CARES Community Garden Project

CARES and KPB are teaming up to build a huge garden to help provide fresh, healthy produce to the community!

Join us on this day to help us kickoff the project. Our main goal for the day is to build 16 raised beds with a trellised archway and lay down mulch in the walkways.

This will establish the infrastructure for the garden and we will be hosting another event in May to plant all of the vegetables and flowers.

Project Details:

Problem: Residents in Pickens County have a challenge accessing affordable, fresh produce. Most of the donated items that CARES distributes are canned and packaged. Fresh produce donations often are not edible upon delivery due to freezing and other challenges.

Proposed Solution: CARES and Keep Pickens Beautiful will partner to develop on-site gardens producing an abundance of fresh, organic produce for free distribution to the community. KPB will help design and install the gardens. They’ll provide many/most/all of the plants and will assist with educating the CARES volunteers on care and maintenance. CARES volunteers will manage the daily care. KPB will offer workshops, quarterly cleanups, and ongoing support.

Infrastructure Available: CARES has a flat space (50’ x 15’) that receives full sun at their facility. Water and power are already present at the garden site.

Food to be Grown: The focus, at least initially, will be on vegetables and fruits that the community is already familiar with. These will include, but aren’t limited to, tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, lettuces and other greens, squash, eggplant, and zucchini.

Concept: Raised beds will be installed in rows with a central aisle. Cattle panels will be installed in an arch over this central aisle. Full-sun
plants will be planted on the outside, shade-friendly plants will be planted in the middle, and trelising plants will cover the tunnel to optimize the output of the growing space by gardening vertically.