The women – volunteers and community groups – grow herbs like thyme, sage, oregano and basil, along with lettuce, tomatoes, peas, eggplant and pepper and a variety of flowers. The garden is supported by the Bronx Botanical Garden, Greenthumb NYC and For A Better Bronx (FABB).

According to a 2008 article on Scienceline, the South Bronx has the highest rates of asthma and diabetes in the city. The streets of the community are lined with fast-food joints, and residents often have no information about healthy eating and few options for purchasing fresh produce.

But groups like “Learn It, Grow It, Eat It” (LGE) are trying to change that. A collaboration of the Council on the Environment of New York City’s Environmental Education, Open Space Greening and Greenmarket programs, LGE is housed in four high schools and three community gardens in the Morrisania section of the South Bronx. The group is incorporating high school health education with its support of community gardens (there are more than 600 such gardens in the city). The organization also offers high school credit for garden maintenance.

According to the Department of Agriculture website, US Agriculture Secretary Vilsack declared August 23 – 29 National Community Gardening Week. “Community gardens provide numerous benefits including opportunities for local food production, resource conservation, and neighborhood beautification,” said Vilsack. “But they also promote family and community interaction and enhance opportunities to eat healthy, nutritious foods. Each of these benefits is something we can and should strive for.”

Your city can benefit from the ‘The People’s Garden,’ a USDA demonstration plot designed to teach how to develop and maintain healthy landscapes that demonstrates and educates environmentally responsible practices. USDA plans to reduce stormwater runoff with rain gardens and green roofs, reducing its impervious surfaces and enhancing the USDA’s Farmers Market.

The People’s Garden demonstrates how to provide healthy food, air and water for people and communities as well as food and shelter for wildlife. These practices improve soil health and water quality. Information about The People’s Garden initiative is available at www.usda.gov/peoplesgarden or follow ‘The People’s Garden’ at www.twitter.com/peoplesgarden

Green the Grounds

Susan provides number of resources on how to think about such projects here. Being a prolific writer, blogger, garden maven, and networker, the new blog is a further outcome, aimed at greening executive mansions at all levels, those being governor’s mansions and mayoral abodes. The  idea is that examples at the top will inspire many others.

The mansions of New York and Maryland’s governors are presently featured. How’s your local executive manse? If there’s something to crow about, let Susan know.