History

Since 2008, the garden was 50 plots on 2 city lots. ISU added a garden shed and stocked it with garden tools and hoses.  A well was dug and water lines lay with water spigots throughout the garden.  There was a house on the original property and it became the garden house used for shelter, bathroom facilities and winter storage.  Approximately 45 to 50 folks signed up for a plot that year.  It garden mission was to make gardening available to local residents with no fees, with the premise of gardening 100% organic and to donate a iminium of 10% of the harvested produce.

Over the years, additional lots were purchased and added to the growing garden.  By 2012 the garden was one city block big with over 100 plots and approximately 80 gardeners.  The Institute for Community Sustainability (ICS) needed a home and choose the garden house to make into their office.  They modernized the building, added a deck and created a space that keeps with the idea of sustainability.  The Institute for Community Sustainability Garden House provides a meeting a room, bathroom facilities and a library of gardening-related books and leaflets for the gardeners.  ICS is a visible symbol of commitment to sound environmental practices.

In fall of 2012 a group of ISU students conducted a lead study.  It was discovered that 30 feet from the streets there was a high elevation of lead and these area would need to be removed from production.  The gardeners in these spaces would need to be moved to safer ground. About 20 plots were placed into other types of production and usage.

2013 the garden expanded into the next city block on the east side of the alley.  With the loss of about 20 plots from the lead study and with the addition of waterlines and 80 plots, the garden grew to 160 plots and about 100 gardeners and families. There was created multiple beds for perennial gardening, varies berry raised beds and a greenhouse.  The greenhouse was opened in spring 2015, allowing for early cultivation of seeds.

In 2016 an orchard was created from grant funding.  Six apple trees and two plum trees were planted.  A 40 foot by 30 foot Asparagus bed as planted with 40 plants. Various berry plantings and rhubarb added to raised beds and the strawberry bed was moved to a larger area.

ISU provides some financial support, but mostly the garden is rely upon the gardeners themselves for day-to-day maintenance and governance. Both the garden and the ICS office are located at:

219 N. 11th Street
Terre Haute, IN 47807
812 232 8502