Shearman Street Community Garden

Location: East Side Neighborhood – 404 Shearman Street, Wilmington DE

History: Tucked into a two-block-long side street, this organic community vegetable garden sits just around the corner from the Burton-Phelan garden in a lot generously donated by the City of Wilmington under the condition that it is used as a community garden. The garden boasts 16 raised beds, ten families and an intergenerational garden program that allows adult gardeners to transfer both horticultural knowledge and a love of plants to the participating youth.

Programming: Led by community gardeners and DCH staff, the children maintain two beds of their own during the weekly program – planting seeds, watering, weeding and enjoying the harvests of their hard work. They also can be found creating stepping stones, mapping urban green spaces and matching seeds to the fruits from which they came.

Impact: Even neighbors who don’t directly participate in the garden benefit from the generosity of those who do. Gardeners enjoy sharing their vegetables with everyone in the community and neighbors can be heard eagerly discussing the growth of the watermelons and anxiously anticipating the harvesting of the collard greens.