Tomatoes at the Tamaqua Community Garden are getting plump and it won’t be long until they ripen.

Carrots are growing, too, and someday might be as plentiful as the collard greens sprouting at the 13-15 S. Lehigh St. garden.

“We like to say, ‘Pick a weed and take what you need,’” volunteer Grace Seibel explained of the way the garden works.

That’s right - the garden is open to anyone who’d like to harvest fresh vegetables or herbs.

“All that we ask is that you help maintain the garden by pulling a weed or cleaning up trash,” explained Meranda Hess, leader of Tamaqua Girl Scout Troop 33013.

The garden began as a service project for the troop 5 years ago. The borough of Tamaqua owns the land, and gave its blessings to the troop to use it.

“We really wanted to do a community garden that is truly a garden for the community so that people can just come and take things,” Hess said.

The Scouts coordinate spring planting and fall cleanup.

“But pretty much beyond that, we leave it for the community to do its own thing,” she explained.

This spring, Adam and April Frey of Bantam Acres Farm in South Tamaqua volunteered their help. The couple donated seeds and seedlings and offered advice on what to plant where.

Tomatoes and potatoes are in high raised beds, and squash and zucchini are in long flat beds. Leaf lettuce, scallions, parsley, mint and more fill other spots.

In addition to providing fresh food, the garden also serves as an outlet for those who enjoy gardening.

“A lot of people have apartments or their yards aren’t big enough, so it’s an opportunity for people who like to garden. They can come here and kind of help out,” Hess said.

Just recently, someone planted basil - and someone else dropped off a pot of purslane.

“We tell people that if there’s an empty spot, feel free to fill it in,” Hess noted.

When the Girl Scouts broke ground for the project, Edge of the Woods Nursery in Fogelsville stepped forward with a generous donation of native perennial flowers that are pollinator-friendly.

“The milkweed and the cone flowers have been here since the very beginning,” Hess said.

Silver Maple Nursery of Orwigsburg also turned over plants and flowers, and Hess said the borough, neighbors and volunteers have been helpful.

Seibel visits the garden often. Her daughter, Winona Deibert, usually joins and is developing a green thumb at the age of 3.

“We’re just here and we are happy to help. This season was really the first season that we helped out. We were here for planting and we’ve been coming on a weekly, and sometimes multiple times a week basis,” Seibel said. “You can take from what you create.”

More information is available on the Tamaqua Community Facebook page.