Dear all,
We had hoped to hold our open garden event on Saturday. It seems that it will be too hot this weekend for our space. We have some shade but not enough.
We plan to hold our event the following weekend on July 27 with the same program and cooler temperatures (fingers crossed).
We are truly sorry for this late cancellation. We are disappointed to feel it is necessary to do this.
Hope to see you next week!
The Steering Committee
Dear garden members,
Thank you all so much for an incredibly productive workday yesterday! We made such great progress. Thank you thank you!
We wanted to give you an update on the rat abatement project. On Friday, we had a visit from a senior case manager at the Department of Health (DOH). We gave her a tour and got lots of advice from her. Here are some things we learned:
1. There are rat holes in the back east and south sides of the east garden. The rats that are running up through the rock bed and behind the port-a-potty are running from there. We got instructions about what the exterminators need to do: Harass one week (collapsing the holes), bait the next (stick bait pellets into the holes) and keep doing that until holes don’t come back. There should also be bait stations every 15 ft along the rat paths. Bethany will be following up and monitoring what the exterminators do to make sure this happens.
2. DOH has pebbles they are going to give us. After we get rid of the burrows (using techniques mentioned above), we can mesh the perimeter and put pebbles in the trouble/perimeter areas.
3. Flies are a sign of a rat burrow.
4. DOH approved of the plan to clear out under the gazebo so that the exterminators can see what is going on there and help get rid of that colony (using the technique described above). That work is underway thanks to several fearless and heroic gardeners.
4. DOH said long term they will try to get us money to help us pick up the gazebo and put a slab down, plus scrape the earth off around the perimeter of the garden and put in protective mesh as well as new fencing. She is going to make sure we are on the list. Short term she definitely says we need to clean the gazebo out. And we need to clean up the boards to get rid of the rat smell.
5. The back east corner of the west garden (where the weed area) is has holes and evidence of rats. She said that all the sticks and hay on the ground are being used as “harborage.” That needs to be cleared and cleaned as much as possible so that the exterminators can do their thing.
6. DOH doesn’t think rats are living under the cistern, but they are using it to hide and for passage. Meshing around the cistern would be good.
7. When we rebuild beds, DOH agreed we need to put mesh in the ones that are afflicted and agreed it was a good idea to get the boards into the ground pretty far down so it’s not easy for the rats to dig in and out. Craig and Melissa’s is like that and it has helped.
8. DOH is going to host a Rat Academy for us at the garden. Stay tuned!
In addition, the City has a plan to fix sidewalk holes and we are hopefully going to be on the list for our rat-infested sidewalk hole. We will follow up with Greenthumb to make sure that happens. It will likely happen sometime next year.
The City’s extermination contract is now over as the fiscal year ended at the end of June. We are following up with them and hoping that the contract will be restarted again.
We are continuing to follow up with Mark Levine’s office for help with 12 West 104th st. The building was recently sold, so we have provided Greenthumb, DOH, and Mark Levine with the new contact information. Please continue to submit 311 complaints as much as you all can.
Here is a helpful post by the city’s “rat czar.” It is nice to read about how other gardens are dealing with similar problems and this article has helpful tips!
https://www.bbg.org/gardening/article/managing_rats_in_city_gardens
Would anyone who isn’t on the committee like to join the rat committee? We have non-gross jobs to hand out! Please let Bethany (bdavisnollATgmail.com) know.
Thanks again for all your work everyone.
All best,
Steering Committee
Dear garden members,
Thank you so much for all your dedicated and hard work yesterday! In happy news from the rat committee, Mary found the source of the problem in the east garden rock bed (both a nest and a hole into the wall!). Step by step. . . .
We are also in touch with Mark Levine’s office about getting their help with 12 West 104th st. Emily and I met with the aide and will be following up with the office.
I could use help lugging debris to the curb on Tuesday evening anytime after 4pm. DSNY is coming on Wednesday to pick it up. I will be there at 6pm on Tues.
Other jobs for anyone needing a makeup:
Please let us know if you have completed a makeup assignment so we can record it!
