Spring is in full swing and it’s time to stock up on your gardening supplies. The West Philly location of Greensgrow Farms is reopening this weekend just in time. Although smaller than the flagship location in Kensington, Greensgrow West features a fully stocked garden center.

Starting this Friday, you can stop by at 4912 Baltimore Avenue and pick up seeds and seed starting supplies, as well as soils, soil amendments, mulch and more. Also, spring bulbs, pansies, and Easter plants will be available for sale this weekend, plus there will be a special sale on emerging fall blooming perennials!

Greensgrow West is also a farmstand and CSA pick-up location for the Greensgrow Summer CSA program, registration for which is currently underway. Full-share, half-share and add-on share options are available. The CSA season begins the week of May 19 and ends the week of November 3.  Continue Reading

The annual TreePhilly yard tree giveaway is currently underway. Property owners who want to receive a free tree for their yard or lawn this spring are encouraged to register. To do that, go to the registration page on the TreePhilly website (see below), select up to two trees (various species are available, including fruit trees!) and pre-register for one of the tree pick-up events scheduled to take place in April and May at various locations throughout the city.

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge will host a yard tree giveaway on May 21 in Southwest Philadelphia – at James Finnegan Playground (6801 Grovers Ave.). To pre-register for this event, click here.

Registration ends on April 1, 2016. For more information about available tree species and other giveaways, visit: http://treephilly.org/spring16freetrees.

The Ahimsa House community garden.

On Sunday, Feb. 14, a local nonviolence center, the Ahimsa House, will host Big Love, its 2nd annual benefit concert and raffle. The concert features Unidos da Filadelfia, JOHNNY POPCORN, Hardwork Movement, Silverton, Red Cedar Strings, DJs BeeTee Beats and SarahCuda. Raffle prizes include private massage, yoga, and photography sessions, Sixers tickets, as well as gift certificates to local businesses, such as Honest Tom’s and Greensgrow West. All proceeds will go to paying back the loan for the Ahimsa House community garden.

Last year, we published an article on the struggles of the Ahimsa House to save their community garden. The garden began in 2011 after the center’s founder, Meg Ferrigno, purchased the Ahimsa House at 5007 Cedar Ave. with a wrongful arrest settlement from the city. She immediately went to work turning the vacant lot next door into a garden where members from the community could grow and harvest free vegetables. Ferrigno put the garden up for sheriff’s sale along with a deposit for first bid as caretaker of the lot, but the garden was bought out from under her.

Ferrigno saved the lot last year with the help of donations from the community and a personal loan. Forty thousand dollars on the loan still need to be paid back. This year, the garden became part of the PHS City Harvest program, which provided the mulch and materials to build raised beds. Anyone from the community can request a plot to grow on, and part of the garden also grows food for the West Philly chapter of Food not Bombs.

More information about the campaign to save the garden can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/ahimsagarden.

The show will be at the Rotunda on 40th and Walnut. Doors open at 6 p.m. with music starting at 6:30. Entry is on a sliding scale donation basis between $10-15. Baked goods, including vegan and gluten free options, will be available for purchase. For more information, check out the event’s Facebook page.

– Alyssa Songsiridej

Victorian Garden at The Woodlands Center Circle (rendering).

In an effort to take The Woodlands cemetery grounds “from eternal rest to garden best,” 20 people are sought to join a newly established garden community, The Grave Gardeners, for the upcoming growing season.

Each Grave Gardener will adopt a grave in the Center Circle of the cemetery and tend to it throughout the season. All the supplies and knowledge you need will be provided, in exchange for your work. At the end of the season, you’ll get a chance to show off your plot to the rest of The Woodlands community at a Garden Fête.

The season will start with three workshops, where The Grave Gardeners will learn how to design a Victorian-style garden and how to keep it beautiful throughout the growing season. The workshops are led by local experts.

The first workshop, “Gardens (and Houses) in Graveyards,” presented by architectural historian and vice president of The Woodlands Aaron Wunsch, will be held on February 25.

So, if you have some free time this spring and summer and are not afraid to get your hands dirty, you’re welcome to fill out an application here: woodlandsphila.org/gravegardeners.

Application are accepted through Friday, Feb. 12.

Here’s a great and delicious way to celebrate the end of the growing season and help a neighborhood farm. Mill Creek Farm board members, staff and volunteers are inviting West Philly neighbors to their 10th annual “Grow Strong” Benefit Party on Saturday, Dec. 5, 5-8 p.m.

The party, which will be held at the new Penn State Philadelphia Center (675 Sansom St.), will feature live music, local eats and brews, a silent auction and a raffle. Tickets ($25) can be purchased online or at the door.

Donations can also be made online to benefit Mill Creek Farm’s education and food access programming in 2016 and beyond: www.millcreekurbanfarm.org/donate.

Over $15,000 has been raised at previous benefits, the proceeds of which support free educational field trips and after-school programs for local public schools, a Philadelphia Youth Network high school internship, an apprenticeship program and a host of community workshops. Each year, over 5,000 lbs. of chemical­ free produce are harvested from the farm and sold at affordable prices at market stands within two miles of the farm. Over 1,000 lbs, of produce are donated annually to neighborhood food cupboards.  Continue Reading

Photo from One Art Community Center’s Facebook page.

A great community effort is underway on North 52nd Street. An Earthship, a 100 percent sustainable, “green” home, is being built on a vacant lot at 5128-5146 Warren St., from both natural and recycled materials.

The project is spearheaded by the One Art Community Center (formerly Wall Street International), which is planning to create an urban sustainability center and expand its artistic and educational programs for the community. One Art has already been running an educational farm in the area, which includes an orchard and organic learning garden.

This is the second Earthship being built in West Philadelphia. The first project, led by non-profit organization LoveLovingLove Inc., began last year at 675 N. 41st Street.

One Art’s plan is to build a two-story, four-room solar-powered building complete with bathrooms by the end of the year, if they get enough funding and materials, according to CBS Philly.

By the way, this Saturday, One Art is hosting a big community festival, titled A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at their location at 5128-46 Warren Street. The festival, which will feature 15+ musical acts, workshops, a fashion show, art installations, live painting and glassblowing, vending and much more, will be held from 1 p.m. Aug. 22 to 4 a.m. Aug. 23. For more information and tickets ($30), visit the event’s Facebook page.