Hanover Community Gardens

This Saturday, there will be a symposium about organic farming at Dartmouth College.

Learn how to be an organic gardener.

More information here: https://www.realorganicproject.org/

The Hanover Community Gardens now has a secure new fence that should give much improved protection against animal predators, including deer, woodchucks and raccoons.  On Saturday September 1,  John Korfel and his 3-man crew of Critterfence installers drove up from their home base in Connecticut and spent a very intensive six hours installing our new fence around the entire perimeter of our gardens.

Two days before the fence installers arrived, a local landscaper had come to mow the weeds around the fence perimeter and within the central area between upper and lower gardens.  On the morning of the installation, ten members of the garden arose early and came to the garden to take down the temporary fence that had provided some protection to the gardens since spring.  Thanks to their efforts, the fence had been completely removed by 8:00 am, by which time the installers had begun their work.

The fence, produced by Critterfence, Inc. (www.critterfence.com), includes a 7-foot high high-strength polymer mesh for protection against deer, with three 5-foot wide latched doors.  The lower two to three feet of the fence have an additional plastic-coated steel mesh that is overlapped with the ground for 6-12 inches and staked down to the ground every 4 – 5 feet, to keep smaller animals such as woodchucks from entering the gardens.  The fence has steel posts every 10 feet, with steel reinforced cables between all posts.  The fence will remain up year- round and should provide protection against animal intruders for many years to come.  Below find some photos taken by the installation crew on during and after the fence erection.

Hanover Community Gardens wishes to express its sincere thanks to the individuals and organizations that contributed funds to make the fence installation possible.  The external donors include:  Anonymous donor, Hanover Improvement Society, Mascoma Bank; member gardener donors include:  Ardis Olson and Alan Dietrich, Megan Holthoff, Jan Chapman, Francis Kennedy, Doug Deaett, Viva Hardigg, Robert Oden, Tammie Patten.  Additional assistance was provided by Joanna Whitcomb and the Town of Hanover, particularly Julia Griffin and Betsy McClain.  The effort was led by the Fence Committee chaired by Doug Deaett, and the Garden Committee (Megan Holthoff, Francis Kennedy, Shelley Sanyal).

The garden has two spots available for this season. We have one half plot in the upper garden and one full-sized plot in the lower garden. Please email Shelley at ssanyal1969@gmail.com or Francis at Francis.E.Kennedy@dartmouth.edu for more information.

There are currently 3 full plots (20’ x 20’) available in the lower garden and 1 half-plot (20’ x 10’) available in the upper garden.  If you would like to expand your garden, or if you know someone who would like to take over a plot and garden with us this summer, please contact  Francis Kennedy (francis.kennedy@dartmouth.edu) for one of the lower garden plots or Shelley Sanyal (ssanyal1969@gmail.com) for the upper garden half-plot.

Garden Plot Payment
Please make your payment for this year’s garden plot ($40 for full plot, $20 for half-plot) by early June.  Make check payable to Hanover Community Gardens and send to Megan Holthoff at 10 Reservoir Rd., Hanover.