Monadnock Grows Together

Monadnock Grows Together is a free local resource for gardeners and small-scale urban farmers looking for advice, information, and support. Workshops and events provide a place to connect with other growers.

Gardening Resources for the Monadnock Region

As part of this project, local growers in Keene, NH and surrounding towns gain access to valuable gardening resources such as:

1-on-1 gardening resource assistance from our Urban Ag & Gardens Coordinator
Free gardening workshops through 2022-2023
A Garden Tool Lending program at the Keene Public Library Makerspace
Free seeds and seed saving resources at Keene Public Library

Take advantage of free gardening workshops with Monadnock Grows Together! Our spring workshop series is underway, view events here!

Check out Garden Tools from the Tool Lending Library!

Visit the Kingsbury Makerspace at the Keene Public Library (KPL) to check out any of our garden tools for 1 week intervals! Free of charge & no library card needed to participate! See a few of the tools available below! KPL also offers a wide range of adaptive tools for gardeners of all skill levels and abilities!

Seeds can also be checked out free of charge at the Frost Free Library in Marlborough, NH!

Broad Fork

This is a tool used to manually break up hard soil, to improve aeration and drainage.

Hand Seeder

This battery-powered seeder is great for any seed you wish to broadcast, from lawn grass, to cover crops, or baby greens.

Flat Spade Shovel

A spade has a flat edge (not a rounded or pointed edge). It is most useful for cutting. For example, if you need to line the edge of a garden bed.

Garden Fork

It is useful for loosening soil. For example, to prepare a garden bed or to loosed large weeds before pulling them out.

Garden Rake

Can be used to rake soil smooth and break up clumps, before planting in a seed bed.

Hand Cultivator

This is a great hand weeding tool! Really versatile in small spaces.

Hand Fork

A hand fork is a tool used for weeding and for loosening soil, on a smaller scale than a garden/digging fork.

Hand Rake

A hand rake is used for loosening soil in a garden bed. They can be useful when prepping small areas for seeds, or digging out weeds.

Hoe

Used for removing weeds. Best used when the soil is dry. You should stand as upright as possible, and aim to cut off the weeds just under the surface of the soil.

Push Seeder

This seeder is great for row crops. It has interchangeable plates, so it can be used with seeds of different sizes.

Shovel

A shovel has a rounded or pointed edge (not a flat edge). It is most useful for digging and moving soil.

Trowel

Garden trowels are used for digging small holes in the garden. For example, to transplant seedlings. They can also be used for digging out small weeds.

Meet our Urban Ag & Gardens Coordinator!

Nicolette Gagnon, “Nikko”, is a Masters candidate in the environmental education program at Antioch University. She is a New Hampshire native but has been teaching environmental and outdoor education for the last 8 years in California, Washington, British Columbia, and Maine. She comes to Monadnock Grows with a strong scientific understanding of ecosystems and climate change from her undergraduate degree in environmental science. Her interest in community work has been growing over the past 5 years as she took on leadership roles that interacted with stakeholders and the general public. She is keenly interested in an organization's impact on its immediate community and how it can be accessible to everyone, culturally, emotionally, and physically.

Nikko is available to answer questions and connect community members with gardening resources!

Reach out to Nikko via email: ngagnon@antioch.edu

Gardening Technical Assistance Hours:

Join Us for Garden Club!

Monadnock Grows Together will be offering gardening technical assistance hours during garden club on Tuesday Evenings from 5:30-6:30PM at the Keene Public Library Booras Room!

Garden club will be held from April 11th through May 16th and will be an opportunity to connect with other gardeners, ask questions, and discuss gardening topics!

Thank you to our partners & funders!

Monadnock Grows Together is funded by the Urban Agriculture Conservation grant Initiative. The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) established the Urban Agriculture Conservation Grant Initiative in 2016 to help conservation districts and their partners provide much-needed technical assistance for agricultural conservation in developed or predominantly developing areas. Since July of 2016, NACD and NRCS have awarded six rounds of grants, totaling over $4 million to 81 conservation district projects across 34 states.

The CCCD is working in partnership with Antioch University New England's Community Garden Connections (CGC), the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), Monadnock Farm and Community Coalition (MFCC), and the Keene Public Library within the city of Keene, NH to offer technical assistance, education, and gardening equipment to small-scale urban farmers and gardeners for growing their production capacity while conserving natural resources such as soil health, water quality, and pollinator habitat.

Monadnock Grows Together