Broadway Garden

We’re currently wrapping up our 3rd season gardening on this little urban corner lot! Each year we’ve added more cinder block beds, learned what grows well (or doesn’t), tracked where the best sunshine lands throughout the season, picked up LOTS of trash and other undesirables, heard stories of flower and vegetable gardens of people’s past from passers by, and really started to put down roots.

One of our favorite (unexpected) parts of gardening here is that our urban garden has become a spontaneous learning space for the local kids on the block. After the kids on the block get back from school, they usually wander down to our office to see if we are working in the garden. They help us water, plant seeds, weed, pick up trash and are always excited to bring back vegetables, flowers, and herbs to their families. We enjoy seeing them have some greenspace to learn in and feel a sense of ownership and pride of where they live. Being able to mentor these kids makes us happy because one of the main purposes here, beyond producing flowers, is inspiring others to care about keeping the streets clean and care beautifying the places we live (or at least keeping it trash free!)

We have high hopes for our 4th season in this space. We plan to increase our curb appeal especially since new businesses (like Golden Hour!) have become our neighbors and are attracting more foot traffic. We want to make sure we present a clean, verdant space that doesn’t go too neglected even when our wedding season gets busy. We’re particularly hoping to invest in beatifying the street-facing beds and tree pits for the enjoyment of the public.

Funded by Newburgh, NY (November 2023)