Youngsters help prepare Verona Community Garden for season

Year 2 of the Verona Community Garden has begun.

With the weather fully cooperating, a group of youngsters gathered on April 11 to help launch planting season in the former vacant lot at West Railroad and Allegheny avenues.

Students of ARCH, Academics and Recreation for Christian Homeschoolers, assisted by tilling soil, spreading mulch, sowing seeds, watering and performing other tasks with the guidance of Jasen Bernthisel and Annie Fox, community garden project managers for Grow Pittsburgh.

Through its New Garden Support program, the organization has provided materials and expertise toward bringing the Verona initiative to fruition.

“In that two-year program, we help them basically get in place the initial infrastructure that they’re going to need, like raised beds or in-ground beds, sheds, fencing, all the essentials,” Fox said. “We also tend to help with community development, the outreach and establishing an involved group of people who are really going to sustain the garden.”

Among the members of Verona Community Garden’s steering committee is Jenny Manners, an ARCH parent who organized the students’ visit as an enrichment activity. She met Bernthisel while volunteering during the garden’s formative period.

“I spoke with Jasen last year and said, ‘Hey, can we do a field trip day?’ ” she said. “So we’re trying to get things going for the growing season.”

Among the plants that will be springing up are garlic, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and various greens and herbs, with plenty of maintenance provided along the way.

“People offer to do different types of work, whether it’s cutting the grass, weeding. We’re trying to work on pathways and that sort of thing,” Manners said, including a pollinator garden. “Anybody can come down and volunteer at any point in time.”

ARCH is an educational cooperative founded in 2010 with parents serving as teachers, according to coordinator Wendy Hoskin of White Oak. Classes are held in Plum.

For more information about Verona Community Garden bed rentals and how to get involved, contact veronagardengrows@gmail.com. To learn more about Grow Pittsburgh, visit www.growpittsburgh.org.