The Lexington Community Garden tour was organized with the help of the Youth GreenCorps. The   youth gave presentations at three tour stops and helped promote and advertise the garden tour. To   view a slideshow of the events photos, click here.

 

The Rock/La Roca (United Methodist Church) 1015 N Limestone; Gardens located behind Arlington Elementary (and gardens on Price Ave and Todds Rd) Rev. Aaron Mansfield; (859) 255-0712; therocklaroca@alltell.net

Members of the church and surrounding community planted their garden together in April 2007. Since the original work days dedicated to planting, the garden was tended by neighbors from the community and in the spare time of those who work at and attend La Roca. The garden contained a variety of vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and beans. Church leaders harvested vegetables and distributed them to neighbors. Community members were encouraged to harvest and use the vegetables themselvesl. Rev. Aaron and his congregation invited other houses of worship to find God in the garden and to create Gardens of Eating.

Nelson Avenue Garden 318 Nelson AveContact: Bruce Mundy (859) 494-4883, Jim Embry, jgembr0@cs.com, (859) 312-7024

The Nelson Avenue garden was begun in April as a project of the Sustainable Communities Network's Youth GreenCorps in collaboration with the Nelson Avenue community. In the spring they worked together on the garden on Saturday mornings. Compost and mulch were donated by the Great Mulch Company on Midland Place and two pieces of art from recycled objects (and bicycles) were donated from local artists. Since the original planting and work days of the spring, the garden has been tended largely by community residents. Rakim Baker joyfully accepts the responsibility of cutting the grass every week. The garden contains a variety of different flowers, herbs, and vegetables in addition to various art projects and the recently added horseshoe pit in the back. The Nelson Avenue garden is connected in spirit to the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden on Third St. and Midland, an idea that is still in the final design and capital funding stages but is intended to commemorate the contributions of Isaac Murphy and other African American jockeys to the history of  Lexington and the horse racing industry, as well as be an active site for the community garden movement in Lexington.

Ballard Griffith Towers 300 West Second Street; part of Lexington Housing Authority. Contact
Carolyn Smith, 859-281-5091


The garden at Ballard Griffith Towers was established around 1998 in conjunction with the building's most recent renovation. It consists of several raised beds and a very beautiful pond full of water lilies and other aquatic plants, as well as many large koi fish. The garden and pond are cared for by several of the Towers' residents, and the vegetables harvested from the beds are shared among the people who live there.

West End Community Empowerment Project (WECEP) Black and Williams Center 498 Georgetown St (859) 255-0926 Melvin Cowan, Dora Hudson

The Youth Green Corps teamed up with the 70+ youth of WECEP's summer program the week of July 9th to re-establish a community garden and create art projects on the grounds of the Black and Williams Center. We planted flowers and tomatoes in existing beds and built raised beds for plants. Older students helped build a picnic table in the shape of a turtle using straw bale construction, and another group painted murals on pieces of plywood and a mailbox. The design of the turtle was selected in our desire to connect with the Native American tradition of  referring to the North American continent as Turtle Island.

Lexington Senior Center (Nicholasville Road/Alumni Drive) Robyn Pease and Bruce Burris (latitudearts@yahoo.com).

The garden at the Senior Center has been in place for about 6 to 8 years. It is tended by the senior citizens who come to the center area. The produce that is harvested from the garden is shared among them.


Third Street Stuff
253 N Limestone (859) 255-5301.Pat Gerhard, Owner

Pat has been developing the area around Third Street Stuff and Coffee for years, but this summer the Youth GreenCorps adopted the shop and neighboring parking lot as a working space. We built a fish pond near the building, planted trees and flowers, and constructed a peace pole that is still in the works. In the spaces more visible from Limestone, we built two wooden sculpture pieces from recycled and found objects and built a bench using straw bale construction, which makes use of straw bales, chicken wire, cement, and sand. Special thanks to Tommy Neville, master stringer of many things, for the beaded tree, the newest installation of art in our garden.