Tall planting boxes line the west side of the building where residents can plant flowers, herbs, and even some vegetables.
When your home sits on soil as rich as Morgan Orchards’, you make it a priority to cultivate it. And that’s exactly what our residents have been doing since they first moved in.
Through individual contributions and a community-wide Garden Club, gardening opportunities now dot our landscape for residents to tend or visually enjoy.
One of the garden spaces we built during our very first summer back in 2018 were six tall planting boxes. Installed along the sidewalk on the western side of the building, these three-foot-wide by six-foot-long boxes are the perfect height for residents to tend while standing and are ideal for planting flowers and herbs.
By the end of spring, these spaces are awash with vibrant color against the rich green backdrop of the Braintree Mountains. And the plants growing here are as vibrant as our residents, as each box bursts with spectacular annual and perennial flowers. There are even several herb plants sprinkled throughout growing delicious oregano, basil, mint, and more for residents to enjoy in their own homes or share with neighbors.
And the residents love them, so much so that we installed two additional boxes last summer and plan to add three more this summer.
For Betty Edson, a planting box offers a contained space she can manage. She’s filled her box with lush zinnia, lobelia, her favorite nasturtiums, and other plants that have attracted her attention while shopping at Route 66 Farm Stand in Randolph or Dandelion Acres in nearby Bethel. And with the box conveniently located just outside her lower level apartment, she’s able to check it daily for trimming, weeding, and watering.
When asked about the planting boxes, she expressed: “They really enhance the Morgan Orchards’ landscape. And I enjoy the beauty the other residents are producing in their boxes as well.”
It’s that quest for beauty that inspires Sarah Howell to tend a planting box. A gardener for over 35 years, Sarah’s filled her box with potato vines, assorted daisies, herbs, and lavender.
“I like to design and blend colors. And I enjoy looking at the end result,” commented Howell.
But not everyone is growing flowers or herbs in their boxes.
Priscilla Spahn, whose interest in gardening was sparked when she was seven and visited her grandmother, a horticulturist who tested how plants grew outside their natural environment, uses her box to feed more than the eyes. It feeds the body. The fresh tomatoes and other salad vegetables she grows in her raised garden box are for her and her husband to enjoy in their meals.
In the few short years the planting boxes have been in place, this lush lane of color and aroma has become a highlight of the property. No matter if you’re in the library or main lounge, the covered porch or the patio, these colorful expressions of creativity can be seen from every west-facing window.
Growing Produce and More
For those wishing to grow a more robust selection of vegetables, a fenced-in 24 x 52-foot ground garden with raised beds was also created in the summer of 2018. It’s located just to the north of the building in our designated agricultural area.
Here, gardeners have individual plots where they can grow an array of vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, carrots, lettuce, radish, and beets. And while the crops they harvest are for their personal use, some also share their extras with their neighbors – even with our chef who has used resident-grown crops in our evening meals.
Our large 48 x 52 foot fenced-in ground garden offers residents a space to grow an array of vegetables.
One of those gardeners is Melvin “Mel” Kaplan.
Having grown up within walking distance of the Bronx Botanical Garden, Kaplan has been gardening since the age of twelve.
“I’ve had gardens as far back as I can remember. They make for a happy life,” he shared. “Before moving here we lived on a farm in Charlotte where I had three large gardens, both vegetables and flowers, plus a greenhouse.”
Today, Kaplan keeps himself busy with not just a tall planting box, but also a plot in the fenced-in garden and a number of plants within his home.
“In our apartment, we have three fig trees, some flowers and all the herbs that we use. In the planting box I’m growing artichokes, tomatoes, peppers, and zinnias. And in the fenced in garden I’ve planted peas, carrots, leeks, and onions, as well as more zinnias.” Kaplan tends to his flowers, herbs, and vegetables daily or as weather permits and whatever they don’t use they share with their neighbors.
Like the tall planting boxes, interest in the ground garden has continued to grow as new residents move in. Last summer this garden area received three updates.
The first was an expansion that increased the size of the fenced-in area to 48 x 52 feet.
The new garden shed offers residents a convenient place to work and store equipment, while the exterior’s design and siding colors ties the structure back into the main building.
The second update was a garden shed with a lean-to to store tools and wheelbarrows. Built on skids, it can be moved if needed and features a set of French doors to provide natural light into the space. Inside there’s a bump-out with a potting bench inset beneath a window on the right and hanging storage along the walls for additional tools and supplies.
Lastly, several composting bins were added to help residents create fertilizer for their gardens.
It’s been very exciting to watch these two unique spaces develop over the past few years. And we’re delighted with the passion and energy our residents have put into developing their backyard into spaces that aren’t just beautiful to look at but a joy to work.
This is the third in a series of articles on the development of the Morgan Orchards landscape. Check back next week as we take a closer look at the community’s newest addition – an apple orchard.
Read the other articles in this series:
