Join the Celebration of Community Gardening this Season
March Monthly Newsletter
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Thank you to everyone who attended last month's open house and volunteer workday at George Washington Carver Community Garden in Williamsburg, Brooklyn! Photo by GreenThumb Volunteer Coordinator Kyleen Sanchez

During this huge clean-up of the garden, volunteers and GreenThumb staff pruned trees and shrubs along the fence, removed the morning glory that was taking over the space, reorganized the garden's tool shed, and disposed of old, damaged, and unused structures. If you're interested in joining George Washington Carver Community Garden or one near you, please visit the community garden map on our website.

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A large group of smiling people standing, sitting, and kneeling in a large bright room. Some people are holding garden recognition awards and signs saying I love my garden.

The 7th Annual GreenThumb Garden Recognition Award honorees with NYC Parks GreenThumb staff at the Prospect Park Picnic House on April 18, 2024. Photo by Malcolm Pinckney, NYC Parks

Join Us at the GreenThumb Garden Recognition Awards Ceremony

Celebrate our exceptional gardeners and community garden groups who have made a lasting impact in 2024 and beyond! This award ceremony will be open to the public, so anyone can celebrate with the volunteers who have beautified neighborhoods, grown healthy food, protected the environment, and helped heal their communities. 

8th Annual GreenThumb Garden Recognition Awards
Saturday, March 29, 2025
7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

The New York Historical
170 Central Park West
at Richard Gilder Way (77th St.)
New York, NY 10024

Registration is required. Please register on Eventbrite.

GreenThumb Garden Recognition Awards Honorees
To learn about the award categories and see past honorees, please visit our website.

Going the Extra Mile (Group or Individual)

  • Children's Magical Garden, Manhattan
  • Krystal Community Garden, Bronx
  • Queens New Roots, Queens
  • Marcella Hernandez, Hill Street Community Garden, Staten Island
  • Vernice Walters, It's All About Brownsville, Brooklyn

Lifetime Achievement Award (Group) 

  • Brooklyn Bear's Community Gardens:
    Carlton Avenue Garden, Pacific Street Garden, Rockwell Place Garden    , Brooklyn

Lifetime Achievement Award (Individual)

  • Carlos Melendez, Pleasant Village Community Garden, Manhattan

Rookie of the Year Award (Group)

  • Raising Haven Community Garden - Alfred Smith Houses, Manhattan 

Youth Award (Individual or Group)

  • Isla Verde Garden, Bronx

Public Art & Cultural Programming Award (Group)

  • Berry Street Garden, Brooklyn

Urban Agriculture Award (Group)

  • Evergreen Community Garden, Queens

Community Engagement Award (Group)

  • Lentol Garden, Brooklyn

Garden & Landscape Design Award (Group)

  • West 132nd Street Garden, Manhattan

Environmental Innovation Award (Group)

  • Welcome Home Garden, Brooklyn

Community Garden Partner Award (Individual or Group)

  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Community Greening Programs 

Congratulations to all the honorees and thank you for all your hard work and dedication in stewarding community gardens across the city!

In Memoriam

GreenThumb will be celebrating the lives and legacies of the community gardeners we lost in 2024. Please help us honor these gardeners by sending us their names, gardens, and photos, with a brief statement about their lives as gardeners with "In Memoriam” in the subject line to greenthumbinfo@parks.nyc.gov by Monday, March 17. The photos and your remembrance of these community gardeners will be shared at this year's Garden Recognition Awards Ceremony, which is open to the public to attend, on Saturday, March 29th.

A large group of smiling people standing, sitting, and kneeling in a large bright room. Some people are holding garden recognition awards and signs saying I love my garden.

Volunteers built raised beds at Phoenix Community Garden in Brooklyn last month to expand the garden's capacity to grow fresh food. Photo by Alex Munoz, GreenThumb

Volunteer with NYC Parks GreenThumb

Next month, join GreenThumb for EarthMonth! We have several GreenThumb-led volunteer events planned, in addition to community garden hosted volunteer events, to celebrate Earth Day all month long! Use the skills you gain in our free workshops at these volunteer workdays, while finding ways to get involved in your local community garden. Visit the EarthMonth event page to see a list of all the EarthMonth workshops and volunteer events in April.

Garden groups can sign up to host your own volunteer events in April! Fill out the 2025 EarthMonth at GreenThumb Form by March 15, 2025.

If you are new to community gardening, this is a great opportunity to get to know community gardeners at these gardens and learn how to become a member. Volunteers will work alongside gardeners and GreenThumb staff to assist in different activities such as planting, mulching, and building raised beds.

To sign up for a group of 10 or more, please contact Volunteer Program Coordinator Kyleen.Sanchez@parks.nyc.gov.

Join hands with GreenThumb gardeners across the city with your corporate, school, or other community group as a volunteer for one or multiple days! If you're interested in volunteering at a GreenThumb garden, please visit our website to learn more and fill out the Intake Form.

Searching for more volunteer opportunities?
Learn about joining a GreenThumb community garden on our website. Find more volunteer opportunities through Let's Green NYC, NYC Parks' strategic initiative to engage a record number of volunteers in city parks and our agency's effort to improve the health and well-being of New Yorkers and their greenspaces.

GreenThumb Spring 2025 Trainings

GreenThumb Trainings are reserved for members of GreenThumb community gardens. All trainings are free of cost.

  • Raising Chickens in the Garden
    What does it take to keep chickens in a community garden? In this training in collaboration with the chicken caretakers at Tranquility Farm in Brooklyn, GreenThumb community gardeners will learn the basics of chicken care, chicken health and biology, coop structure and maintenance, and more. 
    Learn more and apply by Monday, March 14, at 5:00 p.m.

Mark your Calendars

National GrowTogether Conference: Thursday, June 5 – Sunday, June 8 
CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10016 
The 2025 National GrowTogether Conference: Planting Seeds of Resilience — 
an inspiring four-day gathering of community gardeners and leaders nationwide to celebrate the power of urban green spaces and community gardening.  
Presented by NYC Parks GreenThumb in partnership with the American Community Gardening Association, Urban Garden Project, and with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Join us as we celebrate the resilience of our communities and cultivate a greener, healthier, and more connected future. Stay tuned for registration and more information about this exciting event! 

To learn about all the exciting free events that we have planned in 2025, see our January Newsletter.

Workshops & Events

Please visit the Garden Events page for new additions, latest updates and to see upcoming workshops, activities, and public programs from GreenThumb, our partners, and garden groups. All free and open to the public!
You may request translation services for any GreenThumb workshop for any language at least three weeks in advance at greenthumbinfo@parks.nyc.gov.

Gardeners start their seeds ahead of the gardening season during one of our workshops last year. Photo by Kyleen Sanchez, GreenThumb

Highlights of the Month:

Grow Your Garden: Planting & Transplanting Seedlings Workshops

QUEENS
March 4, 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., George Eagle Carr Community Garden, 89-23 148th St.

BRONX
March 11, 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., Garden of Eden, 1664 Weeks Ave.

BROOKLYN
March 27, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., Brooklyn Public Library - Macon Library, 361 Lewis Ave.

Learn how to grow a healthy garden in this month's Planting & Transplanting Seedlings workshops! You'll gain hands-on experience by transplanting seedlings using seed trays and soil. We will cover how many seeds to plant in each cell, transplanting seedlings into raised beds, planning a raised bed with compatible plants, and the basics of crop rotation for healthier soil and better harvests. You'll leave with practical tools and confidence to successfully grow vegetables, herbs, or flowers.

Register on our website:

GreenThumb Workshops

Find out about all our upcoming programming in our Spring Program Guide.

More Workshops & Events
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138th Street Community Garden in the Bronx. Photo by Lillian Reyes, GreenThumb

Did you know this is the perfect time of the year to join a GreenThumb community garden?

New York City is home to over 550 unique public green spaces that are cared for by thousands of volunteer community members. Known as community gardens, these urban oases are hubs for growing fruits and vegetables, holding cultural and social events, preserving biodiversity, and appreciating the outdoors with neighbors and friends. Each and every community garden is all volunteer-led, self-governing, and represents the talents, creativity, and collaboration of the people who give their time to these important community resources.

You can get involved by joining the garden as a member or volunteer. This usually includes caring for the garden, having a space to grow plants and food, and participating in garden events. To learn the basics of joining a community garden from longtime GreenThumb community gardeners, you can watch our How to Join a GreenThumb Community Garden webinars. For tips and wisdom on getting involved at a community garden from GreenThumb Community Engagement Coordinators and gardeners, read So, You Want to Join a Community Garden? on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Plants & Gardens Blog by Nina Browne.

Grants & Opportunities

Resources & Grants for Artists

Looking for funding to bring art events and cultural programs to your community garden? Visit your local arts council to find out what grants they have available for local artists: Brooklyn Arts Council; Bronx Council on the Arts; Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance; Staten Island Arts. The New York Foundation for the Arts currently administers the Queens Arts Fund, providing grants to artists and arts organizations within Queens. 
 

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