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Gardening 102

Community Garden Series (Part 3)

2025

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We are GrowNYC

Our mission is to empower all New Yorkers to equitably access fresh, locally grown food and neighborhood green spaces, reduce waste, and care for the environment.

We protect the environment, create green spaces, help people stay healthy, and give them opportunity to make a positive impact.

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We make it easy for you to have a positive impact.

We are providing outreach and education to increase participation in the city’s zero waste programs and help conserve natural resources.

We are bringing more green space to our city by building and rejuvenating community and school gardens.

We are fostering environmental stewards by providing thousands of children and adults with opportunities for meaningful interactions with the natural environment.

We are transforming our regional food system and ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to the freshest, healthiest local food.

Zero Waste

Conservation

Education

Green Space

Food Access and Agriculture

Our Work

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Meet Your Facilitators

Chantel Kemp

Education Manager

Jinkly Nogales

School Gardens Coordinator

Emma Holtzman

School Gardens Coordinator

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Our Work

With a community first program we offer free gardening assistance, educational workshops, and green skills training.

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These services are designed to be accessible and inclusive, serving all community members across generations.

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Community Agreements

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  • Respect comes first
  • One Mic
  • Listen to receive, not respond, nor retaliate
  • Be present
  • Allow learning moments
  • Think/Reflect Beyond Borders
  • Be Teachable
  • Speak from “I” not “We”
  • Take the lesson, leave the name

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In this workshop, we’ll learn:

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1. Soils

2. Crop Planning

3. Season Extension

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Recap: Gardening 101

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Gardening 101

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  • Food Justice recognizes Food as a Human Right
  • Food Sovereignty is Community Agency
  • Crop Planning
  • Companion Planting helps to map out our crop plans
  • Germination is birthing or growing a seed
  • We grow gardens to grow Community Centered Spaces

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Soils

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Preparing Soil

Observing soil health and plant conditions. Test the soil

Weed your garden bed. Use plant identification to determine what weeds you have and what that means for your soil

Add soil amendment: Compost, Peat Moss, Manure etc.

Add mulch or other ground cover to your garden bed

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Soil Health

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  • Understanding the soil is essential to having a healthy garden
  • Soil testing is helpful to know pH levels and keeping your community & crops safe
    • Soil testing also identifies and helps to mitigate problematic issues like harmful bacteria and biohazards
  • Soil can be neutral, alkaline or acidic
  • Test your soil every 1-3 years

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Types of Soil

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Different soil types can tell you different things about how to plant and the overall environment.

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  • Clay soil is thick, lumpy soil that can shrink and crumble when dry, but holds more water than other soils

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  • Silt soil is soft, soapy-textured soil made of quartz grains that are in between sand and clay in size

  • Sandy soil is very porous soil made mostly of sand that dries quickly and heats up easily

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  • Loamy soil is a mix of coarse sand, silt, and clay that's good for gardening

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  • Peat soil is light and fluffy soil made of decaying organic matter that has an acidic pH

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  • Alkaline soil are clay soils with high pH, a poor soil structure and a low infiltration capacity

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Compost

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Compost is decaying organic material that works as an amendment to help improve soil health.

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Why Compost?

  • Helps with Integrated Pest Management & reduces landfills
    • Healthy soil produces less pests and plant diseases.
    • Converting food waste also reduces the food supply for rodents and the amount of trash going to sanitation sites.
  • Helps Climate Change
    • Reduces carbon emissions into the atmosphere from trash, and reduces the spread bacteria in water and soil.
  • It improves the soil
    • Provides needed balance by providing vitamins, minerals and nutrients

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Making your own soil

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  • Sticks + Rocks + Peat moss + Food scraps + Compost + Wet leaves + Compost + Top Soil + Wood chips = Healthy Soil and nutrients that will break down over time.

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Top soil

Woodchips

Compost

Wet leaves

Compost

Food scraps

Peat moss

Rocks

Sticks

Soil

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Crop Planning

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Crop Plan

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  • Crop plans are essential for any garden space
  • Crop plans help visualize what crop rotation looks like for the next season
  • Crop plans help to identify pests & get ahead of plant diseases
  • Crop plans identify what specific crops & herbs worked well in the garden and what Community members want to see return or have more of
  • Create your crop plan before planting any of the fruits, vegetables, herbs or flowers in your garden

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Food Producing Crop Plan

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Hibiscus

Marigold

Collards / Onions

Cilantro

Bok Choy/

Oregano

Thyme/Culantro

Cerasee

Bitter Melon

Buena Mulata

Aje Dulce

Choc. Scotch Bonnet

Underground Railroad Tomato

Calendula, Holy Basil, Echinacea

Bee Balm, Lemon Balm, Yarrow, Chamomile, Mugwort, Spearmint, Milkweed

African Corn/ Pole Beans/ Butternut squash

Strawberries

Watermelon

Okra/ Scorpion peppers

Rice Peas

Gandules

Sweet potatoes

Pink lady Roses

Lavender

Morning Glory

Three Sisters Bed

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Understanding Plant Families

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Plant families are a way to understand the relationships between different types of plants; essentially grouping them together and then bringing them under a common name.

