Community Gardens Near Me

A Garden of Compromises - A Native Habitat Journey, by Mark Pizzi (free)

Hosted by Wild Ones Columbus **A Garden of Compromises - A Native Habitat Journey, by Mark Pizzi** Saturday, September 26th, 2026 10:00 am to 12:00 pm (Eastern Time) Innis House (Inniswoods Metro Park) , 940 S. Hempstead Road, Westerville, OH Public Welcome , Program/Speaker Presentation Public Restroom, Free Public Parking Mark will share how he and his wife, Maria are transforming their traditional suburban property into a thriving native plant habitat while working within neighborhood and HOA expectations. Their front garden showcases native plants in a formal landscape, while their wooded backyard is evolving into a natural woodland oasis. Learn about their compromises, challenges, and rewards of gardening with natives in a suburban setting.

Inniswood tea and walk

With the weather cooling off, it’s a good chance to appreciate the beautiful gardens at Inniswood. Bring your favorite brewed tea to share, and any fall themed snacks you want, and we’ll have a cup of tea at the picnic tables by the parking lot before walking around the park. Bring a personal to go cup if you want to fill up before walking.

Free Vegetable Plant of the Month @CanalStreet Farmers Market- Garlic

Stop by the Licking County Master Gardener Volunteers’ (MGVs) table at the Farmers Market to pick up your free Veggie plant of the month to add (or start!) your vegetable garden. The little plants come with instructions and tips. Have other garden related questions? Bring your questions to one of the MGVs in the green shirts. ******************* Newark Grows 1st & 3rd Friday, May 1-Oct. 2 Our Booth at the Canal Farmers Market 4pm- 7pm 36 E. Canal Street, Newark JOIN US AT THE CANAL MARKET DISTRICT FARMERS MARKET IN NEWARK, May – October (First and third Fridays of the month) Free plants, seeds, and gardening information! May 1 Buttercrunch Lettuce May 15 Double Curled Parsley June 5 Mark Twain Tomato June 19 Aconcagua Elongated Sweet Pepper July 3 Market Closed for 4th of July Weekend July 17 Silver Slicer Cucumber August 7 Wizard Coleus August 21 German Thyme September 4 Sweet Bunch non heading Broccoli September 18 Strike Shell Pea October 2 Garlic No RSVP needed- just show up and enjoy the market! See you there!

Westgate Park & Taft's Brewpourium

Want to help keep our parks beautiful and grab a pint while you're at it? Join us for our very first **Volunteers & Beers** meetup! We’re spending a couple of hours cleaning up Westgate Park, and then we’re rewarding ourselves with cold drinks and New Haven-style pizza just down the road in Franklinton. Whether you're a long-time local or just looking to meet some good people, we’d love to have you. **The Game Plan:** * **When:** Sunday, October 4th * **The Work (4:00 PM - 6:00 PM):** Meet at Westgate Park. We’ll provide the trash bags—just bring comfortable shoes and some community spirit! * **The Reward (6:00 PM onward):** We’ll head over to **Taft’s Brewpourium** in Franklinton to grab some huge communal tables, share some incredible coal-fired pizza, and toast to a job well done. we will be meeting at the parking lot in the south of the park here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DEqQwRw1sTJvjRAR8

Turn Your Yard into a Native Edible Landscape with Katie Carey $35

Hosted by Scioto Gardens (Make sure your GPS is set to the Curve Road location) Turn Your Yard into a Native Edible Landscape with Katie Carey (owner and founder of Columbus Foodscapes) Do you want to provide delicious and healthy food for yourself AND wildlife? For this class, we’re partnering with Katie Carey from Columbus Foodscapes to bring you a comprehensive workshop on doing just that. Katie, a certified Permaculture Designer, Master Gardener, Master Urban Farmer, and Garden Educator, brings a breath of expertise that will ensure your native foodscape is well designed and beneficial for people and animals. Saturday, October 17, 2026 Time TBD Cost: $35 per person Buy your tickets now HERE: https://shop.sciotogardens.com/products/turn-your-yard-into-a-native-edible-landscape-with-katie-carey-owner-and-founder-of-columbus-foodscapes