Please remember to accept your invites to your monitoring shifts. Any changes: please alert Noreen (nwhysel@gmail.com). Thank you Noreen!
We’ll send out the roster with all the committee assignments very soon. Thank you for your patience.
Thank you!
Steering Committee
Dear fellow garden members:
Thank you for a great work day in May. We got a lot done and appreciate all your help either then or via a make-up job. We hope to have the same success on our upcoming June workday.
THE JUNE WORKDAY IS THIS SUNDAY (June 9, 2019) AT 10 AM!
We trust you are planning to come.
We have a full workday planned for Sunday. All projects will need your help, so think about which one you would like to sign up for:
1. East Garden rock bed (east side of East Garden): continue deconstruction as part of rat abatement effort; Bethany Davis Noll heading up.
2. West Garden rock bed (east side of West Garden): deconstruction as part of rat abatement effort; Katy Perderson heading up.
3. Gazebo work, including (1) replacing nails in floorboards with deck screws, for ease of removal, (2) flooding under the gazebo; teammates TBD.
4. Clutter removal; teammates TBD.
5. Water barrels filled; teammates TBD
6. Plant sale: teammates TBD
7. Dirt for rose garden, to continue to amend poor soil there: As needed, by available rose garden members.
8. Other items as suggested by members.
Thank you for thinking ahead of time about how or where you would like to help. It takes a big commitment to make a garden!
Please also note the following two items:
A. Every member must sign up for two monitoring sessions, and must be at those sessions unless the member him/herself has found a replacement. Please inform Melissa and Noreen about the replacement arraignment. At the end of your monitoring, please drop an email to Melissa and Noreen that you have completed your session.
B. Expect an email related to your committee activity.
A big thank you to each and every one of you for making W 104th St Garden such a wonderful oasis in this big city.
Sincerely,
The Steering Committee
Dear all,
We are writing with an update on rat abatement.
Bottom line: please exercise caution in the garden. Keep pets out and refrain from eating food grown in the garden until we have the rat situation better under control.
We’ve been flooding, treating, and collapsing holes on a very regular basis and we now know where rats are living and which holes are just transit holes.
The City is sending an exterminator and that exterminator has been putting poison bait in the holes. Digging around could uproot poison.
We are continuing to maintain the bait stations in there with Broadway Exterminating. They are catching lots of rats. Broadway did an extensive treatment with dry ice, but because many of the holes are just transit holes it did not seem like we got many rats that way.
Please note, when rats are being poisoned you don’t want to eat food that the rats have touched.
We put mesh on the west side in the western-most rock bed. The mesh seems to be helping where it has been put down. But we can’t do it to the other rock bed in the west garden because there are just too many rocks in there; same for the rock bed along the wall in the east garden. We are trying to treat and close off those beds instead. Please leave them alone for now as the exterminators are dealing with them.
There is a major rats nest under the gazebo. We are going to come up with a plan. Do not go in there until we’ve fixed it.
If you have an infested bed, please contact me to discuss a plan.
Flooding with the garden hose seems like it can help so we might want to do that in the infested garden beds on the workday. But we need to coordinate because of what the exterminators are doing (and because I’d like to know where the rats run to).
If you live in either 4 or 12 west 104th street, will you please contact me? I’d like to figure out how we can coordinate better with those buildings.
At workday, we’ll update you about what steps we plan to take next.
Thank you!
Bethany
For more informational about the garden rat abatement program, Contact us at w.104.garden@gmail.com.
The workday calendar has been released. Be sure to add these dates to your calendar and check in at info@west104garden.org if you need a makeup assignment.
May 11 (rain date: May 18)
June 9 (rain date: June 23)
July 14 (rain date: TBD)
August 17 (rain date: August 24)
September 14 (rain date: September 21)
October 5 (rain date: October 19)
November TBD Closing Potluck
December TBD Mulch Day
Thank you!
GreenThumb’s monthly newsletter of workshops and events not to miss in January!
Access all workshop info and more in: GreenThumb’s Winter Program Guide
GreenThumb staff at Harding Park Garden in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx assessing the site’s potential for community garden improvements and expansion. Photo by Ariana Arancibia, GreenThumb
Happy New Year Gardeners!
