The Alpharetta Community Garden is proud to be celebrating its 10th year anniversary this year. Come inside the gate and visit the garden to help celebrate on Saturday May 4th from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Garden members will be available for tours, light refreshments along with raffle prizes. There will be children’s activities including rock painting and planting seeds in peat pots.
A thriving mature community garden, the ACG is located on Wills Rd. in beautiful Wills Park between the Equestrian Center and the basketball courts.
The ACG has grown from the seed of an idea to a flourishing community garden with 34 active plots for individual gardeners, 3 enabling beds and several plots dedicated for food donations to The Pantry at North Fulton Community Charities. Over the past 10 years, ACG has averaged yearly donations between 500 – 1,000 lbs. of produce to NFCC. This is through the generosity of individual gardeners and beds dedicated solely for donation purposes.
The garden is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat. In addition, this year the ACG has plans to create a Monarch Butterfly Waystation in order to attract and help the Monarch Butterfly population thrive. In 2018 milkweed specific for Monarchs was planted at the garden with 35 caterpillars counted as a result of eggs laid, 12 of which survived. Gardeners were able to find 7 chrysalises of which 4 developed into Monarch butterflies. The 4 butterflies were tagged with one of them making it to Mexico identified by its tag. This lone female Monarch was spotted and reported in San Rosario TX. in mid-October and then again in Mexico in November. Milkweed in the ACG typically doesn't grow in time to catch the northward migration however does seem to attract Monarchs on the southern migration route.
The Children’s Garden plot, a colorful display located outside the front fence, is dedicated to helping children understand where their food comes from and invites them to respectfully explore, touch and smell. They are invited to leave messages and questions in the Garden Fairy Mailbox and check back for answers on a later visit.
The Alpharetta Community Garden was formed on April 25, 2009, at Wills Park in Alpharetta by the Alpharetta Arboretum, Inc., a 501 c 3 non-profit organization. The ACG, Alpharetta’s first community garden, was founded with the approval of the Alpharetta City Council and the City’s Parks and Recreation Department.
If interested in leasing a plot, email the Alpharetta Community Garden at alpharettacg2019@gmail.com with your name, email address, street address, and phone number to get on the waiting list. You must reside in either Alpharetta or Milton verified by City property tax records. Currently, all plots are occupied for 2019 and there is a first come first served waiting list for 2020.
Come help us celebrate our 10th anniversary on Saturday, May 4th from 10:00 AM – 12:00PM!