The Enos Park Neighborhood Gardens (EPNG) held a ribbon cutting Tuesday to announce the opening of its 240-square foot greenhouse with heating and ventilation. After three years of planning and raising nearly $45,000 from grants and community donations, the greenhouse was completed earlier this year.
“This greenhouse allows us to have more control over the quality and variety of seedlings we grow for our communal garden, where we harvested over 2000 pounds for our community in 2026,” said Carey Smith, garden manager and executive director of EPNG. “We plan to grow extra seedlings, especially culturally relevant foods, to give away to our neighbors. We also plan to raise a variety of native pollinator plants — part of our native plant initiative — for our neighbors to take home for free. We gave away over 500 native pollinator plants in 2026 and hope to expand our reach in 2027.”
EPNG is a small neighborhood garden encompassing three formerly vacant lots just north of downtown Springfield and just completed its 15th season. EPNG donates its organic produce to volunteers, Kumler Outreach Ministries Food Pantry and to the public through its free farmers market held onsite from June through August.
Funding for the greenhouse came through grants and donations, including grants from Aetna, Brandt Foundation, Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln, Dominican Sisters of Springfield and Springfield Civic Garden Club.
Donations were received from Buffalo Hart Presbyterian Church, Cathy Schwartz and John Shafer, Joel Johnson and Kumler Outreach Ministries, along with dozens of individuals who took part in a 2:1 matching program sponsored by an anonymous donor.
EPNG also offers free berry picking during public hours from mid-May through August, free children’s programming, an open house and community resource fair, a social event with free food and entertainment (Garden Jamboree) and a variety of other pop-up educational and social events such as free yoga classes, visits by a therapy dog and mini horses, and community paint events.
For more information, contact Carey Smith at carey@enosparkgardens.org or 217-610-0720.
