Chilly Weather Doesn't Stunt Gardeners' Spirits at Crows Woods

The wind was whipping, but the rain held off long enough Saturday for seasonal gardeners at Crows Woods to get into early prep work at the community garden.

Gardeners new to the plots and those who have tilled there for years met and mingled, sipped coffee, snacked on sweets and caught up with the winter’s news.

“I wish I could run as fast as my nose does,” joked John Thomas, 91, as he hooked up a new 75-foot-long hose next to his 20- by 20-foot plot. Thomas’ wife, Levato, already had planted peas and lettuce and the plants were bravely poking through the soil on opening day of the 63 gardens.

The garden area, once the site of the borough dump, is adjacent to the Plays and Players theater and borough ball fields.

The Thomases have two contiguous plots, and Levato grows flowers in an adjacent, otherwise empty area. “We just love it,” he said.

President of the garden, Kathi Stokes, notified gardeners to show up at 8 a.m. to work on spreading wood chips on the pathways, check equipment and help newcomers find their assigned locations.

“It’s a lot of work and if you don’t keep it up, you’re not asked back,” said Stokes, who joined the organization more than 20 years ago. She said new gardeners are encouraged to take on a half-plot, 10 by 10, their first year because they might not be ready for the work involved.

The fee for the plot, open only to Haddonfield residents, is $10.

Most of the gardeners limit their crops to vegetables, especially tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and herbs. Some outline the areas with flowers and last year one gardener grew rows of corn and another limited his area to flowers, Stokes said.

“It was so beautiful. When they were in bloom it was a sea of butterflies,” she said.

Once crops are planted, the atmosphere grows more social, with chairs and tables, all donated, available throughout the garden. A canopy, set up as part of the opening day activities, remains in place until fall. “The older gardeners really appreciated the canopy. We have no shade at all and it gets really hot,” said Stokes.

“Some of the garden layouts are really interesting. Mine is basic, but other people stick in decorations and it’s really cute. One guy last year grew everything in boxes. Others have trellises,” said Stokes.

Stanley Praiss said he relies on the garden for his produce because he now lives in Haddonfield Mews. “I love Jersey tomatoes right off the vine,” he said. For 43 years, Praiss farmed more than a half-acre there, including a small evergreen forest designed to cut down on wind. Now he’s down to a half-plot at Crows Woods.

“I’m a plastic gardener. I underlay the plot with plastic and run water lines underneath the surface. If  it puddles I punch a hole to let it out. I started working here April 1,” said Praiss, whose cousin Mark McEvoy works on a plot diagonally across the path.

Praiss and Thomas were offering encouragement to a new gardener, Chip Savery, who said he’ll plant “whatever my wife tells me to. She may be at Home Depot right now buying stuff.

“We have no children, but we’re recruiting our neighbors, 4 and 5 years old, to help. They want blueberries and bananas,” Savery said, but added they'll probably have to settle for green beans and peppers.

Neighboring plot renter, Tom Coleman, also a newbie at the garden, signed up for a plot because of a lack of sunlight at his Mountwell Avenue home.

It’s the fourth year at the gardens for Sondra Castellani, who last year harvested salad mixings from arugula to zucchini. “My husband may come over once a week. I’m a teacher, so I have time in the summer to be here. I won’t be planting anything today. It’s too early,” she said.

Across the path, Sue Ehrhardt was weeding the chip-covered common area, where invasive weeds grew thick. She adds zinnias, cosmos and sunflowers to the plot and tries to mix in something more unusual than tomatoes and peppers, probably watermelon or pumpkins “just to see what it does.”

Some of the gardeners followed the lead of member Mary Previte, spreading hay on the plots last fall to deter the growth of weeds. Previte, who already has some lettuce leaves showing, said she asks neighbors who use hay bales as decorations at Halloween and Thanksgiving to let her know when they are dismantling the displays. She then hauls the hay to her garden area. 

Tomatoes and basil are the chief crops for Diane Gautier, a fourth-year gardener, who was pushing a wheelbarrow filled with wood chips for the paths. “I’m hoping for good tomato salads. I know where to get the mozzarella. I just need the tomatoes and basil,” she said.