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Understanding plant families ensures that you’ll be able to properly rotate your crops throughout the season.

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Plant Families

Cucurbit

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  • Cucumbers
  • Squash
  • Pumpkins
  • Melons
  • Zucchini
  • Gourds
  • Loofah

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Brassica

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  • Collards
  • Cabbage
  • Kale
  • Broccoli
  • Kohlrabi

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Alium

  • Onion
  • Shallots
  • Garlic
  • Chives
  • Leeks

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Legumes

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  • Peas
  • Beans
  • Peanuts
  • Other plants that produce pods

Nightshade

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  • Peppers
  • Tomatoes
  • Potatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Ground Cherries
  • Tobacco

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Crop Rotation

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The technique created by Dr. George Washington Carver is a system to ensure you pour back into the soil that you’re growing from.

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Crop rotation supports:

  • Soil Health
  • Pest Management
  • Nutrient Management
  • Increased Yields
  • Biodiversity
  • Water retention
  • Other ecosystems

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Crop Rotation

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Year 1

Year 2

Winter

Jalapeno Peppers

Beef Steak Tomatoes

Cabbage

Spring/Summer

Spring/Summer

Winter

Garlic & Collards

Garlic & Cucumbers

Garlic

Garlic & Collards

Peas & Oats

Jalapeno Peppers

Peas & Oats

Peas & Oats

Garlic & Turnips

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Plan To Succeed

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  • Ask your community to weigh in on the crop plan
  • Based on previous pests, what beneficial bugs do we want in our garden space?
  • Evaluate pest problems and seek solutions
  • Schedule volunteer days
  • Seek training & ways to advance your skill set
  • Manage your time
  • Communicate

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Season Extension

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Closing Out The Season

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  • Remove summer crops
  • Harvest & keep seeds
  • Messaging & Communications
    • Last day of the harvest, workshops, volunteering
    • Winter hours
    • Other resources during winter
    • Maintaining relationships with Community partners, volunteers & stakeholders
  • Tool care & storage
  • Staffing & site check-ins over winter

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Fall Hearty Plants

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Onions

Beets

Collards

Cabbage

Lettuce

Spinach

Radish

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Pros:

  • Utilizing solar energy and insulation to create a microclimate
  • Usually made of polywood and sheeting
  • Can incorporate a slope for rain drainage or a tall structure for taller plants
  • Mitigates pests
  • Overwintering plants, extending the season, start seeds & harden off plants
  • Can be easier & faster to assemble instead of a high tunnel or greenhouse

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Cons:

  • Difficult when growing tall plants
  • Managing the temperature and the moisture
  • Mitigating wind exposure
  • Pests can be trapped under the row cover
  • May require repeated adjustments, tightening & shifting

Pros:

  • Low cost option
  • Traps in heat
  • Protects against insects, but not larger animals

Cons:

  • Cost of materials
  • Managing the temperature and the moisture
  • Mitigating wind exposure
  • The temperature inside the structure generally is not more than 5 to 10 degrees above the outside temperature.

Cold Frame vs Row Cover

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High Tunnels vs Greenhouse

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Pros:

  • Uses solar energy and insulation for season extension & not reliant on electricity
  • Increases food production/grow food all year around
  • Can be used for plant starts
  • Moveable structure, not permanent

Cons:

  • Cost
  • Space
  • Labor intensive to build and maintain
  • Plastic sheeting may have to be updated every 3 years
  • Maintaining the moisture and heat inside the high tunnel
  • Irrigation plan

Pros:

  • Uses solar energy and insulation for season extension
  • Increase food production/grow food all year around
  • Can be used for plant starts
  • Easy to maintain the structure
  • Adequate indoor space

Cons:

  • Medium to High cost associated with a greenhouse
  • Labor intensive to build
  • Unmovable, permanent structure
  • Moisture control, problematic if you don’t have enough heat
  • Maintaining the heat inside the greenhouse

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Garden Engagement Survey

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Questions?

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Additional Resources

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Additional Resources

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Chantel Kemp

Manager

ckemp@grownyc.org

GROWNYC PRESENTATION TITLE HERE

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grownyc.org

@GrowNYC