New projects, partnerships, and opportunities are growing at the CHEO Community Garden in Front Royal this spring.
Located at the corner of Criser Road and Luray Avenue, the garden was established during the COVID pandemic to help with food insecurity, explained JoAnne Koszyk, executive director of Congregational-Community Action Project (C-CAP).
Management of the CHEO garden, which stands for Citizens Helping Each Other, was turned over to C-CAP in 2024.
“What started as a small effort has grown into a community project that supplies fresh vegetables to local residents,” she said, noting that the garden produced about 1,000 pounds of food last season, including green beans, tomatoes and leafy greens.
Noting that the garden provides a space for families and children to experience gardening first hand, Koszyk said that the plot of land brings the community together.
“It’s really an outreach into the community. It’s a great place where people who might not normally cross paths can come together — a safe place communing with nature,” Koszyk said. “Volunteers often work side by side, picking vegetables or pulling weeds, while sharing stories and having conversations. Working together, picking green beans, you’re really not talking about the things that divide us.”
With the help of volunteers from the Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners program, organizers anticipate not only bumper crops this year, but also expanded educational opportunities.
“They have been amazing. They want to bring an education piece to the garden that’s going to allow volunteers and visitors to learn gardening while working in the garden,” Koszyk said, noting that being able to supply fresh produce to those in need is especially important in light of the rising cost of food.
She noted that the garden plays and important role in the Healthy Pantry Initiative, a program made possible through C-CAP’s partnership with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank
Koszyk said that garden manager Fern Vasquez met with Master Gardeners earlier in the season to discuss some of the challenges the initiative faced last year. The volunteers have created a detailed plan for the season, including plants to be installed and how many bags of dirt will be needed for planting day, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 2 starting at 8:30 a.m.
Weekly volunteer workdays are planned for Wednesday mornings once the season gets underway, Koszyk said, adding that Master Gardeners will also host four Saturday “tent talks and workdays” this summer and into the fall. Topics will include how to use grow bags (June 20); harvesting (Aug. 1), and winding down the garden (Oct. 3), she said.
She said that volunteers from the Master Gardener program are implementing new strategies to make the community garden more productive and efficient. For instance, they’ll use grow bags for potatoes this year to save space in the garden and will add a no-dig garden bed using “lasagna gardening,” Koszyk said. The method involves layering organic materials into the soil to improve it without heaving digging, she said, adding that the garden will also have a compost area this year.
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