Community Gardeners Plant First Seeds

River and Roots Community Garden officially planted their first seeds on Saturday morning. Though the community garden will ultimately blossom downtown, the first plantings occurred in a greenhouse in Jamesport. 

With soil, planters, and space in a greenhouse donated by Gabrielsen Farms in Jamesport, those participating in downtown's community garden took their first steps by planting hundreds of seeds on Saturday morning. Nearly 20 people showed up. 

"This is enough to probably grow an entire farm," joked Laurie Nigro, one of River and Roots' organizers. "We did a little bit of everything. The kids focused on flowers. But we'll have squash, cucumbers, peppers, beans, herbs, pumpkins, lettuces. Mr. Gabrielsen said we can come in whenever we need to."

Nigro said that by mid-April, a fence should be erected for the community garden at its location downtown, on West Main Street across from the Griffing Avenue intersection. At that point the organization will be able to start working on its beds and soon after transfer the growing seeds from their current location in Jamesport. 

River and Roots Community Garden is a non-profit organization created by Nigro and fellow organizer Amy Davidson. The organization was given a start-up donation of $5,000 by the Business Improvement District to help transform a lot roughly a third of an acre in size near the Peconic River into a community garden.

About 30 beds in total will be available, though more than 10 have been taken at this point. Anybody interested in applying for a bed can click here for an application.