This is the season for preseason community gardening conferences. A time for those new to community gardening to learn the skills they need to garden, organize, compost or distinguish between a pest and a beneficial insect. A time for experienced folks to share their knowledge, learn something new and be energized for the gardening season ahead. I think I've experienced all of these things.
I've had the pleasure of making rainwater harvesting presentations at a community gardening symposium on March 3rd with over 100 in attendance at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris County, New Jersey. The county and other counties and small towns have community gardens in areas that I would call suburban. Community gardening is happening in these areas as much as in the urban centers of New Jersey like Newark, Trenton and Camden. The attendees were very interested in rainwater harvesting and many were making plans to capture rainwater in their gardens.
On Saturday, March 12th, we set up the GrowNYC rainwater harvesting display at Making Brooklyn Bloom, the annual gardening festival sponsored by Brooklyn GreenBridge, the outreach program of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I was almost hoarse after speaking practically non-stop for about 5 hours to folks who had rainwater harvesting systems in their backyards, front yards and community gardens. Others came by for advice on how to build new systems in their own yards or for others as a business. All kinds of people were talking sustainability, storm water management and green technologies. It made this early season event quite energizing.
Still to come is the GreenThumb GrowTogether an day long event attended by over 1000 community gardeners who attend workshops and gather information during the networking session. I will be leading 2 workshops, one on rainwater harvesting and one a hands on workshop where we will be making the recycled plastic planter bags that I have been using for vertical gardening.
I hope to have photos and video of the vertical gardening workshop. The rainwater harvesting workshop at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum was videotaped and will be available in some form soon which I will pass along when it is available. Happy Spring events!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Some Fun Pictures of Community Gardens
Crows lined up on a cable from the Brooklyn Bridge
repurposed into a railing in the
Brooklyn Bear's Pacific Street Garden
A steel plate remnant from a stamping factory
now artwork in the Creative Little Garden
Glass bottles embedded in a pathway
in the Diaz y Flores Garden
Rose and DEP water meter in the
Brooklyn Bear's Pacific Street Garden
Water bill paid in Roses?
Rocking chair planter in
a garden in St.Paul, Minnesota
(photo from 2006)
Eyes on the Street!?
Sculpture in
United We Stand / Sunflower Garden
Friday, February 18, 2011
Gardening Time is Almost Here! ...But
The snow here is almost all gone. I can see the soil, the leaves that have been covered for almost 2 months, even collards left from last season that somehow survived being buried in the snow. So the physical gardening time is upon us. Almost time to start seeds indoors for the tender plants and outdoors for the snow peas and greens.....
Of course for community gardeners the planning, fundraising, meetings and discussions have been ongoing - not hibernating for the winter. A few related items have come to my attention over the past few days.
The New York City Community Garden Coalition is sponsoring a forum on Saturday March 19th, Making Gardens Permanent: Long Term Solutions . Hopefully this forum will continue the dialogue to find the type of land protections that will ensure longevity and sustainability for NYC community gardens that has been ongoing for at least the past year. I have discussed this subject at least 3 times in this blog on March 5, 2010 , July 26, 2010 and August 18, 2010 .
Unfortunately I won't be able to be there, I am leading a winter tree walk for Staten Island OutLoud at the same time. I hope there are some new well thought out ideas, maybe a municipal land trust or deed restrictions. There is a new resource that has come to my attention, Community Garden Legal Toolkit published by Public Health Law and Policy that includes information about methods used in other cities. A good read for background but the New York City situation is unique and requires a solution tailored to this case in particular. I'll report on the discussion next week.
Another somewhat disturbing announcement this week was that President Obama announced cuts to the Community Development Block Grant Program. New York City's GreenThumb Program receives 100% of it's funding from this federal program. Up to this point GreenThumb has escaped past cuts to this program but here's another possible threat to resources for community gardeners.
Yes, Community Gardening is impacted by political, social and economic forces but the sun and warmth of a late February thaw draws one to the feel of seeds and soil in your hands in the spring with the hope for fresh fruits and vegetables in those same hands in a few months.
Of course for community gardeners the planning, fundraising, meetings and discussions have been ongoing - not hibernating for the winter. A few related items have come to my attention over the past few days.
