The Harvard Community Garden on Littleton Road, organized by Harvard Local, has attracted gardeners with a range of experience, from neophytes to people with thriving backyard gardens. The garden is on ⅓ acre of freshly tilled Conservation land and features two electric fences as well as a pump fed by a nearby spring for watering, and a 20-by-20-foot shared plot in the center. Members of the garden community are encouraged to gather and garden on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. Each has a different reason for participating.

“I have no experience gardening—zero. But the person I am sharing with knows lots,” says Piali De of Mill Road, who shares her plot with Ann Whitney of Old Mill Road. “I wasn’t going to do it by myself. Everyone is giving everyone advice. It’s awesome.”

De says the community gardeners have “a wealth of knowledge—like an encyclopedia, right there. All learning should be this hands-on.”

De goes there after work and also takes her children there to garden.

“It’s done very well. I think it just looks awesome. I can’t imagine what it will be like in the summer with everything growing.”

“I’m no expert or anything but I grew up with gardens,” says Colleen Payne of Bolton Road. Payne has a small garden at home with vegetables and perennials.

“I loved the idea of a community garden where people come together to grow stuff. It makes a lot of sense to share the big expenses.”

Payne shares her plot with Weezie Potter of Littleton Road, which allows them to take turns weeding the garden and to share the fruits of their labor.

Mark and Susan Hardy of Ann Lee Road acquired a half plot as an experiment.

“We like having fresh tomatoes and beans, and our yard, because of the shade, does not allow them to grow well. For us it’s about getting a plot that gets enough sun,” says Susan. The Hardys consider themselves novice gardeners and have profited from the experience of others in the garden.

Sydney and Bill Blackwell of Willow Road are involved in Harvard Local and have “a pretty extensive vegetable garden at home.” Sydney offers three reasons why they have a plot in the community garden: the plot offers them more space to grow plants like corn and squash; they like the garden’s community aspects; and “the most important reason is an opportunity to support local growing.”

Sydney is “really interested in looking into the possibility of starting another—people just come together and make it happen.”

“The one concern is that we will have to do fundraising to pay for the fencing,” she adds. “We just have to see what happens.”

“I have a garden at home but I did it for the community aspect,” says Ann Taylor of Still River Road, another member of Harvard Local. She enjoys “talking with other people about how to garden” and sharing her experience with others. She is hopeful that the garden will be successful and “a place for people to come together and garden.”

Joe and Deb D’Eramo of Warren Ave. also have a healthy backyard garden but find gardening there to be solitary. They got a plot in the community garden in order to garden with other people. Speaking about a recent visit to the garden, Joe says, “It was great—we’re learning from other people and socializing, too.”

There is some concern about the water supply for the garden.

“One of the original questions was if we had a good reliable water source,” Joe says. “Hopefully the spring will last through the dry parts of the summer.”

Rick Wood has a vegetable garden at home on Jacob Gates Road and hopes to start a forest garden in the future. He got his plot in order to grow potatoes and onions, but his son is also using it to grow food to donate to Loaves and Fishes. Wood hopes the Community Garden keeps growing.

“The garden is off to a great start,” he says. “We may expand this garden to the north, but better yet would be to start new plots in different parts of town. For example, it’s a 4-mile drive for me one way. I would prefer a half mile, tops, or even walking or biking distance.”

For more information about the Community Garden visit www.harvardlocal.org/garden.shtml.