Where are community gardens in Centre County? Here’s how to get growing

In Centre County, community gardens and education are intertwined.

Anthony Taylor, president of the Penn State Community Garden, said that joining a community garden can make the learning curve seem less steep.

“We get a fair amount of people, generally grad students but not always, who’ve never gardened before in their lives and they see the community garden as a way to learn safely, where there are experienced people around that can help and where tools and supplies are freely available after the $35 dues payment,” Taylor said.

Part of Penn State Sustainability, the Penn State Community Garden was founded in 2009 and serves not just those with university affiliations, but also any community member who applies for one of the available gardening plots and pays the membership fee. (Many of the community members who’ve applied for plots at the garden live in apartments or don’t have yard space for a garden at home, Taylor said.)

For the 2025 summer growing season, 91 individuals are using the garden.

At the Bellefonte Community Children’s Garden, education is aimed at a younger set of potential green thumbs. Founded nearly two decades ago, Bellefonte Garden Club president Ann Sager and club member Cindy Van Druff said the original founders saw a need for a space where children and families could come together in a green space that allowed for both education and play.

A volunteer-run effort, the garden allows children to grow vegetables, learn about plant science, discover where their food comes from and more. Harvests go to the Centre County Library, organizations addressing food insecurity and garden visitors. About 500-700 people use or visit the garden annually, whether they’re simply stopping by the free space that’s open dawn to dusk, or visiting as part of a school trip or with an organization such as the Girl Scouts.

“We see this space as a community destination with a community designation, and that teaching remains an essential part,” Sager said.

While some gardens attract hundreds of visitors with expansive numbers of plots, though, other community gardens might be resting right under your nose. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s (WPC) community gardens program supports over 100 community gardens throughout the region, all on public property or in public-right-of-way spaces. A mix of flower and vegetable gardens, the WPC’s lone site in Centre County has sat at College Avenue and University Drive since 1999, but is currently on hold due to a sinkhole issue. The WPC hopes to return to the site next year.

“Benefits of this program largely include a sense of pride and ownership in one’s community as they are planted and cared for 100% by volunteers from the surrounding area,” said Marah V. Fielden, director of community greening for WPC. “…Most of our gardens consist of at least 50% native perennials which support pollinator and wildlife habitat in urban areas — these types of environments are largely developed and lacking in this type of important greenspace.”

How to get involved with a Centre County community garden

For the Penn State Community Garden, visit psugarden.org to learn more. Taylor also suggests Penn State resources for those looking to learn more about gardening in general, including the Garden Grow-How event in the spring, which is hosted by the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm and held in the HUB-Robeson Center.

“In that vein as well, the [Student Farm at Penn State] is also a great resource and you can volunteer to help out on the farm to get some experience prior to doing something like renting a garden plot,” Taylor said.

Learn more about the Bellefonte Community Children’s Garden at Facebook.com/BellefonteCommunityChildrensGarden or bellefontegardenclub.org.

Community members who want to get involved with the WPC State College garden or establish a new WPC garden in Centre County should contact Shawn Terrell, community engagement coordinator, at sterrell@paconserve.org.

Other community gardens in the county include the Houserville Community Garden (houservillegarden.org), Tudek Park Community Garden (crpr.org/tudek-park-community-gardens), Haugh Family Preserve Community Gardens (twp.patton.pa.us/235/Community-Gardens) and Harris Township Community Garden (facebook.com/groups/harriscommunitygarden).

Holly Riddle is a freelance food, travel and lifestyle writer. She can be reached at holly.ridd@gmail.com.