Nahant residents interested in community garden

NAHANT – The snow that has blanketed the North Shore is not dampening the spirits of gardening enthusiasts in town.Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said enthusiasm for a community garden and municipal tree nursery is running high.Cullinan said even though the project is in the early stages he has received a lot of positive feedback from residents.”Right now I envision it as a true community garden,” he said. “I think we should start out as one large garden, not individual plots. I think that is the best way to go about it at least initially.”Cullinan said in tough economic times it’s important to take time to think about what can be done to improve the quality of life in the community.”This is something that could be done at little or no cost,” he said. “We could try to get some high school students involved. We could also work with My Brother’s Table (in Lynn) or a food bank.”Cullinan said he’s looking at a lot of options including operating a farm stand.”We could sell vegetables to help raise money for seeds and to operate the garden. Maybe we could hire a couple of kids to work in the garden,” he said. “Maybe we could deliver fresh produce to our seniors and sell to the public.”Cullinan said people have also expressed an interest in having their own plots in the community garden, which he said is something that could be looked at down the road.Cullinan said there are several areas in town that are potential sites for a community garden including the lowlands, a portion of the Nahant Country Club grounds and East Point.”We need to find a site with good soil conditions,” he said. “We do have a lot of compost that could be made workable for a garden.”Cullinan said he would like to see the town develop its own tree nursery as well. He pointed out the town is preparing to launch a comprehensive inventory of public trees in town this spring.Cullinan said trees in town would be listed on the town’s Geographic Information System. He said when the project is complete people would be able to go online and reference information about the trees in town. He said the tree inventory project would dovetail nicely with a town tree nursery.”As we inventory trees we will learn what trees may need to be replaced in the future,” he said. “We could start growing replacements and grow our own stock of shade trees.”Cullinan said the town would be looking for volunteers this spring to assist with data entry for the tree inventory project and is also compiling a list of people interested in a community garden.Anyone interested should contact Town Hall at 781-581-9927.