April 20th, 2008
The gardens may be small, a few rows of plants tended by a few people, or large and highly organized like Seattle’s well-known network of P-Patch gardens which span 70 neighborhoods, with 2,500 plots worked by more than 6,000 gardeners.
Some have become community causes, backed by fundraisers and wealthy donors, like the Clinton Community Garden in midtown Manhattan in a recovered area once known as “Hell’s Kitchen.” (The area and garden are named for a different Senator from New York, DeWitt Clinton, of the 18th and 19th centuries, who also served as Mayor of New York City.)
The Clinton Garden began in the late 1970s when an environmental group dedicated to preserving urban green spaces secured a lease, excavated the lot, created pathways and garden plots. The garden is now owned by the city and leased to the Clinton Community Garden Inc. and supported by the Vincent Astor Foundation, Trust for Public Land and the original saviors of the lot, the Green Guerillas, among others. It boasts grape arbors, honeybee hives and edible plants and plays host to dance recitals and weddings.
New York City’s community gardens get some financial and technical support from the city’s Council on the Environment which has been supporting open and green spaces for more than 25 years.
Many other cities do the same, supplying either land, irrigation or at least, technical advice to community garden projects. Most charge fees, usually $25 to $100 a plot to help cover the cost of maintenance and water, and enforce rules about keeping weeds down and keeping chemicals out. Most keep organic, but some allow certain sections to use “natural” insectides, but almost never anything like Round-up or synthetic fertilizers. Commonly, gardeners fertilize with compost and protect beds with cover crops in winter.
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