Trails & Ales! Blacklick Woods Metro Park / Eastside Brewing Co

**History** The deep indigenous history of the land comprising [Blacklick Woods Metro Park](https://www.metroparks.net/parks-and-trails/blacklick-woods/) came to light in stages, beginning with a major discovery during the park's mid-century expansion. In 1961, the park district acquired a 100-acre parcel of land where a previous owner had stripped away topsoil and gravel from a five-acre section. Beneath the surface, workers uncovered 16 ancient fire rings buried roughly 30 inches underground. The park district promptly invited Dr. Raymond S. Baby, the respected Curator of Archaeology at the Ohio State Museum, to evaluate the site. After a thorough review, Dr. Baby confirmed the authenticity of the find and determined that the fire rings were the unmistakable remnants of a prehistoric Late Woodland period Indian village dating between AD 600 and AD 1200. This incredible area was proudly highlighted as the "Indian Village Site" on official Blacklick Woods park maps throughout the 1960s, anchoring the park's identity in Ohio's rich indigenous heritage. Decades later, the park's archaeological timeline expanded significantly when a completely separate, grander feature was discovered hidden just west of Blacklick Creek. In 2017, David Lamp, an eagle-eyed former archaeologist from Lancaster, was systematically analyzing historical aerial photographs kept by the USDA to locate undocumented native structures. While examining a photograph captured in 1954 -- back when the property was still a rural farm owned by the Ashton Lamp family -- he spied a massive, distinct dark circle. Because perfect circles are an extreme anomaly in the natural world, Lamp immediately recognized the shadow as the footprint of a forgotten indigenous monument. Before the land became a protected park, decades of heavy agricultural plowing and livestock grazing had flattened the ground, wearing the structure's physical height down to an easily overlooked 10 inches tall. To verify Lamp's incredible aerial find, a team from the Heartland Earthworks Conservancy partnered with park staff to clear away dense brush and trees covering the site. Renowned volunteer archaeologist Jarrod Burks led a sophisticated geophysical survey on September 24, 2017, inviting the public to watch the science unfold in real time. Burks pulled an array of highly sensitive magnetometers across the soil, measuring minuscule variations in the ground's magnetic content. Because topsoil holds a higher magnetic signature than deeper substrate layers, the instruments clearly mapped a massive, ancient ditch that had filled with topsoil over centuries of erosion. This advanced technology produced a stunning, flawless digital visualization of a hidden prehistoric circular earthwork buried right beneath the feet of unsuspecting park hikers. The data collected by Burks revealed that the Blacklick Circle originally featured a three-to-five-foot earthen embankment pairing with a distinct interior ditch. The structure is estimated to have a total diameter of just under 100 feet, and the magnetic imaging perfectly captured the precise location of the circle’s original eastern entranceway. Archaeologists attribute this monumental construction to the ancient Adena or Hopewell cultures, pushing the park’s human history back roughly 2,000 to 2,200 years. While the Adena and Hopewell peoples are famous throughout the Ohio River valley for building giant burial mounds, circular enclosures like this one served distinct communal purposes. Because these earthworks do not contain human remains, they are understood to be highly sacred, carefully engineered gathering spaces for spiritual ceremonies and social alignment. Today, the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks system treats this miraculous discovery as a crown jewel of regional cultural heritage. Rather than excavating and disrupting the sacred ground, the park utilizes a creative technique known as interpretive mowing. By cutting the grass at strategic heights, rangers visually outline the exact contours and entrance of the ancient circle so visitors can appreciate its scale from the adjacent recreational trail. Educational signs and informative placards now stand near the site, teaching families about the advanced architectural and mathematical skills of the region's first inhabitants. The discovery stands as a powerful reminder that our local green spaces are not just nature preserves, but deeply sacred, historical landscapes that have drawn human communities together for millennia. **Map of the Park** Here is a [map of Blacklick Woods](https://www.metroparks.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/BLK-map-May-2025-with-extended-greenway_1980px.jpg). **Summary** For this event, we will hike about 4.5 miles by doing a couple loops of the Buttonbush, Tucker, Maple Loop, and Beech trails. Blacklick Woods is a very nice park, but it is generally flat and not strenuous, so this will be one of our easier hikes. **Where We'll Meet** Drive all the way to the back of the park to the parking lot that is nearest the Nature Center. There are restrooms here next to the [Canopy Walk](https://www.metroparks.net/parks-and-trails/blacklick-woods/#canopy-walk). We'll meet near these restrooms. **After the Hike** Afterward, we'll head over to [Eastside Brewing Co](https://www.eastsidebrewingco.com/) for drinks and [food](https://www.facebook.com/p/Smash-N-Eatz-61578406199442/). The actual address of the brewery is [1421 Davidson Dr, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068](https://www.google.com/maps/place/1421+Davidson+Dr,+Reynoldsburg,+OH+43068/@39.9541807,-82.8056303,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x8838648e132b4655:0x9d9c1d48e854e09b!8m2!3d39.9541807!4d-82.8056303!16s%2Fg%2F11bw49sw7m?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkxMy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D). We should be there by 5 if you can't make the hike and just want to join us for drinks.

