community Gardens of Oak Ridge
There are many ways to get involved in community gardening in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. There are three working community gardens in Oak Ridge (see below), plus a Grow Your Own program and a mushroom gardening project.
mushroom gardening project
Location: Various Gardens in the Community
About 40 shiitake mushroom growers are participating in our Mushroom Gardening Project. We gather once a a year to make shiitake mushroom growing logs out of oak trees curated by local foresters. We drill holes and inject shiitake mushroom spawn, and seal them with wax. These logs give mushrooms about once a year for four years. Growers share their photos, advice and recipes with one another! If you’d like to participate, be sure and sign up for our newsletter.
Three Community Gardens in Oak Ridge
Scarboro Community Garden
Location: 100 Houston Ave., Oak Ridge.
13 Raised beds; communal gardening. Volunteers join together to work at various times. Produce is shared by workers and donated to the greater community. Supported by the Oak Ridge Rotary Club and other volunteers in the community. Contact garden manager to get involved.
First Presbyterian Church
Location: 1051 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge.
Started in 2009, the Community Garden has 21 plots, with 19 for individual growing (2 for compost). No pesticides or herbicides are allowed in the garden, and organic compost is encouraged. Gardeners pay a yearly fee of $20 for communal expenses. Workdays are organized throughout the season, but gardeners work on their own as well. Produce is kept by the gardeners, but a good portion is collected by a team for distribution in the community. A new garden, the Welcome Garden, is designed to provide fresh produce for various ministries such as the Welcome Table food distribution and St. Mary’s Food Pantry. To get involved, contact the garden manager.
St. Mary’s Church
Location: 327 Vermont Ave., Oak Ridge
St. Mary’s garden is 100% communal effort, with produce going to St. Joseph Food Pantry and garden volunteers. It follows a 3-year crop rotation, including winter cover crops. Production is tracked (1,924 pounds of produce last season!) and volunteers receive weekly communication from the manager. The garden employs drip line irrigation, a Florida weave for tomato trellises, and a reduced tillage method of aeration using a broad fork. It is a UT Master Gardener designated project. To get involved, email the garden manager at stmarygardenoakridge@gmail.com.
Seed Catalogue
OR Public Library
Free Seeds! Borrow - Grow - Return
Borrow seeds from the Oak Ridge Public Library’s online catalogue in 4 simple steps:
1.Go to orpl.org and select “Catalog” from the toolbar at the top
2.On the left-hand side of the page, select ‘Seed Library’ at the bottom
3.From here, patrons can select a ‘Seed Inventory Link’ to see what seed varieties are in stock
4.Finally, select the ‘Seed Request Form’ and fill out the information for your order including contact information and the types of seeds you wish to borrow.”
•There is a 10 packet per card holder limit per check out and seeds are picked up at the Main Desk of the library. We just ask that seed borrowers make a good faith effort to bring back harvested seed at the end of the season.
