slideshow

A meeting held Tuesday evening to gauge interest in a community garden in Hamlet had about 10 people in attendance.

According to plant professional Jessica Smith, the people in attendance were very interested in the idea and took interest sheets with them to hand out among their friends.

“We’ve got enough to move forward,” said Smith, who lives in Hamlet. “The city manager was there and she’s shown a lot of support. Now we are trying to draw up the resources.”

Smith said the meeting was designed to inform interested community members about what a community garden is and what it takes.

Some areas center community gardens at churches or schools. Community gardens can take many forms, but they generally consist of multiple plots belonging to people, families or organizations. Those plots have vegetables and herbs grown on them, and sometimes edible flowers. Communities can benefit from having community gardens in many ways.

Smith received some help from Cooperative Extension Agent Paige Burns, who gave a PowerPoint presentation at the meeting.

“We had good discussions,” said Burns. “We discussed the community garden and its benefits, how they work and what the next steps were.”

Burns said the role of the Cooperative Extension is not to set up and run a community garden, but to provide any information they can to help the community that is interested in establishing the garden.

According to Burns, the upkeep of the garden would depend on the motivation of the people involved and the commitment.

Planning and resource gathering are the next steps taking place before another meeting can be scheduled, said Smith.

— Staff Writer Dawn M. Kurry can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 15, or by email at dkurry@heartlandpublications.com.