Penn State Master Gardeners are actively involved with garden projects at Old Economy Village, a six-acre historical village in the heart of the National Register Historic District of Ambridge, Pennsylvania.
Penn State Master Gardeners Joe Donovic and Marilyn Taylor tending to one of the many demonstration gardens at Old Economy Village.
Old Economy Village, a six-acre historical village and garden surrounded by Ambridge's National Register Historic District, is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission as a National Historic Landmark site. Penn State Master Gardeners provide expertise and maintenance of vegetable, perennial, annual, and dye, medicinal, and culinary herb demonstration gardens as well as offer tours and answer questions for visitors. Produce from the gardens is donated to an Ambridge soup kitchen as well as to the Beaver County Women's Shelter.
In 2019, Penn State Master Gardeners set out to tackle several untended garden areas that included clearing a 30-foot bed for a three-year pollinator plant research project in conjunction with Penn State Extension. The bed was planted with four varieties of Solidago (goldenrod) and one variety of Eutrochium (Joe Pye weed) for visitation by butterflies. Master Gardeners will care for the beds as well as monitor the plants at least once a week during the bloom period from July through October for each of the 2020-2022 growing seasons, and the data will be provided monthly to the project coordinator.
Master Gardeners are also participating in the "Great Sunflower Project", a nationwide pollinator project to track native bees using organize 'Lemon Queen' sunflowers. In addition, several 'Native American' food crops are being grown for demonstration, education, and seed saving in cooperation with Native American Seed Savers. Crops include varieties of peppers, tomatillos, popcorn, beans, and sunflowers, all of which could prove to be very important in our food future.
