Unlike other community gardens, there’s no waitlist for the Growing Together Community Garden in South Philly

Rain and cloudy skies kept most gardeners away on a recent “cleanup day” at the Church of the Redeemer Baptist Growing Together Community Garden in South Philadelphia.

Barbara Brown, the business manager for both the church and its garden, at 2500 Reed St., said the day was a designated time for getting the garden plots ready for the end of the season on Oct. 31.

“We usually have the gardeners clean up around the perimeter of the garden, do some weeding, and we have someone come out to mow,” Brown said.

The garden is huge, taking up four acres on a city block, between 24th and 26th, and Reed and Dickinson. “Some call this Grays Ferry, but I call it South Philly,” Brown said.

The large size of Growing Together garden means that unlike other gardens in the city, there are still plots available without a waiting list.

“We have 526 plots and 80 gardeners,” Brown said. “We have 121 plots that are unoccupied.”

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She said a few of the gardeners manage dozens of plots. The church charges $25 per plot each year in a season that goes from April 1 to Oct. 31.

Gardeners grow everything: blueberries, tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, lettuce, peas, and green beans, and some people just grow flowers.

“Mr. Joe, who lives in a senior citizen home, grows collard greens and kale, and he takes them back to share with other seniors,” Brown said of gardener Joe Williams.

Mark Berman, who lives across town in the Pennsport section of South Philadelphia, is president and founder of the Manton Street Park and Garden.

That small garden, at 405 Manton St., only has 10 plots. There are several families on a waiting list, just as there are waiting lists at many community gardens around the city.

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So Berman tells people to check out the Growing Together garden on Reed Street.

Potential gardeners are amazed that Growing Together only charges $25 per plot, compared to the $45 fee at the Manton Street garden, the average cost to lease a plot in many gardens, he said.

While Berman gardens at Manton Street, he also tends his bees at Growing Together garden.

When he refers people to Growing Together, he said he tells them that Brown and Paul Jones, the assistant garden manager, “were extremely excited to have bees at the garden and were accommodating and welcoming.”

A beekeeper for eight years, Berman moved to Growing Together nearly a year ago after the land he had been using at Bartram Gardens was no longer available.

“I only had seven colonies when I moved from Bartram in December [2022]. Now I have 12 colonies,” he said.

Berman said his bees have produced 400 pounds of honey this year: “It’s the best honey I’ve ever had. It’s got this subtle hint of mint.”

In March, he started selling honey under the label Anna Bees Honey.

Several years ago, the Rev. Wayne E. Croft Sr., a former pastor at Church of the Redeemer (and now pastor of St. Paul’s Baptist in Chester) had the idea to purchase the block with intentions of one day erecting a new church building. But plans for the new church were placed on hold.

In 2014, the Nationalities Service Center came calling and asked to lease four acres to open its Growing Together garden to give refugees and other new arrivals to the country a place to grow vegetables.

“Mr. Joe, who lives in a senior citizen home, grows collard greens and kale, and he takes them back to share with other seniors.”

The garden opened in 2015.

“It was fun meeting people from all backgrounds and from different parts of the city,” Brown said. “I couldn’t always understand their language, but we managed to communicate somehow.”

Eventually, the Nationalities Service Center ended its lease and the church took over the garden.

Brown said that one gardener, who leases about 25 plots, takes food from her plots to share with neighborhood residents through the 215 People’s Alliance.

Another gardener has about 40 plots and raises vegetables she takes to African restaurants.

Berman said he’s had a successful year taking care of bees at the garden, where he helped the church get a grant to plant a pollinator garden this year.

“It is really the single most hidden treasure of community gardens in the city,” Berman said of Growing Together. “It’s four acres of an oasis in the middle of a dense residential neighborhood.”

To find out more about Growing Together Community Garden, call 215-465-1230.