THOMPSON COMMUNITY GARDEN

Fresh starts at Thompson

About the garden:

Located: Thompson Community Center

1189 Dennison Ave, Columbus, OH 43201

Thompson Community Garden sits on the grounds of the Thompson Community Center in Harrison West, and it is getting a fresh start. In fall 2026, the Fresh Friends Garden Club, a group of neighbors who took on the tired beds at the center, began rebuilding the whole space: the old cinderblock beds come out, new metal raised beds and trellises go in, landscape fabric goes down between them to keep the weeds back, and a 30-by-5-foot bed of native Ohio plants, with coneflower, false indigo, coreopsis, beardtongue, and phlox, gets planted for the pollinators.

The garden is a partnership with Columbus Recreation and Parks, which keeps the park mowed and the water on while the club plants, tends, and harvests. The first loads of compost are coming from SWACO’s new community garden compost program, with Thompson first in line. Beds are being filled this fall so the garden is ready to plant in spring, with vegetables, herbs, fruit, and flowers on the list and a tool room inside the center to keep everything organized. The garden stays open to the public during park hours, so come by to see it take shape.

Get involved:

Thompson is being rebuilt this fall and needs hands. Workdays right now mean moving out old beds, setting new ones, hauling compost, and planting the pollinator bed. In spring the work shifts to planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting. Come for one morning or make it a habit. No experience needed, tools are on site, and the Fresh Friends crew will show you what to do. Sign up below and we will send you the next workday.

Garden Cultivators

Grayson Niekamp

Grayson is a student at The Ohio State University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Agriculture, with interests that run from public health and regenerative agriculture to the arts. They want to help build safe, healthy communities that live in step with the natural world, and they are drawn to traditional ecological knowledge, herbal medicine, and food systems as the next things to learn. That curiosity and care show up in every bed they tend.

Justina Dieck

Justina is finishing a bachelor’s degree in Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University, studying environment, economy, development, and sustainability with a focus on community and international development. As a Zero Waste Intern at Ohio State, they handle the day-to-day work of turning the university’s sustainability goals into action, which is exactly the kind of hands-on, learn-by-doing work that drew them to community gardening. Their passion is community-centered sustainability, and they bring that energy to the garden every week.

Thompson Community Garden