OSWEGO – After surviving for over a decade, the East Side Community Garden is getting ready for renovations to completely overhaul the area.
According to Second Ward City Councilor Shawn Burridge, the garden, which is located on East Schuyler Street between East 7th and 9th, has been in “pretty bad” shape since he moved to Oswego approximately 12 or 13 years ago.
“The beds weren’t really set up for elderly people to step and get into the beds; they’re too tall,” Burridge said. “Everything about the thing isn’t convenient … [We are trying to] make it look nice for the whole neighborhood.”
While the estimated cost and time to complete the new garden has yet to be established, there is a laundry list of goals for Burridge and community gardeners. Such plan will start by clearing out the rotting wooden garden beds, replacing the overgrown grass around them with mulch and cutting the entire garden in half.
“What we are going to do is go from East 9th Street to East 8th Street, we are goig to cut it right in half,” Burridge said. “Right now, the beds run 10 foot by 10 foot … what we are going to do is cut them down to four foot by 12 foot beds … There is poison ivy there, we are going to try to get it [out].”
An additional step in the plan is to level out the land once the old materials are moved out. Currently, the area is a bit hilly and uneven, so leveling that should make for a more enjoyable and accessible experience.
“We are going to have some handicap beds for some handicap people that are in wheelchairs or just can’t get around that well,” Burridge said. “That’ll be right there when you are first coming to the garden, so it’s easier for them so they don’t have to walk through the entire garden to get to their beds.”
Another struggle current community members have faced is simply watering their beds. Over the last few years, there has been one attachment for a hose, forcing people to lug around a hundred feet of heavy hose. In the current plan, there is expected to be attachments every 25 to 50 feet in order to make it a lot easier to maintain one’s garden.
With the narrower beds at just four feet wide, there is room for two rows of garden beds, along with a four foot walkway between them. Burridge expects there to be 50 to 60 beds total with plenty of space for new community members.
With all of the extra room, people in the community can reserve or receive a bed of their own fairly easily. In order to do so, one must reach out to the committee, which is still being formed. To be a part of the committee or the garden itself, residents are asked to contact Kelly Mosher at (315) 529-1009 or through the Oswego East Side Community Garden Facebook page.
While the garden is experiencing what a previous press release described as a “facelift,” the community will get a much-needed space to spend time outdoors with family, friends and others.
“There’s going to be a small area, probably 20×20 or maybe a little bit longer but it’s [going to have] a picnic table or two,” Burridge said. “We are going to put one of those small little houses you see the city [place around] with books in them. We are going to do that and then people can bring their kids down, their grandkids down and work on the garden. Mostly, it’s for the community to interact with each other and do something outside that is low stress and enjoyable.”
