Summertime Means Picnic Time At The Victory Garden
About a dozen members of the Horticulture Club of Newtown gathered for its Seventh Annual Pick & Picnic event on the evening of Friday, July 26, at the town’s Victory Garden, off Washington Square at Fairfield Hills.
Members of the club, like many other organizations and individuals, have plots within the Victory Garden, where vegetables are grown for donation to local food pantries for distribution to those in need. The food panties supply food to more than 2,000 residents in Newtown.
Club president Tammara Schriefer notes that horticulture club-grown crops at the garden include peas, cabbage, basil, tomatoes, radishes, carrots, onions, peppers, watermelon, spinach, and lettuce. To protect its produce from leaping deer, who love to snack on certain crops, the garden is surrounded by fencing about 12 feet tall.
On arriving at the garden at about 6 pm, club members did some of the weeding and watering that is required for good cultivation. Later, as the sun was tracking toward the horizon, club members gathered at a nearby picnic table, which contained a range of cold dishes that members had prepared with vegetable ingredients that they had gotten elsewhere, either through cultivation or purchase.
Members traded horticultural tales, relating their experiences as growers. Established in 1954, the club has about 35 members. Club members work as volunteers at the Victory Garden from March to October.
The club was founded to share its members’ interest in horticulture and to spread local interest in gardening. The group holds several informational sessions each year on horticulture and sponsors field trips to public gardens, plant nurseries, and vineyards.
The club’s next planned field trip will be to the High Line in New York City in August, where members will take a self-guided tour of a 1.45-mile-long elevated linear park, greenway, and rail trail on the west side of Manhattan, which formerly was an elevated rail line and is now covered with a wide range of plant life. The High Line has become a popular attraction for visitors.