Sherry Chen, founder of SOUP, said the porch gardens are a great way to introduce gardening to those who may not have been previously interested, but they “fell in love with this project.”
“They don’t want to get hot, cold, wet or dirty,” she said. “There are also people not physically capable of gardening. The Porch Garden Project ended up giving us a dual purpose: get fresh vegetables close at hand for people … and allow those not sure of gardening the ability to do so. It’s a small little porch garden, it’s manageable.”
Each Porch Garden contain five grow bags with a variety of 10 plants.
Porch gardens from SOUP are limited to those who do not have resources to start a garden on their own. Resident must live on south side Springfield and/or be food insecure.
In 2020 SOUP was awarded a 4-year, $400,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The non-profit organization was able to expand its urban agriculture services in communities on the southside of Springfield to include garden and food education components for adults and children, gardening setup and assistance, farm stands and cooking classes, while also addressing food insecurity in the area.
With funds from the grant SOUP also purchased 7.5 acres known as Melrose Acres. The small urban farm serves as an agriculture and education center.
Chen said it is the only official greenspace in Springfield that uses no-till practices.
A plant sale is also held twice annually to raise funds for the non-profit organization. In addition to a variety of seedlings, seeds, seed potatoes, and sweet potato slips, the sale will feature seed starting mix soil from Ohio Earth Food, which is featured in the porch gardens.
More information about SOUP and registration for a Porch Garden is available on Facebook. To sponsor a Porch Garden, contact Chen at 937.408.7171.
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