Shopping & Dining
Get your garden on at Russell Crossroads

By Rob McDaniel, SpringHouse Executive Chef
Spring is just around the corner, and it’s time to start thinking about your summer garden plans.  Last year’s tomato garden at SpringHouse did well, but was destroyed by some heavy rains. We learned many things from last year’s garden, for one, how to support each plant and protect them from Mother Nature. 

The Crossroads Gardening Club will be taking over the SpringHouse garden, and we are going to dedicate the vast majority of our plot to heirloom tomatoes, such as Yellow Mortgage Lifter, Orange and Green Zebra Striped, Moneymaker, and Brandywine, to name a few. We are also going to try our hand at some tomatillos, Sugar Baby watermelons and a special variety of wild strawberries. The Garden Club will be getting the seeds started soon for our spring planting.

Announcing The Garden at Crossroads
We are very excited to announce the beginning of The Garden at Crossroads. The first phase of the garden will include the planting of 30 fruit trees to include figs, pears, pomegranates, peaches and apples. Also included in this first phase are an herb garden, tables, benches, a small cabin for tool storage and a garden map. All of this is exciting for me, but the exciting part for all of us will be the 4’ x 8’ raised beds which will be available for rent. For now, we will build 10 raised beds to get started. If the demand is greater than the supply, we will build more. 

The orchard and the raised beds will be located inside a high fence to help deter our four-legged friends. We have talked with several people over the last two years who want to have a garden, but have no place for one, so we are providing the place. Each raised bed will be leased for $150 for one year. We hope to expand the garden over the next couple of years to include a dedicated, raised-bed garden which will have 20 to 30 plots, row cropping, flower garden, CSA and several other exciting features, which will make The Garden at Crossroads one of a kind.  The garden can also play host to several activities, like guest garden lectures, potluck suppers, garden dinners, and maybe one day, a small community farmers market.