Tufts Park Community Garden

The Tufts Park Community Garden, located in Tufts Park between the basketball courts and the parking lot of Medford’s Curtis-Tufts High School, will be a fenced area containing approximately 22 garden plots, a shed, and a communal picnic area/outdoor classroom.

The plots will be available to residents of Medford, MA through an application managed by the Medford Community Garden Commision.

The garden site has been approved by the City of Medford and the Medford Community Garden Commission.  The soil has been tested for common contaminants, such as lead, and the results were acceptable. In addition, the site’s historical usage was researched and no causes for concern were identified.

By February 2017, we hope to have secured all the necessary funding. We aim to install the water system, fence, and beds by April 2017, with the goal of having the garden ready for the 2017 growing season.

Medford, MA has over 56,000 residents but only four community gardens, with a combined total of 88 plots. As a result, the waiting period for a garden plot is over five years and only growing longer.

The addition of 22 garden plots will allow more people in the city to experience the benefits of gardening which include:

• Enhancing nutrition and increasing physical activity

• Fostering community ownership and civic pride

• Stimulating educational and social interactions between generations and cultures

• Allowing people to grow traditional foods not available in supermarkets

• Serving as an outdoor classroom where youth can learn valuable skills

• Conserving resources by saving on the transportation and packaging of food

• Reducing family food budgets

• Preserving green space

• Recycling organic waste back into the soil

• Encouraging people to understand the connections between people, agriculture, and nature

Finally, Tufts Park is located in the heart of an ethnically and economically diverse neighborhood, and is close to the Curtis-Tufts High School as well as the Columbus Elementary School, which would create opportunities for students and families from both institutions.