On behalf of the entire GreenThumb team, I want to thank and congratulate everyone on an amazing 2018. Your volunteer efforts continued to beautify and strengthen communities across New York City as you stewarded over 100 acres of public open space, grew over 500,000 pounds of food, and hosted thousands of free community events. GreenThumb gardens thrive because of your hard work, and it is a privilege to support you in your efforts.
2019 promises to be another exciting year for GreenThumb. Planning is already underway for our 35th annual GreenThumb GrowTogether on March 30, 2019 at the CUNY Graduate Center, but you don’t have to wait until the spring to get involved with GreenThumb. Check out our 2018-9 Winter Program Guide for ways to stay active with workshops and events throughout the winter. And, please continue to let us know about your events and share your great ideas for 2019. We look forward to partnering with you in the new year as we work together to bring the benefits of community gardening to more New Yorkers.
My best for a happy and healthy 2019,
Bill LoSasso
Director of GreenThumb
Mulchfest
After the holidays, send your tree off in style at Mulchfest! Bring your evergreen to the nearest drop off location and we’ll convert it into mulch to make NYC even greener. Drop your tree off any day between Jan. 4 to Jan. 13.Join us at these GreenThumb gardens on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 12 and 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., to take home a bag of mulch.
Bronx
Jardin de la Roca – 422 East 160th St.Brooklyn
Amazing Garden – 261-265 Columbia St.
East NY Farms – 622 Schenk Ave.
Green Space at President Street – 222 5th Ave.
Manhattan
West 111th Street People’s Garden – 1039 Amsterdam Ave.
Queens
Two Coves Community Garden – 11-01 30th Ave.
Our 35th Annual GreenThumb GrowTogether conference will be Saturday, March 30, 2019, at the CUNY Graduate Center – 365 5th Ave. in Manhattan. We’re looking forward to putting together another powerful and invigorating conference with you to kick off the 2019 growing season!
How to register:
ONLINE: http://bit.ly/GrowTogether2019
IN PERSON:
GreenThumb
100 Gold St., Suite 3100
New York, NY 10038
Monday through Wednesday, from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Please bring your ID to get through security.Register by March 28, or until capacity is reached. Space is limited, please register early!
The deadline has been extended to propose a workshop for the 2019 GrowTogether Conference!
If you’re interested in facilitating a workshop for this year’s GrowTogether Conference on March 30th, please fill out the Workshop Proposal Form by Sunday, January 13. We’re looking for a wide variety of workshops on topics related to gardening, composting, design, food and racial justice, medicinal plants, group development, community organizing, and more.
As hand-on volunteers with deep community ties, GreenThumb gardeners are great candidates to serve on boards, which play an important advisory role on neighborhood issues including land use, city budgets, local service provision, and other community issues. Community boards are consulted when new gardens are begun, and they identify funding priorities in neighborhoods every year during the City budget process.
For Community Board Membership Applications and Deadlines, please visit links below:
Brooklyn / Bronx / Manhattan / Queens / Staten Island
As the weather becomes colder and the winter season approaches, a friendly reminder that the removal of snow and ice from sidewalks following a winter weather event is the responsibility of GreenThumb gardeners. Garden groups must have a group plan for keeping sidewalks safe after a snowfall.
Please visit our website for tips and to download the Snow Removal Guide from the New York City Department of Sanitation.
• 2018-2019 Youth Leadership Council Application is Now Open!
The GreenThumb Youth Leadership Council (YLC) is an opportunity for high school youth 12-21 years old and college students to volunteer at a community garden in New York City. Participants will learn firsthand from community gardeners how to maintain and grow a healthy garden. To apply, please fill out the 2018-2019 YLC Youth Application.
• Volunteer to Help a Garden Grow with the GreenThumb Group Volunteer Program! It is a great way to involve yourself and your colleagues in community service and gardening, while learning new skills and improving your community’s green spaces. To sign up to volunteer, visit: GT Volunteers.