The New York City Community Garden Coalition is sponsoring a forum on Saturday March 19th, Making Gardens Permanent: Long Term Solutions . Hopefully this forum will continue the dialogue to find the type of land protections that will ensure longevity and sustainability for NYC community gardens that has been ongoing for at least the past year. I have discussed this subject at least 3 times in this blog on March 5, 2010 , July 26, 2010 and August 18, 2010 .
Unfortunately I won't be able to be there, I am leading a winter tree walk for Staten Island OutLoud at the same time. I hope there are some new well thought out ideas, maybe a municipal land trust or deed restrictions. There is a new resource that has come to my attention, Community Garden Legal Toolkit published by Public Health Law and Policy that includes information about methods used in other cities. A good read for background but the New York City situation is unique and requires a solution tailored to this case in particular. I'll report on the discussion next week.
Another somewhat disturbing announcement this week was that President Obama announced cuts to the Community Development Block Grant Program. New York City's GreenThumb Program receives 100% of it's funding from this federal program. Up to this point GreenThumb has escaped past cuts to this program but here's another possible threat to resources for community gardeners.
Yes, Community Gardening is impacted by political, social and economic forces but the sun and warmth of a late February thaw draws one to the feel of seeds and soil in your hands in the spring with the hope for fresh fruits and vegetables in those same hands in a few months.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
New York City Community Gardening Resources
New York City Community Gardening Resources
There is a wealth of information on-line about urban gardening.
For New York City Community Gardeners, there are a number of public and
private organizations that provide a variety of services to community gardeners.
GreenThumb
Established in 1978, GreenThumb (GT) remains the nation's largest urban gardening program, assisting 500 gardens and nearly 20,000 garden members throughout New York City. Their mission is to foster civic participation and encourage neighborhood revitalization while preserving open space.
Today, the GT program, by providing materials and technical assistance, continues to support neighborhood volunteers who manage community gardens as active and attractive community resources.
GT gardens are located in all five boroughs of New York City. The majority of GT gardens are located in economically disadvantaged community planning districts that receive federal financial support through a complement of open space, affordable housing, and economic development. Active garden sites create a stable force in the community and serve as anchors for other re-development initiatives.
Individual Community Garden Websites
6/15 Green http://www.615green.org/
6BC Botanical Garden http://6bc.org/
6th and B Garden http://www.6bgarden.org/
Bissel Gardens http://www.bisselgardens.org/
Brooklyn Bear’s Gardens http://brooklynbears.wordpress.com/
Clinton Community Garden http://www.clintoncommunitygarden.org/
Creative Little Garden http://www.creativelittlegarden.org/
The Floyd Bennett Garden Association http://www.fbga.net/
Garden of Union http://www.thegardenofunion.com/
Greene Acres Community Garden http://greeneacres.interactivist.net/
Hattie Carthan Community Garden http://www.hattiecarthangarden.com/
JFK High School http://www.thomania.org/enchantedgarden
LaGuardia Corner Gardens http://www.laguardiacornergardens.org/LaGuardia_Corner_Gardens/Welcome.html
Liz Christy Garden http://www.lizchristygarden.org/
M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden http://www.mkgarden.org/
Prospect Heights Community Farm http://www.phcfarm.com/welcome/
Red Hook Community Farm http://www.added-value.org/the-farms
Red Shed Community Garden http://www.redshedgarden.com/
R.I.N.G. Garden http://www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu/~mclarke/RING.htm
West Side Community Garden http://www.westsidecommunitygarden.org/
GrowNYC
Formerly known as Council on the Environment, GrowNYC is a hands-on non-profit which improves New York City’s quality of life through environmental programs that transform communities block by block and empower all New Yorkers to secure a clean and healthy environment for future generations. GrowNYC's Open Space Greening (OSG) program empowers neighborhoods to build, manage, and sustain community gardens and other open spaces in New York City.
OSG has also taken the lead in bringing rainwater harvesting to community gardens. We've built or trained people to build rainwater harvesting systems in gardens in all 5 boroughs. Rainwater harvesting is much more convenient for gardeners and reduces demand on the public water supply system. It also helps mitigate rainstorm runoff, which can overload storm drains and pollute the waters surrounding the city.
GrowNYC has completed an inventory of community gardens for the interactive, searchable GIS map Open Accessible Space Information Systems (OASIS), available at
Green Guerillas
Green Guerillas uses a unique mix of education, organizing, and advocacy to help people cultivate community gardens, sustain grassroots groups and coalitions, engage youth, paint colorful murals, and address issues critical to the future of their gardens.
