MOORESTOWN, N.J. -- When William Laubenstein lived in Philadelphia, he got his corn, tomatoes and broccoli from a garden he farmed in the middle of the city. When he moved across the river to Moorestown in 1938, he asked the mayor and council to let him farm an empty patch of township-owned land near his home.
"They said yes and it's been on the township maps as a garden ever since," Laubenstein said one morning while checking the 22 rows of crops.
Warm orange blossoms rise from zucchini plants, new heads of broccoli push from thick green stalks and deep maroon beets rest on the ground in the 60-by-90-foot plot tucked between a school playground and a row of houses. Behind them are lima beans, turnips, tomatoes, string beans, cucumbers, peas and zinnias.
In the middle of the garden, a scarecrow wearing diamond-patterned pajamas and a straw hat lives up to its name, keeping the crows away.
"I had the darndest trouble with crows here (last year)," Laubenstein said. "I started three rows of lima beans and the next day I came and all that was left were holes where they ate the seeds."
The garden is a few blocks down the street from Laubenstein's home, but too far for the 88-year-old to carry buckets of water. Since there is no water line to hook up a hose, Laubenstein depends on nature to moisten his flowers and vegetables.
"I have no way of watering," he said. "It's only the man up top that sends the rain."
This summer has been so dry the ground crumbles in Laubenstein's fingers when he picks up a handful of soil. The zinnias had wilted in the sun and his 18 Supersonic tomato plants had yielded only two small tomatoes by early August. But other plants seemed to be doing fine.
"Nothing goes to waste if you have your own garden," said Laubenstein, who attributes his good health to garden vegetables.
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