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The Downtown Sykesville Connection Green, Clean and Safe Committee (Green Committee) is composed of residents and Master gardeners working jointly to create green spaces and support sustainable environmental efforts within the downtown Sykesville community.
The Green Committee manages the Sykesville Community Gardens and conducts most of its activities at the Sykesville ‘Eileen M. Merkle’ Community Garden, overlooking Main Street, in the heart of our downtown at 7547 Main Street.
Volunteers’ opportunities and educational programs are held at this location throughout the spring, summer, and fall months of the year. Consult our Facebook event page for more information.
2023 Calendar of activities:
- Garden spring preparation: 4/29 @ 10 am
- Garden spring planting: 5/20 @ 10 am
- Little Sykes Clean-up: 5/13 @ 10 am
- June meetup: 6/21 (hosted by or with guest gardeners) herb theme with a partnership with Local Motive for mocktails and cocktails.
- Let’s talk tomatoes: 7/16 @ 5:30 pm
- Don’t let it bug you/Summer maintenance: 8/16 @ 5:30 pm
- Pep talk about peppers/: 9/16 @ 5:30 pm
- Garden fall cleanup: 11/18 @ 10 am
The annual yearly Beck’s fundraiser: March 13th
2023 Volunteer opportunities:
Spring Clean-up:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C48ABAE22A0FDC34-spring
Little Sykes:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C48ABAE22A0FDC34-little
Watering the Garden:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C48ABAE22A0FDC34-watering
DSC Green Committee & Sykesville Eileen Merkle Community Garden
The mission of the Community Garden is to provide safe, educational, and aesthetically pleasing spaces for visitors eager to learn about gardening and sustainability; to offer residents a place to grow fresh produce, free of synthetic pesticides and herbicides; and to engage the whole community in fun neighborly activities, while supporting local businesses and organizations.The Community Garden has many unique features including: raised beds where we practice sustainable agriculture methods (ex. lasagna gardening, companion planting), a pollinator garden, a tim garden, bird houses and butterfly boxes, educational signs, a compost system, rain barrel, solar dehydrator, and even a Little Free Library. Its inviting atmosphere and safe location allows its use for therapeutic purposes. It also harbors herb and medicinal plants used by several wellness groups in our community.The Green Committee members work together with the Carroll County Master Gardeners, several Girl and Boy Scout troops (including Eagle Scouts), and local farms, restaurants, and breweries. The Community Garden is free to the public and operates on a “pick a weed, take a veggie” system.
Posted by Sykesville 'Eileen M. Merkle' Community Garden on Sunday, November 24, 2019
Green Committee’s mission
The Downtown Sykesville Connection’s Green Committee strives to increase outreach and train community members to end littering, improve recycling and beautify our community through green initiatives. The Green Committee seeks to make Sykesville a cleaner, greener and healthier place to live, work, and play, while promoting individual responsibility for the community environment.
The Green Committee operations are largely organized around the maintenance and development of both of the community gardens – the main garden at 7547 Main Street, Sykesville and the Schoolhouse garden at 518 Schoolhouse Road, Sykesville – and the cold frames at 731 Sandosky Road, Sykesville.
Green Committee Chair: Laura Donnel
Green Committee Meetings: 3rd Wednesday of the month at the Sykesville ‘Eileen M. Merkle’ Community Garden, weather permitting, 7:15 pm, contact DowntownSykesvilleConnection@gmail.com for the latest location information.
Other contact information: DSC’s Executive Director: Julie Della-Maria juliedellamaria@gmail.com
410-216-4543
Green Committee’s responsibilities
The DSC Green Committee conducts most of its operations at the Sykesville ‘Eileen M. Merkle’ Community Garden, on Town property and coordinates with the Town the upkeep of the gardens.
Green committee duties: the GCS committee plant, maintain and winterize the community gardens at both the Main Street location and the Historic Schoolhouse location, between April and the second week of October.
The Green committee hosts a total of 10 events at either one of these locations throughout the summer and fall, and 1 event at the cold frames by the little Sykes railroad.
The Green committee ensures that the areas where the activities are taking place are left clean after the activities.
The Green committee trims, maintains and waters plants added to the garden flowerbeds described below.
The Green committee plants, maintains and waters the Main Street flower pots and the Parklet planters between April and October.
The Green committee repairs and varnishes as needed the dedicated bench at the Main Street location.
The GCS committee maintains the cold frames on Sandosky Road.
Green committee’s garden locations
The GCS committee’s garden locations and the areas for which the GCS committee is responsible are described below.
- The Sykesville ‘Eileen M. Merkle’ Community Garden, 7547 Main Street, Sykesville MD.
The GCS committee is responsible for planting, maintaining, watering and winterizing these larger flowerbeds and the flowerbeds lining the adjacent property.
- The Schoolhouse garden, 518 Schoolhouse Road, Sykesville MD.
The GCS committee is responsible for planting, maintaining, watering and winterizing the 2 sets of flowerbeds
- The cold frames, 731 Sandosky Road, Sykesville MD.
The GCS committee is responsible for the maintenance of the cold frames.
