Proud to Be from Pittsburgh: Urban Food Gardening

PITTSBURGH — Food gardening is a hobby that some people do it to relax, others to help the environment or to grow fresh ingredients for meals.

“It's so peaceful. Nobody’s bothering me, and you can take your time,” Melissa Terrell, of Homewood, said.

Terrell is one of a growing number of urban gardeners in Pittsburgh, and they are getting a helping hand from Grow Pittsburgh.

“We exist to grow food, to teach people how to grow food (and) to promote the benefits that gardens bring to our neighborhoods,” Rayden Sorock, of Grow Pittsburgh, said.

Sorock, a community garden manager, recently gave Channel 11 News anchor Peggy Finnegan a tour of the Garden Resource Center in Larimer.

“They get access to compost, to soil, straw and wood chips,” Sorock said.

Members pay a fee to join, and then are free to borrow a host of tools, including weed whackers and tillers. They can take advantage of a small library of information, find soil amendments, natural pest repellents, get free seedlings and maybe most valuable: access to advice.

“The thread that binds everybody together is probably that they are excited about gardening and they've come here because either they want to talk about their garden, learn something about their garden or get some materials for the garden,” said Jeremy Fleishman, Grow Pittsburgh Garden Resource Center coordinator.

Grow Pittsburgh and its Garden Resource Center aim to make urban food gardening accessible to everyone who wants to give it a try.

“If you're thinking about a garden, stop thinking about it and go get some plants and just start playing around in the dirt.  Start growing stuff,” Sorock said.

Anyone who wants to learn more about the Garden Resource Center can attend a grand-reopening party at the site in Larimer Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

to visit Grow Pittsburgh’s website and learn more about its mission.

Cox Media Group