As one travels around Fairfield, it is clear we are home to many avid gardeners. From window boxes, to vegetable beds, to landscape design, every inch of our outdoors is a canvas for planting, and this town is full of green thumbs.
If you have the inclination, growing your own food garden is cheap, fun and very rewarding. From a square foot garden in a raised bed to a row along your house or fence, even a small amount of sunny outdoor space can make for quite a productive vegetable garden.
Community Gardens
If you love to garden (or want to learn) but don’t have a usable space outdoors, Fairfield has a solution for you- we currently have one very popular municipal community garden, and hopeful plans in the works for more to come!
The Drew Park Community Garden located at 220 Warde Terrace consists of 43 plots of various sizes that are available at no cost to Fairfield residents for cultivating their own vegetables, herbs and flowers. The produce may be grown for the gardener’s own consumption or gifted to those in need. You can find out about getting on the waitlist for a plot on the town’s Parks and Recreation website.
Seed Libraries
You can take advantage of the bounty and passion of fellow gardeners by participating in one of our two seed libraries here in town. Both the Fairfield Woods Branch Library and the Pequot Library are home to seed collections that are free and open to anyone. All that is asked is that you save seeds from your own harvest to return to the library at the end of the growing season. More information on our seed libraries can be found here.
Garden Clubs
Whether your interests lie in ornamental or edible plants, there are communities of gardeners to find all over Fairfield. We have three wonderful garden clubs in town. These clubs host fun and educational events such as garden tours. Check them out!
For some residents of Fairfield and surrounding towns, simply having enough food on the table can be a challenge, regardless of where that food was grown. We are fortunate to have some wonderful social services available here in Fairfield, and through these services, the abundance of our local farms is also being shared.
Grow a Row for Hope
Many of Fairfield’s community gardens, several local farms, numerous home-gardeners and CSA programs around town donate their excess (and gorgeous) produce and eggs to Operation Hope‘s food pantry and community kitchen.
If you are interested in sharing the bounty of your vegetable garden, consider “Growing a Row for Hope” by planting a dedicated row or donating any portion of your harvest to the food pantry at Operation Hope or any other local food bank.