New York State Community Garden Program
The Community Gardens Program was created to support the thousands of New Yorkers who are building greener, healthier cities through community gardens, school gardens and educational farms.
State law defines community gardens as “public or private lands upon which citizens of the state have the opportunity to garden on lands which they do not individually own.” There are well over 1,000 registered or permitted community gardens in New York’s cities and many more cases where residents have rescued derelict private or public lots in an effort to build more livable neighborhoods.
Over 100 community gardens in NYC are now privately owned as part of a Land Trust.
Two organizations either own or manage these sites, the Trust for Public Land and New York Restoration Project. The Trust for Public Land gardens are managed by the Manhattan Land Trust, Bronx Land Trust and the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust
Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land now owns 69 community gardens throughout New York City. 64 gardens where saved from a city auction and eventual destruction, and an additional 5, the city subsequently donated to TPL for preservation. TPL works side by side with dedicated community gardeners to transform vacant lots into vibrant spaces where nature and community thrive.
Manhattan Land Trust – 14 gardens
Bronx Land Trust – 16 gardens
Brooklyn Queens Land Trust – 34 gardens
New York Restoration Project
New York Restoration Project (NYRP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to reclaiming and restoring New York City parks, community gardens and open space.
The cornerstone of New York Restoration Project’s mission and work continues to be the restoration, re-design, maintenance and programming of the organization’s 55 community gardens located throughout New York City’s five boroughs.
Two of NYC’s botanic gardens Brooklyn Botanic Garden through Brooklyn GreenBridge and the New York Botanical Garden through Bronx Green-Up provide services to community gardeners in their respective Boroughs.
Brooklyn GreenBridge
GreenBridge, the community environmental horticulture program of Brooklyn Botanic Garden, promotes urban greening through education, conservation, and creative partnerships. Working with block associations, community gardens, and other service groups, GreenBridge is building a vibrant network of people, places, and projects dedicated to making Brooklyn a greener place.
All Brooklyn community gardens are invited to join the GreenBridge Community Garden Alliance (GCGA). The alliance's focus is on promoting sustainable gardening practices to support healthy communities of people, plants, and wildlife.
The Brooklyn Urban Gardener (BUG) certificate program is an eight-week course of interconnected workshops that cover the basics in urban gardening and community greening.
Bronx Green-Up
Bronx Green-Up, the community outreach program of The New York Botanical Garden, provides horticultural advice, technical assistance, and training to community gardeners, school groups, and other organizations interested in improving urban neighborhoods in the Bronx through greening projects.
Bronx Green-Up offers horticulture certificate programs and workshops for community gardeners throughout the year. It also hosts a number of events such as the Harvest Festival, which brings community gardeners together to celebrate their bounty, share information, and learn from each other.http://www.nybg.org/green_up/
Additional sources of information and assistance for NYC community gardeners and others interested in community gardening.
Citizens Committee for NYC
Citizens Committee for New York City stimulates and supports self-help and civic action to improve the quality of life in New York City and its neighborhoods. Citizens Committee supports community gardeners’ efforts by offering workshops, grants, training, networking events, helpful publications, a lending library, a meeting space and one-on-one assistance.
Just Food
Just Food is a non-profit organization that works to develop a just and sustainable food system in the New York City region. The City Farms Program trains, connects, and empowers New York City community gardeners to spread knowledge about growing, selling, and giving more food in their neighborhoods.
Gardeners keep chickens all over the city providing fresh eggs, fun and education for children, fertilizer for the garden, aerated soil, kitchen and garden scrap recycling. City Farms is working with experienced chicken keepers in NYC to create model projects from which gardeners can learn how to keep happy, healthy, and productive chickens.
Coalitions of gardeners unite community gardens, provide strength in numbers and opportunities to spread the word about community gardening
New York City Community Garden Coalition
The mission of the New York City Community Gardens Coalition is to promote the preservation and creation of community gardens and community-developed open space in the five boroughs of New York City, to educate the public about the value of gardens and the benefits they confer on New York City residents and to serve as an effective resource for providing information and technical support to community gardeners. They work to raise the profile of community gardening among elected and appointed officials, the media, the environmental community and the general public and to foster networking and communication among the NYC garden communities.
La Familia Verde
La Familia Verde is a coalition of community gardens in the Crotona, East Tremont, and West Farms neighborhoods in the Bronx. Formed in 1998, our mission is to sustain the environment and culture of our neighborhood through education, community service, and horticulture.