• 2019 Bylaw Re-licensing Requirements Due
• If you work for or know a community based organization in New York City, consider applying to host a Weekend Walk event in 2019! Weekend Walks are multi-block, multi-day events on commercial corridors that promote the use of streets as public space. NYCDOT provides funding to community based organizations to close commercial streets and program them to highlight NYC’s unique neighborhoods and local businesses. If you are interested in hosting a Weekend Walks event, please review the guidelines and eligibility requirements, and fill out the Weekend Walks 2019 application by January 11, by 5:00 p.m.. For any questions, please email: kgorman@dot.nyc.gov.
• Through Neighborhood Grants, Citizens Committee awards micro-grants of up to $3,000 to resident-led groups to work on community and school projects throughout the city. For more information and to apply, visit their website.
Application Deadline is January 21, at 11:59 p.m..
• Have an idea for your local park, playground or community garden? Then apply for Partnerships for Parks Capacity Fund Grant, small grants of up to $3,000 for community groups to use for projects for their local green space. To learn more and schedule an individual consultation, please visit here. Application deadline is February 1, at midnight.
• Borough President Capital Grants provide support for various important capital projects throughout the city, including capital projects at community gardens such as water installation, new fencing, and more. If you are interested in advocating for a grant for your garden, please visit the links below and contact the office of your Borough President for more details on the application process. Brooklyn / Bronx / Manhattan / Queens / Staten Island
• New York City Council Members can also offer capital grants for capital projects in community gardens. Contact your local Council Member to ask about the process to apply for capital project support in FY 2020.
• Gardens that are part of Brooklyn Queens Land Trust or would like to register with the Cooperative Economic Alliance of New York City (CEANYC), Mini-Grant Opportunities are available for various capacity-building projects. Visit their website for more information.
• NYC Service Neighborhood Volunteer Collaborative – Learn about the free tools and resources that are available to support volunteer engagement while connecting with other community groups. Contact Marcus Johnson (mjohnson1@cityhall.nyc.gov) if you have any questions and to see how you can become involved.
• New Yorkers have an opportunity to propose projects for inclusion in the participatory budgeting process by visiting the New York City Council Participatory Budgeting website. Add an idea about how things could work better for your community to the map and after your idea is submitted, it will be given to community volunteers, called Budget Delegates. These proposals will be up for community-wide vote in the spring
ALL of our workshops are free and open to the public.
Highlight of the Month:
Tuesday, January 22, Manhattan: Find your Green Thumb: Starting a Community Garden
6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
Project FarmhouseDo you have big dreams for that lot you walk past every day? Come hear from a panel of community gardeners who started community gardens at different points in the last 40 years.Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about some of the challenges and rewards of starting a new GreenThumb garden and strategies for organizing community members. GreenThumb will present the steps to forming a new community garden with today’s rules and regulations. This workshop will point new gardeners towards resources and tools for finding information and garnering community support to form new gardening groups.
Visit our event listing on Eventbrite and to RSVP.
• January 10, Manhattan: Youth-Led Culinary Education
• January 12, Brooklyn: Events on a Shoestring (Part 1 of 2)
• January 16, Queens: Make it Rain: Grants for your Green Space
• January 17, Manhattan: Organizing for Garden Success: Bylaws (Part 2 of 2)
• January 24, Manhattan: Dig up your Lot: Research Community Garden History
Soil and lumber request forms are available at ALL GreenThumb-led workshops for GreenThumb Community Gardeners.
Grow to Learn NYC
Grow to Learn is the citywide school gardens initiative and managed through a partnership between GrowNYC, NYC Parks GreenThumb, and the Department of Education’s Office of School Food. Grow to Learn provides ongoing resources, technical assistance, and training to support gardens in NYC schools.
Join the Grow to Learn Network and become eligible to apply for a Grow to Learn Mini-Grant, request soil and lumber deliveries to your school, and more, by registering your school garden!
• January 8, Brooklyn: Fun with Fungi – Growing Mushrooms in the Classroom
• January 10, Manhattan: For Students! Culinary Education for Youth
• January 12, Brooklyn: Events on a Shoestring (Part 1 of 2)
• January 17, Bronx: Trellis Building
• January 29, Manhattan: Restorative Garden Design
Access all workshop info and more in: GreenThumb’s Winter Program Guide
Please visit our website for tips and to download the Snow Removal Guide from the New York City Department of Sanitation.
