**GOING GREEN:** The Hull Community Garden is an oasis of green space on George Washington Boulevard. As the garden grows, more opportunities exist for new gardeners to get involved in tending a plot of their own. [Courtesy photo]

By Carol Britton Meyer

The Hull Community Garden invites residents who love to garden – but don’t have enough space where they live to grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers – to join the group this year.

“We have eight gardeners leaving and only three on the waiting list, so it would be great to get five new gardeners involved,” President Henry Herrmann told The Hull Times. “We’d like to get wider community involvement, and hopefully word of mouth will attract some new members.”

The reasons for participants dropping out vary from plans to move to health issues, among others.

The garden – which features 30 raised beds – is located on town-owned property across from the Nantascot Place condominiums at the intersection of George Washington Boulevard and Salisbury Street and operates through a license with the town. A few of the beds are waist-high to make gardening easier for those with mobility issues.

Gardeners pay between $35 and $60 per growing season, depending on the size of their space – ranging from 4x4 feet to 4x8 feet. These fees mainly cover the cost of the water bill. The gardeners cut their own grass. There is no charge for military veterans who join the group.

Members make their own compost and use organic soil and a rain barrel to conserve water and save on the water bill.

An application for Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding for beautification of the town-owned land adjacent to where the garden is located was submitted to the Community Preservation Committee (CPC), which at its February meeting recommended that this and other projects be advanced to town meeting.

Beautifying the property

“Three-quarters of the land is not being used, and several people suggested we do something with it to beautify it in some way, because it’s one of the first things people see as they enter town,” Herrmann said. “So we applied for CPA money and have been encouraged by the response from CPC, the beautification committee, the [former] waterfront access [working group], and others.”

The application for $49,770 would fund several related projects, including fence replacement, site preparation for planting native, perennial grasses and flowers to screen part of the south-facing fence, an existing telephone pole, guy wire, and a fire hydrant, and site preparation and planting of a three-foot wide, approximately 270-foot-long strip of native grasses and wildflowers just inside the east-facing fence.

As step one, the shed was powerwashed and painted green to blend with the background, repurposed shutters have been painted and hung, and new plantings have been completed around the shed.

Just beyond this strip, the Community Garden will keep a pathway mowed leading from the existing parking area to the Weir River, undertaken with volunteer labor. At the end of the pathway, in the shade of an existing tree, a bench and picnic table overlooking the river will be placed. While this area is not suitable for boat launching or swimming, “it is available for fishing, picnicking, or just sitting and enjoying nature,” according to the application.

The final project will be to grow white oak and red maple seedlings in pots. Once they have grown into saplings, they will be given away to town residents.

Project goals outlined

The goals of the project – which align with two of the CPA criteria – are to enhance existing open space that is currently blighted with overgrown grass, by making it more attractive, more eco-friendly, and more useful and to create recreational use of the area and promote public access to the waterfront.

The last stop is the May 4 town meeting, where voters will have the final say on all warrant articles.

If this project passes muster at town meeting, preparation will take place in the spring of 2026, fence replacement late this summer, and plantings and bench placement in the fall of 2026.

Community garden roots

The community garden blossomed in 2014 from a love of gardening and a commitment “to protect and enhance the world around us, along with the desire to make our town a better and more beautiful place,” according to a written history of the garden provided by Herrmann.

This dream became a reality when the town offered the use of the former Showboat property – which had long been empty – at the current location. Many community members donated tools, money, and time to create the garden.

The Showboat was a popular nightclub created in the 1940s when the steamboat “Mayflower” was brought ashore. The structure burned to the ground in 1979 after falling into disrepair. In the 1980s, developer Fred Kiley had proposed a condominium complex on the property, but in 2007, he subdivided triangle-shaped site to create a house lot and donated the remaining land to the town.

There were 15 individual gardens on the property to begin with, including one where produce was grown for the Wellspring Multi-Service Center. Border plantings and several birdhouses were added.

In 2015, the number of gardens grew to 20 and in 2016, to 26, with two more for Wellspring.

The community garden continues to be a learning experience and a labor of love, community garden members agree.

Those interested in joining can send an email to hull.community.garden@gmail.com.

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