Landrum High School students to farm community garden

A new community garden planned for Landrum will provide a place for students to grow food that can be served at school or sold at market.

Spartanburg School District 1 is partnering with the city of Landrum to develop a 1.5- acre garden at Shamrock Avenue and East Mallory Street. Landrum High School students will begin farming the vacant lot in early 2018.

"We had a piece of property that we didn't know what to do with," Landrum Mayor Bob Briggs said. "The idea came up to let the agriculture class at Landrum High School use it for a community garden. Whatever they grow would be used in the cafeteria or sold to the farmers market. It's just a good community venture."

Landrum City Administrator Rich Caplan said students will build raised boxes this fall to be used for planting. The city will provide water to the site, he said.

"It will be a student-driven project," Caplan said. "The garden will bring the community together and parents who are in the farming business can give the project guidance."

Spartanburg School District 1 Superintendent Ron Garner said students from across the district also will have an opportunity to use the garden. Lessons involving the garden could even be integrated into classroom curriculum, he said. 

"We plan to develop the garden in phases," Garner said. "The site is going to require some prep work with the city getting it ready for us."

The city plans to identify other vacant lots that could be used for community gardens in the future, according to Briggs. Briggs said these gardens could potentially be farmed by residents, providing more locally grown crops to the market.