Millburn -- Community Garden, The

In 1975 the Short Hills Garden Club began planning a community garden in Millburn, New Jersey, to be used by residents who did not have their own land. The vacant lot owned by Neighborhood House was chosen due to its central location near apartment dwellers so they could walk to their gardens. Members of the garden club prepared the unused urban site, and in the first season of 1976, twenty 10 X 20 foot garden plots were planted. Presently there are 79 individual plots with mulched paths between and a central gravel walk. Slightly larger than one acre, The Community Garden is surrounded by a chain link fence with a locked gate; each member is given a key. The Short Hills Garden Club maintains a flower border outside the fence and provides water, wheelbarrows, compost bins, benches and a picnic table for use by the gardeners, in addition to managing the rental fees of $60 per plot. Start-up materials were donated and the garden club raises funds for continuing improvements. The individual gardeners raise vegetables and herbs, perennial and annual flowers, spring bulbs, and berries, some grown organically.

The Short Hills Garden Club is planning its own small garden plot with garden furniture in honor of Pamela Hulshizer, who chaired the community garden for 22 years.

Persons associated with the garden include) Diocese of Newark, New Jersey (former owners, prior to September 1921); St. Stephens Church, Millburn, New Jersey (former owners, September 1921-November 1921); Richard T. Bunnell (former owner, 1921-1922); Gertrude R. Taylor (former owner, 1922-1923); Neighborhood Association of Millburn Township (owners, 1923- )