Did you know New York City, which many describe as a concrete jungle, is home to more than 550 community gardens? Maybe you even walk by one in your neighborhood on a daily basis, but never stepped inside. Well, you’ll get your chance this Saturday as part of the first-ever Open Garden Day NYC.
More than 40 community gardens will open their gates to the public for Open Garden Day NYC to encourage New Yorkers to explore, for free, the bevy of community gardens the city has to offer on more than 100 acres all across the five boroughs. The city’s community gardens include small spots that provide much-needed green space to the urban landscape as well as larger urban farm areas.
What to know if you go to Open Garden Day NYC
Open Garden Day NYC, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on July 14, also commemorates the 40th anniversary of GreenThumb, an NYC Parks program that was created in 1978 and is the nation’s largest community gardening program.
GreenThumb offers materials, programming, technical support and monthly workshops to the city’s community gardens. The organization has 20,000 volunteer community gardeners, and they produce more than 500,000 pounds of food annually.
Not only will dozens of community gardens open on Saturday as part of Open Garden Day NYC, each will offer free activities that run the gamut from workshops, tours and composting to arts and crafts, music and beekeeping classes to cooking demonstrations and more.
To find a community garden nearby and see what will available at each of the more than 40 gardens that are participating in Open Garden Day NYC on Saturday, visit nycgovparks.org/greenthumb/open-gardens.
