The Gandhi Garden
Urban Garden & Community Center
About the Garden
The Gandhi garden is a mix between a garden, art gallery, venue, and public park. It is located at 223 East Hanover St, Trenton. Formerly a vacant lot, we were inspired to create the garden by a nearby mural of Mahatma Gandhi and his quote “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” The space is now a public community garden, with floral, agricultural and sculptural elements, and contains a venue area for community concerts and other events. The park serves as a place for the local community to congregate, escape the barren cityscape around them, learn about gardening and create art. Art serves a central purpose in the project; In fact the entire garden is a public “found-object” art project. Made almost entirely of reclaimed materials, and with over a dozen works of art in the garden created by local artists and residents, our goal is to inspire creativity and resourcefulness in the city around us.
Volunteering
The Gandhi Garden is maintained by the S.A.G.E. Guerilla Gardening Unit, a band of urban gardeners and landscapers intent on beautifying downtown Trenton by bringing our soil back to life. We need your help! Come work with us on Saturday Mornings from 9am-noon, from April 26th to November 12th 2014. We will meet at the Gandhi Garden, but work on other gardens in the area as well. More info on the G.G. Unit can be found here »
Opportunities for Artists and Performers
Our mission is to get more artists involved in this project. Its more than just a garden for plants- We want to make this a place for murals, sculptures, concerts and community events. The garden has a stage, area for seating, and is an ideal place to showcase outdoor art installations. If you would like to showcase your art or host a show in the garden, we’d like to work with you. Email us at sagecoalitionnj@gmail.com or fill out our contact form.
Links
Like the Gandhi Garden on Facebook »
NJ Times article on the Garden »
Trentonian feature article »
Recent Posts about the Gandhi Garden
This weekend our very own Gandhi Garden will be hosting the Trenton Vegan Pork Roll Festival! There are actually a bunch of Pork Roll Festivals going on in Trenton on May 23rd, so check them all out. But as far as ours, it will be all about vegan food, potluck style, and everything DIY. “I don’t know what to expect,” says organizer Graham Apgar. “This event is more of a grassroots effort. I want people to bring vegan food, drinks, or things for us to grill and cook and share. One goal I have is to perfect our Vegan Pork Roll recipe. We’ll also have a jam session if people want to bring instruments, and we’ll be making our own T-shirts, so bring your own shirts to print on!” There you have it, folks, all we know for sure is it’s going to be delicious. The official time is 12-5pm, but come earlier if you want to join the Guerrilla Gardening Unit for some harvesting and garden prep (starting at 8am as always) Hope to see you there!
We’ll be doing Guerrilla Gardening sessions all through the Spring and Summer, starting this Saturday, April 4th, from 8-11am, and continuing every Saturday until Nov. 7th. Whether you’re into art, gardening, or civic engagement, come check out the Gandhi Garden, and it’s offspring.. Shaolin, the Merchant St. Lounge, and The Oasis. Over the last few years, we’ve been creating these gardens and parks downtown as a public service and a form of street art. If you need help for redesigning a home garden and outdoor space , you can check this out here! This year will be a little different, as the art studio 219 is no longer a presence on the block. Still, there are many reasons to come back out here (like planting some sh*t!) We welcome anyone who wants to contribute.
The plan for this Saturday is to take an observational tour of the gardens, identify key areas we want to work on, and think about how to make the gardens more self-sustaining, so we can spread out and make even more gardens! After the tour, we can do a little bush-wacking (bring some pruners or clippers if you have em) and other clean up work.. Maybe even have a little bonfire on the block. We’ll see..
Check the flyer for more info.. Learn more about the S.A.G.E Guerrilla Gardening Unit Here »
Graham and Dirk are doing a permaculture film screening and discussion at The Hive on Monday, March 9th. Permaculture is a design process where we work with nature and our community to create efficient systems for living.
