Monmouth University Community Garden Helps Out Local Charities

Over 1,000 pounds of produce donated

Monmouth University's community garden started as a small project, but has now grown into something much larger. The garden exceeded its goal of harvesting and donating 1,000 pounds of fresh produce to local organizations such as the Lutheran Church of the Reformation Food Pantry in West Long Branch, Soup D'Shore at St. Luke's Methodist Church in Long Branch, the Long Branch Senior Center, Ronald McDonald House and American Recreational Military Services. Monmouth University graduate student Sean Foran started the community garden as a field project, but did not expect it to grow into what it is today. “The Community Garden enables us to educate the public about gardening, sustainability and wellness, while providing Monmouth students with…

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Slideshow: Community Garden Offers a Taste of Summer

Saturday's farm stand set up on the porch of the Crawford House in Tinton Falls featured green beans, basil and some really big squash.

A trip to the community garden farm stand in Tinton Falls on Friday was a reminder of a valuable lesson that Sister Emily used to drill into my fifth grade class: good things come to those who wait (haste makes waste simply did not apply to the situation). Summer's bounty simply cannot be rushed, so while there were plenty of new potatoes and squash plucked from the garden out back, some of the stars of the summer crop -- cherry tomatoes and sugar watermelons -- were still ripening on the vine. Volunteer Jayne Cleveland, who's also a librarian over at the Tinton Falls Library, predicted that peppers should be ready by next Saturday's market day, along with garlic and maybe, just maybe, some early tomatoes. "It depends on the weather," she …

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Market Day: Tinton Falls Farm Stand Open Saturday Until Noon

Buy garden-grown produce in front of the Crawford House on Tinton Avenue and benefit efforts to restore the historic structure.

Folks looking to prepare a fresh summer salad or crisp roasted potatoes for their dinner tonight can find all the necessary ingredients for sale on Saturday at the community garden farm stand in Tinton Falls from 9 a.m. to noon. The stand, set up in front of the Crawford House on Tinton Avenue, features fresh produce grown in the nearby garden tended to by borough volunteers since the spring. Patch was on hand two weeks ago and saw lots of zucchini, cucumbers and potatoes. Proceeds from the farm stand benefit efforts to restore the interior of historic Crawford House and use it as a meeting space for borough groups.

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Playing Dirty: Gardeners Begin Planting at Tinton Falls Community Gardens

Amateur and master gardeners prepared their plots on Saturday morning to yield a variety of produce this season.

They came on Saturday--masters and amateurs--with dreams of crunchy lettuces and creamy potatoes, to begin planting in the Tinton Falls Community Garden for its second season. Volunteer gardeners arrived on Saturday morning to weed, hoe, fertilize, and plant. The 50-by-90-foot plot of land behind the 19th-century historic Crawford House on Tinton Avenue is fenced and divided down the middle. Master gardeners and amateurs alike will grow their own produce to keep or give away on one side of the fence, and on the other side, they grow produce to sell to the public and  raise money later in the season for the preservation of Crawford House. "We always sell out early so get here early," said Stacey Slowinski, chairperson of Tinton Falls' …

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