As April gently became May, a passion and appreciation for digging, planting, and growing was reignited in Susan Cobo, 24, volunteer at Two Coves Garden.
The day dawned cloudy and cold with a light rain, but Cobo put her pink gloves on to begin planting. Quickly, she gathered her tools and began weeding her plants. Her two huge plots here, consisting of beans, herbs, and peppers have filled her with satisfaction and pride each growing season.
“Gardening is special to me, and it is my favorite time of the year. Every year, I try to increase awareness that gardening is important to create a healthy life, healthy community, and healthy world,” Susan Cobo, volunteer at Two Coves Garden said. “Just check out my Instagram.”
Cobo, is an example of a new, younger breed of community gardeners in New York City. Millennials have taken part of a national trend of embracing the benefits and joys of planting their own food.
As baby boomers have retired and downsized, a new generation of gardeners called Millennials poised to pick up where they have left off. Millennials value plants for their positive impact on health, the environment, indoors and out.
The 2017 Garden Trends Report, published by Garden Media Group, offered these important insights that help explain what this generation wants from the green industry. The report states that millennials value clean, healthy, and local sourcing. They seek ways to support ecosystems and “save the world.”
“From what I have seen, gardening tends to span all age groups,” said Cassandra Stern, volunteer at the Long Island City Roots Community. “What we are seeing from the younger generations is that they are very excited about the opportunity to grow their own produce.”
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Five million of the six million people who took up gardening in 2016 were millennials, or those between the age of 21 and 34, according to the national gardening survey released by the Earth Media Group.
Working towards a goal, and having a vision, are very important qualities for millennials. Gardening takes time and effort but with the right resources and information, it is something virtually anyone can succeed at. Millennials turn to online resources, like vegetable and herb growing guides, gardening how-to’s videos and recipes to help them achieve and ensure success.
It is known, millennials are driven by opportunities to create memories they can share. All this sharing makes millennials influencers; they interact with everyone in their social sphere and “inspire.”
“Millennials are intrigued by learning to grow their own things, and they want to learn the basics. They come to workshops with their phones in hand to show and discuss the ideas they’ve found on Pinterest,” Iturralde said.
The Development of Community Gardens
During the financial crisis of the 1970s, many parts of the city suffered—both public land and newly public land acquired by foreclosure. A nonprofit environmental group dedicated to preserving urban gardens, the Green Guerillas, started in 1973 by lobbing “seed bombs” packed with fertilizer, seed, and water over fences around vacant lots where access was otherwise limited in an attempt to beautify some of these eyesores with greenery. The Green Guerrillas transformed unattractive unsafe spaces into green havens and created a program that fostered neighborhood participation by running workshops and experimenting with sturdy plants.
The GreenThumb program in 1978, provided assistance and coordination to community groups willing to tend to vacant city owned lots. The GreenThumb program became more established and the community gardens strengthened. Through the years, GreenThumb created more programs to encourage and protect community gardens.
In the 1990s, the City indicated that many community garden sites where selling to developers for housing and commercial opportunities. The nonprofit New York Restoration Project was crucial in preserving these sites and protecting gardens across the city during the movement.
GreenThumb has became the nation’s largest urban gardening program, providing support to over 600 gardens throughout the city. In addition to assisting the gardens, they donate materials such as tools and mulch.
Community gardens have become a popular thing over the last several years, encouraging people in communities to come together, build relationships and eat healthier.
Gardens are continuing to blossom in schools, backyards, and public housing property. They become spaces where city residents can come together to build and enjoy green space, grow food, and learn about the environment.
Broadly speaking, community gardens in New York City provide a Myriad of environmental, economic, and social benefits to the neighborhoods in which they thrive. They are beacons of green space within the city’s vast expanses of asphalt and buildings, providing participants and visitors with psychological and physical health benefits of nature.
“In a communal style garden, everybody is kind of in the same vicinity working. It tends to break down barriers that might have been there age-wise between generations or between ethnicities, because everyone is helping each other,” Iturralde said.
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Millennials are embracing gardening, especially food gardening, for reasons including locally-sourced foods, sustainability, and wellness. They are grabbing their shovels, growing their own food, and decorating their spaces with plants.
Stern says the spike in young gardeners doesn’t surprise her one bit; the average age of the gardeners who volunteer are 25.
“Most of the time, I’m searching tips on how to have a successful growing season. I love bringing friends and family gifts of my peppers or herbs.” Cobo said. “They never believe I’ve spent my free time caring for them.”
Community gardens are visible and vibrant examples of people investing their own time and resource where they live to transform empty vacant lots into beauty.
The city may have different plans for the gardens, yet one social media post from a millennial a day will continue the trend.