East New York Farms
The mission of the East New York Farms Project is to organize youth and adults to address food justice in our community by promoting local sustainable agriculture and community-led economic development.
Web based community gardener groups provide opportunities for networking, finding answers to problems or broadcasting information about a community garden event. You have to sign up to join these groups.
Brooklyn Community Gardeners Group
NYC-Gardens Coalition
New York State Community Garden Listserv
E-mail to get sign up directions- GARDEN-L@listserv.health.state.ny.us
Community Garden Listserv
Post questions and information to the list and have immediate access to the collective knowledge of all the other subscribers, including the Board members of ACGA and hundreds of knowledgeable, experienced community gardeners from all over North America. Discussion topics range from fund raising to soil improvement to keeping gardeners motivated. The subscription is free and available in regular or digest version.
http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org, mailto:community_garden-request@list.communitygarden.org?subject=subscribe
Community Gardening Blogs
Bed Stuy Blog
Community gardening
Farming Concrete
History and Research
A History of New York's Community Gardens 1970-2000
2010 Survey of NYC Community Gardens including history to 2010
The Effect of Community Gardens on Neighboring Property Values
Eco-tipping Points
http://www.ecotippingpoints.org/our-stories/indepth/usa-new-york-community-garden-urban-renewal.html
Children, Gardens, and Lead Fact sheet on lead in the urban environment
Soil testing web site with instructions on how to get your soil tested.
Community Development through Gardening: State and Local
Policies Transforming Urban Open Space
How to……
How do I start a Community Garden?
For information about starting a community garden:
How to: Find a Community Garden in New York City
How to: Seed Saving
How to: Composting
How to: Garden Organically
How to: Community Garden Rules and regulations
In order for a garden to operate effectively it is important that everyone is aware of their responsibilities.
Here are 3 examples of garden rules to use as guides.
How to: Beekeeping
Community gardening is an activity that takes place the world over. To find out about community gardening beyond New York City visit the sites below.
American Community Gardening Association
The American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) was founded in 1979 to help gardening programs share their limited resources, and benefit from each other's experience and expertise.
Through its networking, publications (the annual Community Greening Review, quarterly newsletter The Community Gardener, etc.), slide show and an annual conference held in a different part of the country each year, ACGA: promotes the formation and expansion of national and regional community gardening networks, develops resources in support of community gardening and greening, encourages research on the impact of community greening, and conducts educational programs.
For information about community gardening in the US and Canada:
City Farmer
This site, "Urban Agriculture Notes" (www.cityfarmer.org), which has been running continuously since 1994 with its hundreds of pages of urban agriculture information, will remain online and will be updated when necessary with corrected e-mails, URL’s, etc. It is still a gold mine of information.
Since January 1, 2008, new articles have been posted to the new City Farmer News site.
More Links
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Art and the Community Garden
Decorative Iron Gate at the El Sol Brilliante in New York
If you visit a community garden in the winter it can look quite barren - a winter landscape. It does make me think about how art in the garden can bring beauty and winter interest to a community garden.
Art in and about community gardens can take many forms. Sculpture, murals, art from found objects, decorative fencing and structures are just some of the types of art found in community gardens.
Garden art is often ephemeral. Artist Noah Baen created such a piece many years ago, a Bulldozer fashioned from mugwort stems. Sorry I don't have a picture. Noah has also created a number of murals in community gardens.
Garden art can be moveable. Artist Tattfoo Tan creates moveable gardens, gardens on anything with wheels like a shopping cart or skateboard and a garden classroom on a bicycle. He also creates other garden based art.
Garden art projects can be everything from a medicinal herb garden, to guerilla garden seed packets, to a community garden / herb sanctuary in Charlotte, North Carolina with ceramic bird houses by artist Joan Bankemper .
In North Philadelphia artist Lily Yeh created the Village of Art and Humanities, 12 vacant lots that were transformed by art including many mosaic murals, benches, pathways and other structures.