December 8, Bronx: Herbal Soap Making
December 13, Manhattan: Organizing for Garden Success: Group Structure (Part 1 of 2)
Grow to Learn NYC
Join the Grow to Learn Network and become eligible to apply for a Grow to Learn Mini-Grant, request soil and lumber deliveries to your school, and more, by registering your school garden!
December 4, Manhattan: Food Justice 101: A Workshop for Kids and Teens
December 6, Queens: Bug Hotels
Hello 104th Street Garden Members,
This is Craig, and I have several recent garden happenings to tell you about. Mostly, it is all very good news.
Pergola Installed:
Les and I were in the garden today with a crew from the Parks department that installed the new Pergola. The Parks department supervisor and crew did a great job on the installation. After the installation, I called up Ariana who is a Project Planner at NYC Parks – GreenThumb to thank her getting us the Pergola and setting up the installation and to tell her the Parks supervisor and crew did a great job on the installation. And thank you to Les for helping and giving me a break so I could get out of the cold.
Here is the new pergola installed:
Cistern Repaired:
The Cistern has also been repaired by Sammy the super for the building to which it is attached. Sammy came up and talked to Les and I during the installation of the pergola and showed us what he had done. The pipe hook-up is a little different, but it all looks great. He has a new overflow drain set-up that drains on both side of the cistern, and the last thing he needs is about 10 feet of 4” width flexible black tubing for the overflow drain. He gave me a small sample of what he needs, and I will shop for it by the weekend. This is the first time that I have talked to Sammy about the cistern repair, but I know that Beverly and Simone, from the Steering Committee, have worked on the Cistern repair, and I wanted to thank them too. Figuring out how to fix the cistern was a difficult problem, and I think we should figure out a way to thank Sammy for his hard work.
Rat Abatement Update:
There have been a few small billing and admin issues with the exterminator. Simone, and Ariel and Linda sorted out those issues for us, and I want to thank them for handling all that stuff. An exterminator called me yesterday, and I walked with him as he serviced all of the bait traps in the garden. I wanted to get a sense of how well the traps were working. The bait stations have two ways to kill the rats. They have two posts that hold a packet of rat bait (which is poison) a lot of the rat bait was missing so the rats are eating it. The bait stations have a snap-trap too. There were eleven rats caught in the snap-traps this time. Most were caught in the east garden this time. But the west garden had a gigantic rat caught in a snap-trap. I couldn’t believe such a fat rat could get in the bait station. That’s more than twenty rats total that have been caught in snap-traps inside the bait stations that I know of. We’re getting good service on the bait stations from exterminator, and we are killing rats. The same exterminator called me later in the afternoon since he was going back to do a dry ice treatment. He filled in rat holes as we walked around too.
License Meetings Delayed:
GreenThumb has delayed the garden license meetings. They have all been postponed until early next year. They have extended our license. When we have a firm new date and details we will let you know.
Reminder garden Clean-up and mulch meeting:
We have a Garden clean-up and mulch meeting on Saturday December 1st from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
(If needed, we have a rain date of Sunday December 2nd from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.)
Some agenda for Clean-up meeting:
*Spread out some mulch.
*Put the beds to bed.
*Empty the water barrels and get them secured for winter.
*Put other things away for the winter.
Hope to see everyone at the meeting,
Craig
GreenThumb’s monthly newsletter of workshops and events not to miss in October!
Access all workshop info and more in: GreenThumb’s Fall Program Guide
Berry Street Garden in Brooklyn. Photo by GreenThumb.
On Monday, October 1st, we celebrated and honored this year’s GreenThumb Garden Recognition Awards. Please join us in recognizing this year’s winners below.
Greening Partner Award Winner, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer, standing with Bill LoSasso, Director of GreenThumb and Liam Kavanagh, First Deputy Commissioner, at the Garden Recognition Awards Ceremony. Photo by Elena Dubas, GreenThumb.
