New Carlisle community garden prepped for second season

New Carlisle residents are planning for the second season of planting in the community garden.

The garden is located on about a third of an acre lot donated by the city next to the closed Madison Street school. Organizers have been working to put boards around each of the plots.

“We have 40 plots, and approximately 20 people have plots,” New Carlisle Vice Mayor John Krabacher said.

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Krabacher is co-chair of the program with New Carlisle resident Linda Nowakoswki. The pair wanted to do something to help after hearing the city was named a food desert, as the Springfield News-Sun previously reported.

Boards around the plots will keep the dirt and water from spreading, he said.

Last year about $800 was raised by selling the harvest from the garden at the local farm market, he said.

Studebaker Nurseries donated the top soil for the garden, he said, and the fire department fills jugs to water the plants.

The garden is a great way to bring the community together, Krabacher said, and to bring people outside.

“We have a problem in this country, and it’s getting worse and worse,” he said. “People like to stay inside … you get to come out and exercise and talk with a lot of the neighbors.”

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The garden also prevents crime, he said.

“The more you’re outside, the less crime there is in the area,” he said, “because criminals don’t want people around.”

Neighbors have noticed less vandalism at the school, he said.

The garden is open to anyone in the community. A $25 fee is collected at the beginning, but if the plots are left well-groomed and re-usable at the end of the growing season, $20 of that money will be returned, he said.

More information about the garden can be found on the group’s Facebook page under “New Carlisle Community Garden.”

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