By Setarreh Massihzadegan
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

From watermelon to witch hazel, personal gardens to traffic islands, the gardeners of Linden Ponds have all corners of the community covered.

And with newly elected cochairs Carol Barrows and Carolyn Engdahl, the Garden Club has plans in motion to meet the needs of the community’s many green thumbs.

Room to grow
Green space is plentiful at Linden Ponds, which sits on 100 acres of land that includes more than 100 garden patches reserved for those who live in the  community.

“We wouldn’t have come here if there weren’t garden patches,” says Engdahl, a longtime gardener who moved to Linden Ponds with her husband from Northborough, Mass.

The last of the 9’-by-3” square garden patches were installed late last summer, making this the first spring when all of them will be ready for planting.  

Creative outlet
Though many at Linden Ponds share a love of gardening, their individuality and creativity come out in their plants, says Elaine Taber, one of the original  founders of the club.

“We all have very different passions,” Taber says. “The garden patches are as different as the people who plant them.”

Gardening also creates a sense of camaraderie among those tending to the soil. Barrows explains, “You get to know people so well when you’re working with them.”

The club’s new chairpersons aim to satisfy all of the community’s gardening interests, which include organic gardening, composting, patio planting, and indoor gardening. Barrows and Engdahl anticipate that people will form smaller groups based on their specific interests.

To market, to market
One of Barrows’ goals for this year is to put on an end-of-summer farmer’s market. It will feature Linden Ponds-grown produce and raise money for the scholarship fund that goes to students who work at the community.

“It’s a fair amount of work, but it’s so satisfying,” Barrows says.