Welcome to our Community Garden!

Registering for a plot

Register for a garden plot for the 2013 season

Saturday, March 30, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.
at the Northampton Recreation Department
90 Locust ST (behind Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School)

First-come, first-served
Our annual fee for a plot is $22. 
Gardeners are expected to contribute 2 hours annually in community service tasks, and to maintain the grassy paths around their plots. 

Our site includes a tool shed, two managed compost piles, and running water.
Some shared common tools, wheelbarrows, and garden carts are provided.
First-year gardeners are limited to a single plot per household.
Applicants may live outside Northampton; there is an additional fee.

About the Garden

The Northampton Community Garden comprises 7 acres at the eastern end of  Burts Pit Road, adjacent to the VIllage Hill subdivision at the old State Hospital grounds, and just off Rte. 66.  Our garden occupies the former kitchen garden area of the Northampton State Hospital. Managed and maintained completely by the community of gardeners under the auspices of the Northampton Recreation Department, our 420 plots form the Garden’s living patchwork.  We strongly encourage organic gardening practices.

Each of 250 gardeners (or team of gardeners) pays a fee for the gardening season and contributes at least 2 hours of community service. The annual fee for a plot is $22.  Plots are roughly 20 x 20 ft.; access to water and tools is included in the fee as is access to site-made compost, and wood chips for mulch. Gardeners use their plots to grow both vegetables and flowers.

Visitors are welcome--walkers as well as bird and butterfly watchers. They are asked to stay on grass paths, to leash their dogs, to refrain from smoking (to avoid infecting tomato plants with Tobacco Mosaic Virus), and to take nothing from the gardens.

Care and feeding of the garden

The Garden is a program of the Northampton Recreation Department and is managed by a Garden Committee of volunteers and maintained completely by gardeners. The Garden publishes a quarterly Newsletter.

All are welcome to attend Committee meetings, held on the 2nd Monday of each month—at the Recreation Department (90 Locust St.) during the winter and at the Garden during the summer. (Call 587-1040 to confirm time and place.)