A STORY OF COMMUNITY ORCHARD DESIGN DONE COLLABORATIVELY

VIOLA STREET COMMUNITY GARDEN

The Viola St. Orchard is an extension of the Viola Street Community Garden, a heritage garden in West Philadelphia’s East Parkside neighborhood, which has existed on land that’s been used as a garden since the 1980’s. Their mission is to “grow healthy, affordable food in a neighborhood that suffers from food apartheid, share the bounty with neighbors and to build relationships with each other” according to partner site leads and community members, Mandy Katz and Randy Smith. 

In 2023, the Neighborhood Garden Trust expanded the long-standing community garden onto adjacent lots on 42nd and Leidy Avenue. Part of the purpose of the orchard is to save the garden from development that would block sunlight from the garden. According to Mandy, “This is urgent work, as development pressure is intense in our neighborhood of East Parkside…Our garden is predominantly elders, and we don’t have the resources currently to expand vegetable production on the newly acquired lot but feel that fruit orchards and pollinator gardens would be a beautiful and useful way to employ the new space, creating shady places to relax together and have meetings, as well as to connect the garden to the new garden across the street on Leidy’s newly added by Belmont Charter School, creating more opportunities for intergenerational activities between the gardeners and the students.”

The community garden is currently an informal group of about 15 individuals dedicated to growing food together. They are currently in a transition period, with several of  the core resident-volunteers reaching the end of their gardening lives and passing away. While this transition has been challenging for the group, they are as Mandy poignantly expresses “using the grief of this loss to inspire us to create plans to connect to a new generation of gardeners. We are hopeful that we will be able to hire a garden coordinator from the community in the next year who can help us to coordinate our efforts and create programs that will interest younger people to join us in growing food and taking care of the land.”

After being accepted as a POP partner, Sharon Appiah and Simone Shemshedini became the leads for the project, with help from Phil Forsyth. This was the beginning of a season-long journey of collaboration, communication and preparation that led to the eventual planting of the orchard this past fall in 2025.

DESIGN PROCESS

The design process began with visioning, understanding capacities, knowing the audience, and identifying specific goals for the space. That was followed by thorough site analysis, the nuts and bolts of the orchard design, and multiple revisions requiring ongoing communication before reaching the final design that concluded the process. It is important to note that the design process can vary depending on how many people are involved, the type of space, the neighborhood, and the resources available.

Goal

The overall vision for the space was to add low-maintenance and abundant fruit crops in a community orchard setting rather than in individual plots like the community garden to expand the variety of food, add additional gathering space to the garden, and create learning opportunities for gardeners and neighbors about fruit that can grow in the region. There was an emphasis to select low-maintenance crops to accommodate the aging group of gardeners and limited capacity. This was an important limitation to include in the overall goal because it fully impacted the orchard design decisions.

Site Analysis

The site analysis involved site considerations and base mapping the space, which included recording any existing features (trees, structures, fences, etc.) on the map. Sharon and Simone spent an hour measuring the site and taking note of any physical features of the site that could be included in basemap. This included the high point and low point, location of fences and water spigot, shade from the two existing shade trees, and location of the buildings. Afterwards, a digital basemap was created using Google Earth satellite image overlay to contextualize the measurements. Using online satellite imagery is optional, but in person measuring is a must for any orchard/garden design.

While Sharon and Simone were working on this aspect of the site analysis, as part of the partner expectations, Mandy and Randy did a soil test through Penn State and sent us the results. The soil results looked adequate, with no red flags most notably with the heavy metals. The measurements of the space, site qualities, and soil test are all vital aspects of the site analysis that ultimately helped Sharon and Simone come up with a viable design.

Design

After conferring with the Viola community gardeners, Mandy and Randy had a meeting with POP staff to discuss specific objectives and plant choices for the space. Mandy and Randy had received feedback from gardeners on what fruit was desired and after a few meetings, final plant choices were confirmed. Though many of the common fruits were desired, people were also open to planting the easier to grow, high yield, uncommon fruits such as figs, Nanking cherries, and sour cherries. Pollinator plants were also requested.

Sharon and Simone then worked on the first design, informed by this meeting. After a few back-and-forth edits, the final design was confirmed. Before fully going forward woith the plan, it was important to present this design to the Viola gardeners. Sharon and Simone hosted a presentation of the design at the Viola garden, accompanied by food and picnic blankets. People who attended were able to provide their final feedback. The final design was officially complete! This long process, which took approximately 6 months, was essential to get to the best version of the design.

Plant placement considerations included: sun exposure, where the water sits, viewsheds, and access to the space. The design included: figs, goumis, Nanking cherries, elderberries, beach rose, black chokeberry, blueberries, and blackberries. The blackberries were placed along the fence to keep them tidy and offer a support system. The elderberry and fig were purposely placed near the gathering space to offer privacy from the road and beauty. A front pollinator garden near the entrance from the road was incorporated to add beauty and attract pollinators to the space. A gathering space near the community garden was placed on the flattest portion of the space. Nothing was planned for the area to the left of the planting to allow for compost drop off. Additionally, in line with the city’s Philly Tree Plan and adding more shade trees to the urban tree canopy, a hawthorn was included as a street tree planting.

PLANTING DAY

Prior to planting day, we made sure to procure the right materials and have that set for the day of. Mandy and Randy brought tools and compost. POP ordered mulch, brought plants, cardboard, signs, cages and posts, and additional tools. This was a fully collaborative process that felt like the pinnacle of teamwork, everyone contributing what they could. This made the process truly feel collaborative, in addition to the bonus of making things run a lot smoother.

Planting day was a treat! Though it did come with some curveballs; in the end, the challenges made the workday more rewarding. After the trees and shrubs were placed, according to the design, digging into the earth to plant them took some mighty strength and diligence. Assuming the site used to be a rowhome, the amount of rubble and compaction made for a challenging dig. This was not surprising in the end (we are in the land of Philly, after all) but we didn’t plan for that, so planting took a bit longer. But everyone persisted and got it done in a jovial manner.

The herbaceous plant placement was a fully collaborative process, with the help of some of the volunteers at the workday who had some experience working with perennials. Half of the group continued with the shrubs and trees, worked on sheet mulching, caging, and watering, while the other half worked on edging and prepping the herbaceous bed. By the end, everyone was planting perennials in the herbaceous bed, followed by a nice thick mulch application and deep water. The day ended as most workdays should end, with some ice cream truck delights, so conveniently posted up next to the garden.

SOURCES

Site Considerations Handout

Base-Mapping

POP’s blog post about fruit thinning

POP’s blog post about sheetmulching

This POP Blog was written by Orchard Coordinator Simone Shemshedini with help from Orchard Director Sharon Appiah

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