Check out the flyer or read more about it over here »
The guerrilla gardening crew has been on the move, converting vacant lots into vegetable and floral gardens, parks and walk-thrus, and growing food out of fish. We’re still out here every Saturday, meeting in at the Gandhi Garden at 9am. Here’s some pics of our recent progress. Some Photos are from the Trentonian. Also, thank you ISLES, The Trenton Downtown Association and The College of New Jersey for all your collaboration. More info on the GG Unit here »
The Aliens is a play by a new theatre group, Pulse Theatre Company. These guys are putting on a production right in our own Gandhi Garden for 3 straight days next weekend! To quote the official press release:
“Annie Baker’s The Aliens is a play about two angry young men who, despite their own difficult lives, decide to teach a lonely high school student everything they know. They help him break through his nervous shell and give him the courage to be his own man and even speak to girls. A play about struggle, drugs, love, and friendship, this production found its way into Downtown Trenton, produced by Pulse Theatre Company. The Aliens is to be performed on Labor Day Weekend at the Gandhi Garden, a new venue constructed out of a vacant lot on East Hanover Street by S.A.G.E. Coalition. True to its mission, Pulse aims to bring a beautiful work of theatre to an audience that appreciates passionate and intimate art.”
There you have it. We are excited to see what these guys can do. You’ll have 3 chances to see the play, on Saturday and Sunday and Monday, August 31st, Sept 1st and 2nd. Each showing starts at 6:30pm. Admission is free.
On August 6th come on over to the Gandhi Garden and enjoy some music and a bite to eat. SAGE has joined forces with ISLES and TDA to put on a free community BBQ. It’s part of National Night Out, a nation-wide night out against crime. We’ll have food, a live local band: Rough House, ItsJustAhmad at the DJ booth and Black Collar Biz Hosting the show. It’s all going down in the Gandhi Garden at 223 East Hanover St (Next to Gallery 219). Everyone’s welcome!! More information here »
The Gandhi Garden is so close to completion we can taste it.. literally! But we’d like to announce one last big volunteer day to help us finish it off: Trenton Cities of Service, which has been organizing cleanups and civic events all over the city, is bringing its popular Second Saturdays of Service event to the garden on July 13th. The event will run from 9am to 12pm. Read more about it here »
After this event, we’ll be stopping the Gardening with Gandhi events and instead we’ll be hosting a weekly meetup group called Chillin’ with Gandhi. Every Monday evening from 5-9, we’re inviting anyone to come out and enjoy the garden, work or just hang out and enjoy a pot-luck style dinner. Join us and start your week off right at the Gandhi Garden!
It was a beautiful afternoon so I took some photos of our progress..
It’s been another month and we’re keepin it rolling. SHUT THE F**K UP AND PAINT was a lot of fun. It was by far the weirdest show so far. The best part was we finally we had some hippies passed out on the garden lawn.. so I know the vision is really coming to light.. the prophecy is being fulfilled. That’s why I need you to come out and help us finish this garden.. cause I’m telling you the hippies are coming. I met another one out there yesterday..
Gardening with Gandhi #6 will be on Saturday, June 1st. Come check it out. Read more about it here »
There’s Derrick watering our new grass. We call him D Block. Check out that sculpture behind him.. someone just happened to bring by a sculpture of a giant letter D on a block. The guy who brought it didn’t even know about Derrick. Coincidence? I don’t know.. Gandhi’s face is always looking over that garden like he’s pulling all the strings. You think that’s funny Gandhi? Where’s my Digital Graham sculpture, huh? Just kidding, I love you Gandhi.
We want to thank everyone for their donations, which helped us get this field of grass started. With the money, we’ve also been able to buy some cool climbing vines for Wills’ bike trellis. A new stage is in the works too. Stay in touch.. we’ll have concerts and events in the garden soon. Check out our facebook page for more updates.
This weekend our very own Gandhi Garden will be hosting the Trenton Vegan Pork Roll Festival! There are actually a bunch of Pork Roll Festivals going on in Trenton on May 23rd, so check them all out. But as far as ours, it will be all about vegan food, potluck style, and everything DIY. “I don’t know what to expect,” says organizer Graham Apgar. “This event is more of a grassroots effort. I want people to bring vegan food, drinks, or things for us to grill and cook and share. One goal I have is to perfect our Vegan Pork Roll recipe. We’ll also have a jam session if people want to bring instruments, and we’ll be making our own T-shirts, so bring your own shirts to print on!” There you have it, folks, all we know for sure is it’s going to be delicious. The official time is 12-5pm, but come earlier if you want to join the Guerrilla Gardening Unit for some harvesting and garden prep (starting at 8am as always) Hope to see you there!
