Community Corner

Victory Garden Grows Through Community Service

Village of Islandia offers those sentenced to community service a chance to learn and grow by maintaining the community garden.

The Village of Islandia’s sixth annual Community Victory Garden is beginning to sprout under the care of convicted criminals from Central Islip courts, who are given the opportunity to grow more than fruits and vegetables.

Tony Church, Islandia Village’s Activity Director, said Mayor Allan Dorman started the community garden as part of a green initiative in 2006.

“When the mayor first came here, he was always fine turned to the concept of victory gardens as the days of the Great Depression,” Church said. “Alan is the motivator, then he put the ball in my court.”

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Church, who worked for the New York City Department of Parks supervisor for more than 30 years, is trained in plant maintenance and is an avid gardener. The village activity director said he jumped at the idea to introduce gardening to other residents.

A patch of woods on the south side of Village Hall was cleared, creating room for a gated square foot garden. Residents plant 15, 12-inch potted plants per raised garden bed, creating dense beds of peppers, kale, spinach, radishes, string beans, cherry and beefsteak tomatoes, daffodils and more.

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Church instructs a 10-person team of convicted criminals from Central Islip’s court system sentenced to community service hours in maintaining the garden throughout the summer.

“I work with young men and women who are sentenced to 400 hours, 800 hours of community service. I put them to work and train them how to seed and propagate plants,” he said.

The convicted criminals taking turns planting seedlings, transferring potted plants, weeding the garden, watering and fertilizing and other daily tasks. Islandia Village provides all the necessary supplies, according to spokesmen Hank Russell.

“Last year we had a tremendous crop. We had a bumper of cherry tomatoes,” Church said.

Church said he has never had a problem working with the convicted criminals, saying the workers often come to appreciate watching the plants grow under their care and giving back to the Islandia community.

The crops are harvested from August to October and evenly distributed among those residents who helped in the planting. The flowers planted are used by the village to decorate monument and Village Hall throughout the year during various celebrations, according to Church.

Islandia residents of all ages from families with young children to seniors can participate. For more information on the garden and how to get involved, call 631-348-1133.

Church offered these tips to at-home gardeners:

  • Don’t prune leggy flowers that are growing too tall. Church said snipping tall offshoots will help the plant fill out evenly.
  • Use bamboo to create natural stakes to support vine plants.
  • Horse manure from one of Islandia’s horse farms can be used as a natural fertilizer. Put manure in a burlap bag and drop it into collected rainwater to create “manure tea.”


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