Crane Park Demonstration Garden

The purpose of this gofundme is to create a demonstration pollinator garden at Crane Park in Montclair, New Jersey.  We will also provide workshops about how  to grow your own inexpensive organic food and create awareness of how to make public green spaces beautiful, functional, and environmentally sustainable while preserving the Park’s original feel and uses.

The garden will provide on-site educational information about the importance of native plants and their relationship with pollinators as well as ways to integrate edibles into an attractive garden. Professionally designed signs will describe the garden and identify the plants and their purposes.

The project is being developed in two parts:

Part 1- Pollinator garden. This portion of the garden will serve as an active example of how to attract beneficial pollinators needed to support the plants we depend on.

The demonstration garden will include native northeastern perennials that are beneficial for pollinators and birds. It will be a four-season garden.

Part 2- Demonstration organic food production garden. This part of the garden will feature aesthetically pleasing edibles, composting demonstrations, and see/taste opportunities to encourage more local sustainable food production.

Hopefully, this will become a template for future community gardens in other urban and suburban communities.

This is a collaborative effort between the Northeast Earth Coalition (NEEC), the Montclair Center Business Improvement District (BID), and Montclair community volunteers.

So far, a site clean-up has been done, pollinator-attracting perennials have been planted, raised beds have been installed, and an initial planting of edibles has been completed.
Please see photos of our volunteers in action and the progress of the garden.

More funds are needed to finish the pollinator garden with additional native plants and shrubs and to pay for materials for the demonstration food garden.

Donations are tax deductible. The Northeast Earth Coalition, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) organization. Please indicate in your donation that you are funding the Crane Park Community Garden.

You can also send your donation by mail to: Northeast Earth Coalition, Inc. P.O. Box 550, Montclair, NJ 07042.

Everything is connected, we are all related. Let’s make our only planet home a more livable place!