Big things are sprouting this spring! Great Parks of Hamilton County has received funds from the National Association for Interpretation Region 4 Interpretive Project Grants Committee to start Growing Together: community, square-foot gardening beds.

One-fourth of the population in Cincinnati, Ohio lives in a food desert. Which means, for them, there is no direct, easy access to fresh, healthy foods. Our goal with Growing Together is to provide more access to fresh, healthy foods to our surrounding community at no cost.

Growing Together will be a program that allows participants to experience the wonder of edible plants from seed to harvest. Participants will be able to have continued hands-on learning and will encounter real issues that come with caring for living things. This experience will not only be able to give free access to fresh, healthy foods, but will also teach how participants and community members to use the garden vegetables in different recipes. Any food that cannot be distributed to the immediate hands of the community will go to a local free food bank.

As spring unfolds, Great Parks will be starting 4 x 8 square-foot gardens at Glenwood Gardens, as well as 4 x 8 square-foot beds out in the community. All partner sites will be gifted with beds and all the startup seeds they will need for the entire growing season. The Growing Together beds will all be following the same garden map, so we can truly grow together and share the joy of homegrown produce all over the Greater Cincinnati area.

Stay tuned to see our garden map (in case you’d like to grow with us from your own back yard) and for the announcement of our community partners!

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The Glenwood Gardens Growing Together Team