photograph by Vincent Pezzulo
Woo-hoo! We won!
Since last year, I've been working with my neighbors to spruce up the corner in our co-op called the Children's Play Area. The fenced-in communal backyard isn't impressive if you have a yard of your own, but for outdoor-spaced starved urban apartment dwellers with small children, it's incredible. An oasis where the toddlers can roam virtually free and play with other kids from the would-be block, safe from cars, bicycles and random city craziness.
We hired landscape designer Ivan Alter, who consulted with City Garden's Laura Cantana to develop plans for a natural "playscape" which aims to blur the lines between playgrounds and the natural environment. Very quickly, we learned how expensive it is to beautify and build a sustainable yard and garden in a city environment.
Then, I got THE CALL. The Citizen's Committee For New York City rang to say we'd won a grant to implement our children's vegetable gardening project. After raised beds were installed last week, the kids started planting beans, tomatoes, cilantro, basil and mint. Inspiration came, of course, from Martha's vegetable garden.
Have you ever planted a veggie garden with kids? Which vegetables were the most successful?
From: Jenny | 6/1/11 at 1:00 pm
I started gardening with my daughter about two years ago, when she was two. Now four, she LOVES planting seeds and watching with amazement as the plants grow. I have found it such a great way to get her to each vegetables.
From: denise | 6/1/11 at 2:02 pm
cool! which veggies are her favorite to grow?
From: Ansley | 6/1/11 at 10:17 pm
First off, I agree with Jenny about how gardening can broaden young kids' tastes -- my kids' experiences with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's children's gardening programs has been great in that regard. Second, though, as one of Denise's neighbors working on this project, I'm interested in others who may have worked on (or organized) other communal kids gardens. Gardening is becoming a big deal in schools, and certainly there are many amazing community gardens that provide a real benefit to the communities that host them, but I'm interested in gardens (outside the school context) where kids work and play together gardening and/or doing garden-related activities. I like the idea of a garden bringing families and neighborhoods together, but I’m not sure how many community vegetable gardens organize group events – do most involve plots being assigned to individual families, or are there gardens out there that do more in the way of group (and especially kid-friendly) activities? Are there other large, big city co-ops that play host to communal gardens for their residents and kids? If you’re out there, post about what you’re doing!
From: Community Organizing: How Do You Avoid Volunteer Burnout? - Whole Living Daily : Whole Living | 8/14/11 at 1:11 pm
[...] we made a big fundraising push, generated a fair amount of money, positive energy, and even won a grant award. When there's a lot of enthusiasm, it's contagious, spurring everyone around to get involved. [...]
From: Community Garden Harvest Potluck Cocktails - Whole Living Daily : Whole Living | 8/15/11 at 5:28 pm
[...] harvested the herbs and veggies from our communal garden and had a potluck dinner party. The drinks, including spiked thyme-ginger lemonade and basil [...]
From: Kevin Collins | 11/13/11 at 11:00 pm
Gardening is a great way to teach children about nature. You don't need to have a great deal of space to start your gardening adventure, our backyard is relativly small, but we utilized all of its potential. One of the best ways to do this, is by using containers to garden in. Gardening can be a lot of hard work, but the results are worth it.
From: Concord Village EarthLab site goes live « Concord Village EarthLab | 1/31/12 at 12:10 pm
[...] Our Children’s Urban Veggie Garden, Avoid Volunteer Burnout, Harvest Party [...]