Mahoning Valley Forum

Grow Youngstown is a new group which is forming to start a community supported agriculture program for city residents.  The group also plans to start several community gardens.

Great Idea........another way for grassroots folks to get the area moving in the right direction!!!

This is a great idea right out of the Victory Gardens of WWI and WWII. Just look at how neighborhood gardens could help with family food bills. With the price of produce going up, these gardens could provide a wide range of produce.

The key to their success would be to get as many neighbors as possable to help tend them.

The key would be to locate lots that are large enough to support a wide variety of vegetables. Next door to me is a really large area that properly organized could provide a wide range of produce ... onions, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, lettuce, beans, parsnips, radishes and garlick just to name a few varieties.

Victory Garden (PBS) has shown a number of neighborhood gardens and you'd be amazed at just how much produce these gardens can provide under the right supervision.

Add to this, making them organic would really be great.

I'll try to find the contact information for Grow Youngstown.  I believe a north side vegetable garden is one of their goals.  It the garden is close,  would you be willing to help?

There is very little that I can do due to my health, but if they were to establish a garden on the the lots that I referenced, I would be able to give time to it.

Unfortunately so many homes in my immediate area have been torn down that there are very few people in the neigborhood any more that could give it their full attention, and of those who are still here, there are only a couple of families that can do the heavy work. We would need outsiders to help us.

Some of the folks from the CDA had a garden down the street from us for several years, but they gave up on their garden.

By the way, the lots I refer to are right next door to me which would make it easy for me to get to. These lots would need to be fenced off to keep people from cutting through and damaging the garden but as I said, it would be ideal for a truck garden due to the total size of the lots.

What all does Grow Youngstown do? And do they provide the seeds and plants? Most of us here are Senior Citizens, and on very limited income.
 

The most successful garden would be one near a senior citizens' home.  They would be the group of peopel that would have the time and desire to make it work, and gardening helps keep you young!