Growing Love Community Garden Takes Root

Port Washington residents Erika Stehl, Michele Rowe and Nicole Asselta have created the Growing Love Community Garden of Manorhaven. Currently a pilot project gaining the attention and support of local representatives and influencers, the Growing Love Garden will be located adjacent to the existing Long Island Native Plants Garden and Dog Park in the Manorhaven Preserve. Through their efforts, the determined trio aims to build a more resilient community where neighbors grow, share and eat their own food, learn healthy gardening practices, leverage natural resources, respect the delicate ecosystem and support existing beautification efforts, all while utilizing fallow public land.

“Thanks to the foresight of Manorhaven Mayor Jim Avena, our dream is coming to fruition,” Garden co-founder Erika Stehl said. The Mayor made the land available for public use and provided direction for the organization to attain 501c3 status.

“Mayor Avena’s commitment to protecting and purposefully developing this waterfront land is evident in his recent initiative in the Long Island Native Plants Garden with master gardener’s from Cornell Cooperative Extension. His belief in the community and its precious resources, in addition to the generosity of the Dejana Family Foundation that provided the grant, are making this project possible,” Stehl continued.

Already a newly cleared piece of land, the site will ultimately feature a beautiful community garden, featuring approximately 40 4’x8’ individual raised beds, an attractive hardscape for “landing” and wheelchair accessibility.

Applications for plots, available on growinglovepw.com, will be accepted January 1 - March 31, 2018. A lottery drawing for residents will take place April 1, 2018. Applicants will be notified so they can have ample time to plan and prepare their personalized beds for the upcoming growing season. Although there are a limited number of beds, the aim is to encourage all residents of Port to come down and enjoy the Preserve. The prospective opening date of the Growing Love Community Garden is Sunday May 6 at 12:00 noon.

In addition to Growing Love Community Garden founders, other partners sharing time, talent and treasure include Dan Murray of James Peter Associates, who cleared the land and will be building the boxes, hardscape and install fencing; Eve Peterson of Eve Peterson Designs, who designed the garden plans; Stephanie Yardeni, a freelance designer and owner of The Working Dog Graphic Design, who is consulting on the development of the Growing Love website; Amanda Khalil, marketing consultant for local small business and nonprofits and founder of the popular blog PortWashingtonmama.com, who is spearheading social media for the garden; and, Beth Ricciardi, local resident, gardener, educator, etc, who is planning a Phase 2 perennial Garden By the Bat Boxes that would also highlight native plantings, biodiversity, permaculture and more!

Growing Love Community Garden will raise awareness of the project in the hopes of raising funds to expand plans and, more importantly, seek volunteers who want to get involved in a multitude of ways. For information on how to become involved please contact Erika Stehl at Erika@growinglovepw.com or visit the website at growinglovepw.com.

(In photo)

Members of the Growing Love Community Garden committee met in the section of the Manorhaven Nature Preserve where the new garden will be located in the spring. (From left: Michele Rowe, Dan Murray with James Peter Associates, Erika Stehl, Nicole Asselta and Manorhaven Mayor Jim Avena)