Holley Community Garden opens for new season

Photo courtesy of Susan Persia: These two 4-H’ers, Ariella and Alaya Bisig, hold some cherry tomatoes that they had picked at the community garden.

HOLLEY – The Holley Community Garden has opened for a new season. The garden was formed in 2017 after the village received a grant for the project.

It has raised 28 beds, 4 by 8 feet, that anyone can rent for one year. There are currently three beds left for this year, at a cost of $20 for 2021, said Susan Persia, who helps manage the garden. For more information, call Persia at (585) 638-5750.

The beds were constructed by the Clarendon Lions Club, community members, and the Holley Garden Club, with five new beds were created this spring. There is a 550-gallon water tank and two 55-gallon tanks at the garden the fire department supplies us with water. A transfer pump and a contractor hose were installed this year.

“There is a teaching bed each year,” Persia said. “This year we are learning about garlic. Other topics have been growing potatoes, making tents out of plastic for plants to ward off insects,  making a trellis, and learning how to use organic sprays.”

Teaching children about gardening is another fun part of the garden, she said. The 4-H Club of Clarendon, the Mini Rascals, have planted vegetables and flowers, and this year they are doing a special project about dahlias.

Dahlias have been sent to the club from all over the United States. The 4-Hers are each planting  a dahlia tuber. They are going to have a competition, and the Rochester Dahlia Society is coming  to  the garden to judge the competition.