If you happen to walk down Main Street and come across Robbins Funeral Home and the Jacqueline House African American Museum you will notice a field blossoming with ripe fruits and vegetables.

Yolande Robbins owned a piece of land next to the Jacqueline House Museum and has now turned it into a community garden for people in the area.

“The big thing for us is we want people to realize that this is a community garden and we also want them to contribute,” Robbins said. “Nobody has to pay any money or ask my permission.”

The idea for the garden came when Gerald Muhammad approached Robbins about the idea. Muhammad was looking for empty lots and was amazed by the location.

Muhammad is a gardener and, along with his wife, is a dedicated member of the Nation of Islam. Muhammad has tilled the soil, and Ernest Galloway has helped with upkeep of the garden.

Robbins and Galloway have put focus on children helping in the garden. Local children can come by and pick the weeds and water the plants. Robbins has taught kids about watering plants the proper way, at their roots, and not the plant itself.

“Kids need an opportunity,” Galloway said. “We want this to be where kids can learn to help work, plant and see how their products grow.”

Robbins said one of the fantastic things about her garden is the soil. She had a biological engineer test the soil and the engineer was amazed by the results.

“A house was there for years and years and you would not think you would find ground that had been covered over by a large house for that soil to be so rich,” Robbins said.

Galloway helped Robbins expand her community garden from one bed of crops to four. The crops range from squash, okra eggplants, cantaloupes, tomatoes, and banana and bell peppers.

Robbins spoke highly of her lemon cucumbers. She had never heard of them before a friend recommended them. One day she found the cucumbers by accident at Home Depot. She bought two of them, giving one away to a fellow gardener.

“They are so good you just want to pull them from the garden and slice them and eat them,” Robbins said.

Robbins thought the cucumbers were going to die at first, but Galloway replanted the seeds. She said next to the cantaloupes, it is the most vibrant and thriving thing in the garden.

Galloway has plans for expanding the garden next year. She wants to till the garden along the fence line to add more watermelons and fruit trees. Galloway has ideas for adding a spice garden as well.

“It’s about helping people and teaching them,” Robbins said.

Robbins also wants to expand so people from the community can grow crops there. Robbins said people won’t be allowed to mark off their own section of the garden to grow their own produce and anything grown there has to be for the community.