Each gardener in the township’s Plant a Patch program at Barclay Farmstead manages their own plots. The garden has been around since about 1974.
If you’ve visited the Barclay Farmstead late this summer, you may have noticed the sunflowers or one of the many other varieties of plants growing on the property across from the apple orchard.
The garden is managed by Cherry Hill, which provides mulch and takes care of the organic waste. According to Bob Corressel, a township resident and a Garden Club committee member who also works with the Barclay Farmstead, of the farm’s 30 acres, the program known as Plant a Patch makes up about 10.
The garden has been around since about 1974, said Corressel, when the Friends of Barclay Farmstead was established. Each of its plots is different and taken care of by whomever purchased it for the season. The fences, trellises and other supplies and materials are all brought by the gardeners and removed each October before the area is plowed through.
On Aug. 22, the gardeners celebrated their summer season with the annual harvest dinner.
Gardeners gathered to celebrate their own bounty on Aug. 22, during the annual harvest dinner.
“Everybody brings a covered dish and nobody knows what anyone is bringing ahead of time,” explained township resident and gardener Stefani Kasdin. “It is supposedly something from a product that you’ve grown in your garden, or inspired by a product that you hoped to have grown.
“But weather and conditions and life sometimes gets in the way, and some people don’t end up getting what they hoped.”
Though the garden is on a public area, many of its plots have locks to keep people from breaking in and stealing crops, as has often happened in the past. One gardener recalled how a neighbor’s entire crop of tomatoes was plucked the day before he planned to harvest them.
Per good etiquette, visitors should not pick anything from the plots, although there is a seat near the garden’s compost area that has been dubbed the “sharing bench.” Gardeners can leave produce or other things there that are available for community members to take if they like.
Kasdin – who got her start in gardening by helping with her children’s butterfly peace garden at Haddonfield Friends School more than a decade ago – said dishes brought to the harvest dinner are as diverse as the garden plots and the gardeners themselves. Some people grow veggies that that are native to their culture, like luffa gourds, and others use their plots to grow things like tomatoes, cabbage and flowers.
“One of the wonderful things about this is, you ask each one of these gardeners, ‘What do you grow, and why do you garden?’ and eventually, it will come back to their mother and where they’re from,” Kasdin explained.
“Everybody brings their heritage here, and that’s gorgeous,” she added. “It’s kind of like Cherry Hill because we’re so diverse.”
Some gardeners come as often as twice a day to take care of their plots, and in some areas, you can see tables and chairs where people relax. First-year gardener Samia Mian always wanted to garden, and this year, she grew squash, eggplant, cucumbers and more from seed.
“It was very exciting and very engaging,” she enthused. “My kids loved it.”
“I like to experience all the fruits and vegetables my mom grows,” said Aaliyah Reza, Mian’s 9-year-old daughter. “I love how she’s so dedicated going to the plot. She would go almost every day and check on them (her crops) almost after every storm.”
Earlier this summer, the gardeners donated more than 300 pounds of food to the Cherry Hill Food Pantry, as they do each year.
The garden is split into two sections – seasonal and permanent plots – where gardeners can keep maintaining the plot throughout the year as long as they continue to pay for it. Some grow fruit trees and asparagus, which take longer to develop.
“It’s one more thing,” said Kasdin, “that I think is like a secret little gem in Cherry Hill.”
To learn more about the Plant a Patch program, visit https://www.chnj.gov/1141/Plant-A-Patch-Community-Gardens.
