindale’s tree canopy. In recent years, RGC has partnered with local organizations to design and install new award-winning plantings around the Roslindale Public Library, at the traffic islands on Belgrade Avenue, at Taft Hill Terrace, at Savage Mini Park on Birch Street, and our latest project, in Alexander the Great Park. The Greek Spirit Committee connected with St. Nectarios Church is sponsoring a ribbon-cutting ceremony and party to celebrate the opening of Alexander the Great Park on May 17, 2009 at noon.
