This was year three for me. And only year two for the full tour. The first year I attended, I joined mid-tour; last year, I did the whole she-bang—including breakfast and a Harlem cookout! Last year, I had gumbo for breakfast for the first time, so this year I had to add ratatouille to the gumbo for breakfast. (Yes, I did make a donation to this free event.)
Many of the gardens—and they are all community gardens—were repeats this year. I happened to know about the cotton and peanuts, planted in a public space, from last year. That information was not presented this year, partially due to the much larger turnout. See 10th-anniversary, above. Repeat standouts for me were the Joseph Daniel Wilson Memorial Garden (W. 122nd St.), Clayton Williams Garden and PCB William B. Washington Garden (both on W. 126th St.), Linnette C. Williamson/Unity Garden (W. 128th St.) (though they had some condition issues because of a condemned building next door and the re-seeding of their Harlem Village Green space), and the always stunning and educational Success Garden/Harlem Grown space (W. 134th St.). Success Garden/Harlem Grown works in conjunction with the school across the street; the students do the gardening, and all of the produce goes home with them or is donated to the community. How cool is that?
The first stop this year was new to the tour—Chenchita's Garden, at 112th St. and Madison Ave. This is a large, beautiful spot that incorporates teaching, yarn projects, and sharing produce (for a slight fee) with the community. This place made a huge impression on me. At the end of the tour, I celebrated with rotisserie chicken, cole slaw, pasta salad, and yellow rice. Oh, also along the way they provided water, and some of the individual gardens provided tea, snacks, and infused waters. Did I mention that this was free?
This year, there were two yellow school buses for patrons who needed transportation, a bicycling contingent, and a walking contingent. I was part of that one, though I didn't make the trek from W. 134th St. to W. 162nd St. and then back down to 151st St. Instead, I sought out an Ethiopian restaurant and had a 'Renaissance Wit' beer, brewed by the Harlem Brewing Co., based out of Saratoga, NY. Lest I forget, though I forgot to go there during rose season, the tour also had a stop at the Harlem Rose Garden on E. 129th St.
Ah, the gardens. I saw the following growing: collards, cabbage, thyme, basil, sage, corn, okra, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, hard squash (butternut, I think), broccoli, chard, kale, pea plants, sunflowers, marigolds, and snapdragons. As for trees, I saw (and many with fruit) apple, crabapple, peach, pear, blueberry, weeping willow, Rose of Sharon, crape myrtle, and bamboo (technically, a grass).
As for other interesting tidbits, the Success Garden/Harlem Grown also has a hydroponic greenhouse (alas, it may have to be dismantled because the plot of land it sits on has been sold). Oh, duh! Community gardens are undeveloped land that the city owns, but that citizens have reclaimed. Some operate under contracts with the city, while others are technically squatters. Also of note, the Linnette C. Williamson Garden is celebrating its 50th! year in 2015, and is presumed to be the first vest-pocket park in the nation.
I feel compelled to note that these gardens are not always open to the public. In fact, because most of them are run by volunteers, they might not even be open during the hours that are posted as "open." Still, even viewed from behind a fence, many of them are interesting and quite beautiful.
Did I mention that they fed me? Twice! Yeah, I'll check them out again next year.
ConcertMeister
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