For the past several years, motorists on U.S. Route 219 in Bradford have been spoiled by the sight of a colorful roadside garden containing roses, geraniums, petunias and black-eyed susans.
The McKean County Good Growing Gardens Program, in existence for seven years, is an ongoing cooperative effort between McKean County Adult Probation department and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Highway Beautification Program.
The county project was spearheaded in 2011 by McKean County President Judge John Pavlock.
Matt Bailey, who supervised several men with Adult Probation, said individuals ordered to do community service helped prepare this year’s Kendall Avenue On-Ramp Garden.
The work took several hours to complete during a couple of visits and included the planting of annual flowers and maintenance of perennials. The raised gardens were built several years by community service workers who had carpentry skills.
“We do this as a public service,” Bailey said during a break in his work. He said the workers also planted a garden at the McKean County Fairgrounds in Smethport .
One of the community service workers said he especially enjoyed the work because he liked working in the “fresh air and sunshine.”
Bailey said the Bradford City Fire Department helps maintain the Kendall Avenue garden by filling 10, 55-gallon water drums located above the garden approximately three times every summer. Attached to the bottom of the plastic drums are hoses that provide a trickle of steady water to the garden. The simplified watering system, which uses gravity, ensures the plants stay hydrated throughout the summer.
Bradford City Firefighter and EMT Chris Spaich said the fire department provides more than 500 gallons of water for the drums each session as a community service.
“The fire department does a lot of stuff that people don’t realize,” Spaich said. “We don’t just fight fires and go on EMS calls — we’re there for all kinds of different things at no cost to citizens” including smoke detector installations.
The garden program also provides work crews for other projects in communities that include Kane, Smethport, Port Allegany and Eldred.
One of the larger projects has been the annual planting and maintaining of a vegetable garden off U.S. Route 6 in Smethport. Produce from that garden, which is manned by community service workers, are provided to the McKean County Jail to help lower food costs.