Mural in Aspen Farms in Philadelphia
Bottles and Pavers artistically arranged at Diaz y Flores Garden in New York
Ladybug Rainwater Harvesting Tanks at New Vision Garden in Brooklyn, NY
Fantastical Creature mural painting on Rainwater Harvesting Tank in
the PS 4 Paradise Garden in Brooklyn, NY
The Garden itself can be art when viewed from above
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Garden of Eden
Today, January 8th, is the 25th Anniversary of the demolition of the Garden of Eden. An urban garden or an eARThWORK as it is titled by Adam Purple, the creator of the Garden of Eden. While it wasn't technically a community garden this anniversary is significant to me for several reasons. When I was beginning my career in community gardening I lived close to the Garden of Eden and visited a few times. It was impressive because it was created mostly by horse manure carried by Adam Purple on his bicycle from Central Park. It was a work in progress of concentric circles built from the center yin - yang planting. It was a wonderful place to see and be in.
There was a lot of controversy at the time as community gardens were looked at as a temporary land use and there was a demand for land for housing in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. There were over 50 community gardens in the neighborhood AND hundreds of vacant lots in the community. Developers were proposing all kinds of housing projects. The local community board and neighborhood activists were trying to make sure that the current residents weren't gentrified out of their community. Signs appeared in building windows saying "This land is not for sale - It is the property of the people of the Lower East Side. A number of building were being renovated by sweat equity.
Housing was proposed for the Garden of Eden but the garden and Adam had many supporters and there were legal and political efforts to save the Garden of Eden. There were other vacant lots in the community where the housing could have been built. Architects and Urban planners proposed alternative designs for the housing development that would have preserved most of the garden but Adam Purple would not compromise. There was a pending lawsuit to preserve the garden but there was no injunction against bulldozing. In a move that would be repeated 15 years later the city demolished the garden before the lawsuit was resolved.
This was the beginning of the ongoing efforts by developers and politicians to pit gardens against housing. It is of course a false argument because in order to have a livable community it is important to have quality housing and accessible open space. This is a sad anniversary but an important one that taught us lessons that are still relevant today. For me it reaffirms why I do what I do. Community Gardens and open spaces are important and necessary parts of the city I call home and any city. But not everyone feels that way so we have to continue to support those whose hands create our community open spaces.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Winter Gardening
Here in the Northeastern United States winter gardening for most of us consists of reading, scheming and dreaming. That can mean reading a book about gardening, perusing catalogues, making a garden plan, ordering seeds or just sitting and drinking a cup of tea or coffee and staring at a snow covered garden and seeing a lush, fertile garden in your mind.
If you have the inclination to look at community gardens you can find websites for gardens from New Orleans (inspiring), Edinburgh, (Scotland - always wanted to go there), Silicon Valley (called 'Sustainable Community Gardens' ) , Plattsburgh, NY (cold) or O'ahu (hot and real dirt gardening in the winter). A trip around the country and the world can be inspiring to the gardener frozen out of his or her garden.
This is cyberspace after all so much of that stuff is done these days on computers and smart phones. I've spent some time over the past few days looking at websites to see what's out there to recommend. I searched "community garden(s) and "community gardening" and was happy to see this blog showing up in the 3rd or 4th page of community gardening results. By far the most viewed pages were the American Community Gardening Association website pages. It is the best place to start a search for information whether you are starting a community garden, looking for a garden near home or doing research about community gardens. It is the only website I have listed on this blog so far. The other website I highly recommend is City Farmer .This is their older site which has hundreds of articles between the years of 1994 and 2008. You can literally spend days looking through articles. They have a new site called City Farmer News with over 75 categories of information - everything from Africa to Zimbabwe. You can find excellent information on composting and all kinds of cool stuff. Today in one of those cool articles I discovered that January 8th, 2011 is the 25th anniversary of the destruction of The Garden of Edena seminal event in the history of New York City community gardening. An exhibit of photographs chronicling this garden or earthwork will be at the Fusion Arts Museum from Feb 2 to Feb 20.
If you have the inclination to look at community gardens you can find websites for gardens from New Orleans (inspiring), Edinburgh, (Scotland - always wanted to go there), Silicon Valley (called 'Sustainable Community Gardens' ) , Plattsburgh, NY (cold) or O'ahu (hot and real dirt gardening in the winter). A trip around the country and the world can be inspiring to the gardener frozen out of his or her garden.
There is so much more out there. A lot of it is repetitious but there is always something new to be discovered even to those that think they have seen it all. Many sites, like this blog invite comments and for those who like to be more interactive there are listservs and meetups to ask questions, give answers or opinions or just follow others conversations. The ACGA listserv is a good place to find interesting discussions and once you sign up you can search the archives. But that's another story for another post.
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