Greening Partner Award
Manhattan Borough President
Gale A. Brewer
Community Engagement Award
Hancock Community Backyard Garden (Brooklyn)
Sustainability Award
Smiling Hogshead Ranch (Queens)
Landscape Design Award
Rockwell Place Brooklyn Bear’s Garden (Brooklyn)
Lifetime Achievement Award (Garden)
Joseph Daniel Wilson Memorial Garden (Manhattan)
Youth Programming Award
Rockaway Youth Task Force (Queens)
Urban Agriculture Award
East New York Farms! (Brooklyn)
Rookie of the Year
Green Patch on Walton Community Garden (Bronx)
Public Art Award
LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens)
Lifetime Achievement Award (Individual)
Bob Humber – M’Finda Kalunga Garden(Manhattan)
Pick up basic winter maintenance supplies, including ice breakers, bags of calcium chloride pellets (salt), and snow shovels for your registered GreenThumb garden at the GreenThumb Winter Supply Distribution on October 27th from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. To RSVP and for location details, please visit: WinterSupplyDistribution.
This distribution is only for registered GreenThumb gardens. Gardens in schools, NYCHA developments, or privately-owned yards are not eligible.
Facilitated by Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm, Uprooting Racism will be a practical training for community garden leaders to address racism in our communities. We will delve into the history of our community gardens and look at our personal and collective roles as stewards of the land. We will spend time developing tangible action plans for uprooting these dynamics within our own gardens. All levels of experience welcome to apply.
To apply, please fill out the Uprooting Racism Application by December 16, 2018, at 11:59 p.m..
Each month, we will highlight art found in community gardens throughout the city. For October, we are featuring Howard Garden, a community garden in Brownsville, Brooklyn. This garden has been a place for the residents of Howard Avenue to come together to listen to poetry readings and take in the interesting sights the garden has to offer. From a wooden train that doubles as a playset for children to the drawings and paintings of lighthouses, Howard Garden invites people of all ages to explore its art. To read more, visit the new Art in the Gardens page on our website. If your garden is interested in hosting a public art piece or you would like more information about the Art in the Gardens program, please reach out to GreenThumb’s Project Planner, Ariana Arancibia, at Ariana.Arancibia@parks.nyc.gov.
Wire Sculptures by Horace Young found in Howard Garden. Photo by Ariana Arancibia, GreenThumb.
Dogs are allowed in all community gardens on NYC Parks property. Dogs should have a license tag, be vaccinated against rabies, and remain on a leash or harness. GreenThumb cannot approve any garden bylaws that prohibit dogs. For further information on NYC Parks policies concerning dogs, please consult Dogs in New York City Parks and Section §1-04 (i)(2) of the Rules & Regulations of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
If you have any questions, please contact: greenthumbinfo@parks.nyc.gov.
These grants are for artists, not for garden groups. These opportunities are to inform gardeners of the ways in which garden groups can support local artists that they may want to collaborate with, in order to bring art into their gardens.
ALL of our workshops are free and open to the public.
Tuesday, October 9, Queens: Season Extension and Cover Crops
5:30 p.m.–7:00 p.m.
Corona Taxpayers Association
Harvest your greens and root vegetables well into December with low tunnels and row cover. We’ll discuss and build some simple season extension methods. We’ll also discuss and plant a cover crop seed mix. Registered GreenThumb community gardeners will be eligible to receive row cover and cover crop seeds, while supplies last!
RSVP on Eventbrite
Grow to Learn is the citywide school gardens initiative for New York City. It provides ongoing resources, technical assistance, and training to get learning gardens growing in every NYC school.
Join the Grow to Learn Network and become eligible to apply for a Grow to Learn Mini-Grant, request soil and lumber deliveries to your school, and more, by registering your school garden!
Do you have ideas for GreenThumb workshops? Would you like to host a workshop in your garden, share your skills by teaching other gardeners, or simply let us know which workshops you’d like us to offer? Let us know in the GreenThumb Workshop Survey.
If you or your Community Garden are on social media, follow @greenthumbgrows on Instagram and Twitter, and @GreenThumbNYC on Facebook, to find out about the latest workshops, events, and news at GreenThumb.
