Nahant garden ‘all for the community’

NAHANT – The lettuce is headed to market, peppers are ripening and 500 tomato plants are being coaxed to fruit.But while the produce has just begun ripening this month, the Nahant Community Garden gardeners have been working since March.”We had 500 tomato plants in our bedroom ? that’s dedication” said Elaine Caira.But she said that while her husband Paul Caira and retired Department of Public Works employee Bobby Ward might be the garden’s most regular tenders, the garden really benefits the community.”It’s all for the community – people who don’t have yards, seniors, can all come down and participate and help go green,” she said.The garden started in 2010 on town-owned land behind the Johnson Elementary School. Unlike gardens in many communities, the Nahant garden doesn’t assign plots to individuals.Rather, anybody is welcome to come and pick or tend vegetables, herbs or pick flowers.The farmer’s markets on Saturday proved to be so popular last year that Caira and Ward doubled the garden’s size this year to 80-by-80 feet.They added more raised beds of vegetables and planted flowers to be cut for bouquets. They arranged to deliver fresh produce daily to Nahant Fish and Lobster. They also help care for the new town tree and shrub nursery, which Ward said helps save the town money by growing bayberry, black pine and beach plum that can be acclimated to the Nahant weather as it grows to replanting size before being moved to other town locations.Not that the garden hasn’t faced challenges.Groundhogs necessitated a very deeply dug fence.”The one positive thing about the coyotes is that they’ve cut down groundhog population,” said Ward.Marigolds help discourage nematodes (roundworms) and 24-hour video surveillance dissuades vandalism.A newly arrived drip-irrigation system will thankfully help reduce what is currently an hours-long and twice-a-day commitment to watering, Ward said.But the most immediate concern is the upcoming bounty of the season, organizers said. Everything from arugula to zucchini will soon be ready for residents’ dinner plates and flowers from asters to zinnias will bloom. But the students who visit to help in the garden most days will be out of school. And at a certain point in the season, it’s almost impossible to pawn off flourishing zucchini and squashes.Plus, those 500 tomato plants must be protected from powdery mildew, said Ward.But a steady stream of visitors dropped by on Thursday morning to chat, do a little weeding, pick up the most recent harvest and watch the growing. Elaine Caira said it was typical.”Kids and teachers come down, seniors come down and help kids?it’s a community thing.”And the resulting harvest is well appreciated too.”It’s the first year we’ve had it here,” said Leo Barletta of Nahant Fish and Lobster. “But people love it.”