Princeton Recreation Department on the lookout for green thumbs.
By: David Campbell
The Princeton Recreation Department is on the lookout for residents with green thumbs.
The community gardens at Barbara Smoyer Park may not be much to look at today, but according to Kate Herlihy, the department’s program supervisor, it will be a sight to see next month come Mother’s Day. That’s a traditional planting day for gardeners to put new plants in the ground with little fear of them freezing, Ms. Herlihy said.
Currently, three residents have signed up for their plots, the program supervisor said.
With a total of about 20 plots planned for this year, the Recreation Department has some vacancies to fill. For a reasonable $10 fee used to keep the watering hoses in service and cover labor costs, Ms. Herlihy said township and borough residents can reserve a plot of their own for the summer.
The Recreation Department could expand the gardens to around 30 plots next year, but for now, Ms. Herlihy said, "We’ll start small and expand as we need to."
Township Arborist Greg O’Neil has been instrumental in setting up the community gardens. He appeared before the Princeton Township Committee in October to present a plan for the 5,000-square-foot gardens, where plots are available on a first-come first-served basis, in conjunction with a new tree nursery there.
The nursery and community gardens are a joint proposal of the township Recreation Department, Shade Tree Commission and the Princeton Environmental Commission. The 38-acre park is located off Snowden Lane and Herrontown Road, on the site of the former Weller farm.
Mr. O’Neil told the committee that in five to 10 years, mature trees grown in the nursery would save the township thousands of dollars annually for new tree plantings. Once complete, the nursery will hold approximately 100 trees and stock will be replenished as mature trees are used as shade trees or to replace damaged ones throughout the township, Mr. O’Neil said. As for the community gardens, in addition to plans for teaching gardens for children and a program in regional garden studies there, they will give people who sign up a chance to get their hands dirty while getting involved with neighbors.
"It’s a social thing," said Ms. Herlihy. "It’s a chance for people to get outside, to exchange seeds, to exchange vegetables. It’s also for people who don’t have a garden spot at home. This will give them a nice garden spot, a nice, well-worked piece of ground."
The Tiger Garage community gardens, a 30-plot gardening site off John Street, has some very loyal gardeners who turn out year after year, the program supervisor said.
Once the gardens at Smoyer Park are up and running, she said, a similar sense of community hopefully will take bloom and if community isn’t enough, maybe the free mulch and compost will entice residents to join.
With the land that will host the gardens tilled, a split-rail fence erected and plots soon to be marked out, the site promises to be a bucolic escape for residents. Efforts to run water out to the gardens are also under way, the program director said.
"A lot of the final details are slowly but surely getting put into place out there," said Ms. Herlihy.

