“It’s a great learning opportunity for kids that are interested in gardening,” noted tour director Jim O’Connor, who ties local history to the township library.
The Mullica Hill library will host free tours of its garden on Fridays through the summer, with the next one set for Friday June 30 at 11 a.m.
The garden was first planted outside of the library in 2014, according to Jim O’Connor, who runs the tours.
“It’s a great learning opportunity for kids that are interested in gardening,” he noted. “We sit on fertile farmland, as Gloucester County used to be called the ‘county that feeds Philadelphia.’
“So, it’s a really cool way to tie in local history to the library.”
Each tour will start immediately after the library’s toddler storytime. Though kids are involved, the tours are also open to adults. The garden contains a variety of vegetables, with beans that guests can also pick.
“Kids will help us pick out beans and other types of vegetables, as well as helping plant stuff,” explained O’Connor. “Parents can do it as well. We’re growing two types of kale and broccoli, which kids can pick right off.
“We try to make it fun and informative for people,” he added. “It is mostly for kids, but we try to make it an all-ages kind of thing.”
The garden is run by both the library and the Gloucester County Certified Gardeners, a group of volunteers who help run gardens at locations throughout the county. These include gardens at other libraries and the butterfly garden at Red Bank.
The garden tours – started in 2015 – require advance registration by email to O’Connor at joconnor@gcls.org. Each attendee must include name, phone number and email address and sign up separately.
Future dates can be found on the GCLS website. Next month’s first tour is scheduled for Friday July 7, at 11 a.m.