Asian Night Market

🎃 Paint & Propagate: Halloween Planter Workshop

**Get Your Halloween Decorations Ready!** Get ready for Halloween at **The Arcane Foundry** by creating a spooky decoration that's actually alive! Choose from a selection of **3D-printed Jack-o'-lantern and Halloween-inspired planters**, then paint and customize your favorite design. Once your planter is finished, you'll add a cutting of **purple and dark-purple Tradescantia (Wandering Jew)** and learn how to propagate and care for it at home. Its naturally dramatic purple foliage makes it the perfect living addition to your Halloween décor. **$35** - **Your planter, Tradescantia cutting, paints, and materials are all included.** No painting or gardening experience is necessary—just come ready to create your own Halloween decoration and take it home with you when you're finished. ### **BYOB and Refreshments** This is a **BYOB-friendly event**, so feel free to bring your favorite beer, wine, or other beverage to enjoy while you paint. **Light refreshments and non-alcoholic drinks will also be available** at The Arcane Foundry. Come relax, get creative, and enjoy a casual Halloween evening while you paint and propagate your own spooky planter. **Check out the website: =>** [The Arcane Foundry | Makers Studio](https://thearcanefoundry.com/)

Harvest festival

Tea Crawl through the Short North

I listed below three of the stops we will make. We'll start by meeting at One Line Coffee. After these three, whoever still wants to walk around can make additional suggestions! Other options we can consider are Maison Skalli (662 North High St), Tertulia (997 North High Street), and any others I might not know about. North Market of course has a Stauf's. I'm not much into bubble tea, but we can also stop at one of those if everyone else wants to! For parking, make sure you have the app Park Cbus or there are many parking garages. 1\. One Line Coffee\-Short North 745 North High Street Recommended: Excellent Matcha (though I'm sure their Chai is good too) 2\. Pizza Pelino 772 North High Street Recommended: Amaretti (gluten free) cookies 3\. Roaming Goat Coffee 849 North High Street Recommended: The hibiscus cold tea is particularly good if they still have it

Morning people unite!! 🐤 ☕ + 💬 @ Grumpy's Coffee Garage

Early-bird coffee and conversation at [Grumpy's Coffee Garage](https://grumpyscoffeegarage.com/)!

CMG Special Event: MANHATTAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL at the Gateway Film Center!

\* One World \* One Week \* One Festival \* Join us as we get together for a CMG special event and fun annual tradition: THE MANHATTAN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL! If you haven’t attended with us before, you’ll LOVE it! (And if you have attended before you probably already signed up!) This event showcases 10 short films selected from hundreds from around the globe! We'll view each of this year’s 10 short film finalists back-to-back then cast our ballots to help pick this year’s winner! Afterwards, we’ll get together for a bite, a drink and to chat about the shorts! Here are complete details for this year’s event: ABOUT THE FESTIVAL: THE MANHATTAN SHORT is the only event of its kind! This year’s Ten Finalists will screen across the world during a one-week period. Finalists are selected from hundreds of films submitted from across the globe with the winner determined by ballots cast by the audiences in each participating venue. Winning films will be announced after the festival and I’ll send an announcement to the group! All of this year’s finalists will be eligible in the Short Film categories at the 2026 Academy Awards. THIS YEAR’S FINALISTS: This year is extra special because for the first time in its history MANHATTAN SHORT has selected ten films from ten different countries, with films from USA, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Moldova, Russia, Cuba, Georgia and Mexico! Films include everything from comedy to drama, action to animation, and everything in between! 2026 TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOdETuNe6E0 2025 MANHATTAN SHORT WEBSITE + DETAILS: Click here for more information about this one-of-a-kind festival and to learn more about his year’s finalists: https://www.manhattanshort.com/finalists.html PARKING: Close, convenient parking is available in the garage located behind the theater! Access the garage through 9th or 11th Avenues, near High Street. Get your parking validated at the box office for just $2 and your covered for the night. PLAN: Please purchase your ticket for the 2:15pm showing and meet in the upstairs lobby area between 1:45 and 2:00pm to pick up your official voting ballot and film guide! Sellout likely so advance ticket purchase via the Gateway Film Center website as soon as possible is advised. Once you have your seat number, please list it in the Comments section of this event! Matinee ticket prices just $11.25! Immediately afterwards, don’t miss joining us at nearby Cazuela’s for the traditional post-shorts conversation, who’d you pick, food and drinks! Can't wait, Dan TICKETS & PLAN: Purchase your ticket for the 2:15pm showing and meet in the upstairs lobby area between 1:45 and 2:00pm. Sellout likely so advance ticket purchase as soon as possible is advised. AFTER: Don’t miss joining us at nearby Cazuela’s for the traditional post-shorts conversation, who’d you pick, food and drinks! PARKING: Nearby Garage, validate at the theater and you're covered for $2.