“I think this year while everybody’s being confined, more people are antsy to really have some place to go and garden,” said Ron Huber, president of the Benjamin Rush Community Garden.
Huber started gardening at the Northeast Philadelphia park in 2004, when his son became interested.
“When one of my children wanted to have a vegetable garden. Him and I got involved gardening there. He’s a horticulture major working on his Ph.D. right now,” he said.
Huber said the pandemic may have pushed back their opening weekend, but crops will likely not be affected.
“A lot of plants that people grow there really, really can’t be started in the garden until early May anyway because of frost and weather changes,” he said.
“As of right now, we only have close to 40 people signed up that want to garden this year. And our garden plots are 30-by-30, so we’re pretty much a part from each other,” he added.
He hopes to get the field plowed soon so people can start to garden.
They donate their excess food to food banks, and even Huber’s parents, who are in a retirement home and don’t have a yard anymore, benefit from his space.
“As an organization, we pride ourselves on being as organic as possible. We try to tell members not to use any kind of chemicals, so we try to keep everything natural. Everybody enjoys growing the fresh food,” he said.
People can sign up until about mid June — applications are always welcome for next season.
There’s room for 208 plots throughout their 7-acre space.