Roz McKelvey, a longtime Germantown neighbor and block captain, remembers neighborhood champions Chris and Helen Nicholson with real fondness. She met them through the Germantown Friends community when Chris Nicholson invited her to be part of a community garden they were building on Church Lane and Baynton Street.

That garden, known as the Nicholson Church Lane Garden, now holds important memories of their kindness and generosity of spirit, McKelvey says.

“They would come here, and he would give his wisdom, and Helen would give her silence and her smile. And if things weren’t going right, you could sit with Helen, and she would just tell you how beautiful you are,” McKelvey said. “Helen would get this old canister out, of lemonade. There’s some rust on it. By the time she passed, there was a lot of rust on it, but we still drank the lemonade out of it because Helen said to do it.”

The rusty lemonade canister may be gone, but the legacy of the Nicholsons lives on.

Longtime gardeners like Garth Herrick and Dawud Abdus-Saboor remember Chris and how he always shared his wealth of knowledge and his love of the outdoors with everyone, staying active in the space well into his 90s. Now, these longtime gardeners are working with new members and leadership to bring fresh energy to the Nicholson Church Lane Community Garden.

They are starting with a campaign coordinated by the Neighborhood Gardens Trust to complete a full renovation and are working to raise $18,000 so they can get started next spring. The ultimate goal is $100,000, and while NGT has submitted grant applications and secured a commitment for a matching gift, crowdfunding in the broader community will be key.

An important history

According to an email Chris Nicholson sent to the city, the garden was started in 1978 after the land was cleared for the Belfield bypass, a planned six-lane highway through Germantown that many local groups opposed.

Nicholson and their neighbors used the small funds they had to build the community garden on a plot that was under constant threat of development. Eventually, they connected with the Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT), a land trust organization that works alongside the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) to protect and preserve community gardens throughout the city. By 1991, NGT took ownership and preserved the garden along with the Pulaski-Zeralda Garden, the Old Tennis Court Farm, and the Penn & Greene Community Garden.

“This is sort of what we exist to do,” said Jenny Greenberg, executive director of NGT. “There are many instances around the city where self-organized groups of residents come together to clean up and transform formerly abandoned land into positive community assets and green space.”

The garden today

Covid was tough for the Nicholson gardening community. The space became overgrown, with many of the 34 plots left unfilled. Due to the sloped land structure, the tiered stair and ground system they had set in place was not ideal for accessibility or long-term sustainability. Some leaders got sick and couldn’t work on administering the garden.

Greenberg notes that part of taking ownership of these community gardens is continuing to invest in their upkeep, help maintain them, and ensure they thrive through these transitions over time.

With the passing of the Nicholsons, NGT is now working with current members to secure the garden’s accessibility, safety, and productivity for the next generation. This past summer, nearby neighbor and plant-based chef Christina Smith, who recently became interested in growing her own food to share with clients and customers, was appointed president. She helped develop community gardening plots at The People’s Lot on Church Lane, behind Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books, which is how she met Susan Mangan over the summer. Mangan invited her to join the Nicholson Garden.

After learning about the challenges the garden faced, Smith worked alongside the board, longtime members, and NGT to draft a plan for its future.

Fast forward to today: All the garden’s plots are filled, and work has already started to beautify the space. Newer and older gardeners are trying to work together to bring the Nicholson vision to life.

Seasoned gardener Dawud Abdus-Saboor laid out some of that vision, saying they’d like to make it more accessible by “doing some of the leveling [of the ground] to creating higher garden beds for folks who can’t get down low.”

But more importantly, he said, it should be “a place that’s fun” — somewhere people can gather in the sunset hours and watch the birds and other wildlife attracted to the organic plants and vegetables.

Looking to the future

Moving forward, the main goal of the Nicholson Garden renovation is evening the ground. As mentioned, the garden is on a major slope. Over the years, they’ve established a tiered system of steps, all requiring repair and maintenance.

Smith and longtime gardeners say that elderly and disabled people have difficulty moving around that slope. Evening out the ground would also stop rainfall from collecting at the bottom of the slope and prevent uneven water distribution to all the plants. They also want to divide some of the very large plots in half for novice gardeners and create raised beds for people with mobility issues.

The team has hopeful plans to open up a space with a picnic and shade area, along with a play space, to encourage community gatherings. While there are chairs in the back and a bench made by a local Eagle Scout that will one day hold a plaque dedicated to Chris Nicholson, Smith notes a need for more space where people can linger and host community events in collaboration with local businesses and organizations.

Walking through the garden, McKelvey noted the fruit trees growing all along the fence — pawpaws, mulberries, cherries, and figs — fruit they want to be healthy and available to the entire neighborhood.

“Chris wanted to see the neighborhood people pick the fruit right off the tree when they walked past,” McKelvey said. “And you see them walking home, eating it, and they’re just happy.”

Though Smith never met the Nicholsons, she hopes the renovation will help create the inclusive space they envisioned.

“Everybody has nuggets that they want to drop and information that they want to share. You’d be surprised how much you can learn about a tomato,” she said. “You know, we take it for granted. We just go to the store and buy a tomato. But if you come over to Nicholson Garden, you’ll know what kind of variety there is.”

In the spirit of the Nicholsons, Smith invites anyone interested to come and learn about the garden, and talk to Dawud, Garth, Christina, Miss Elaine, or Roz about their special gardening techniques. Or just find peace among the plants, which Chris Nicholson might describe as friends.

Anyone interested in supporting the Nicholson Church Lane Garden can visit ngtrust.org/givingtuesday