The Rodale Pleasant Park Community Garden was originally established in the early 1990s by local residents and was partially abandoned prior to 1998, when the nearby Little Sisters of the Assumption (LSA) – which operates a social services organization in the neighborhood – reclaimed the garden by clearing the space and building planting beds. Since then, the LSA group – comprised mainly of immigrants from Mexico – has raised high-yield crops of hearty vegetables – including radishes, tomatoes, squash, cilantro and papalo, a popular Mexican herb.
As one of New York Restoration Project’s (NYRP) most actively used community gardens, in 2003 this space received a generous gift from the Rodale Family Foundation for capital improvements and garden revitalization. Working with community members and renowned landscape designer Billie Cohen, NYRP construction and horticultural crews re-imagined the site – installing secure fencing, landscaped common areas and 17 raised vegetable beds. In addition, NYRP staff built and installed a number of innovative, eco-friendly amenities, including a 1,100-gallon rainwater collection system – one of the largest in the city, a composting toilet and a garden shed and meeting room created with sustainable straw-bale construction techniques. In addition to funding the garden’s restoration and endowment, Rodale also organized the donation of supplies from garden-industry advertisers to help community members maintain their newly renovated green space – including watering cans, tomato cages and gardening tools.
After six months, NYRP celebrated the opening of the restored Rodale Pleasant Park Community Garden and its neighbor, The Family Garden, at NYRP’s fourth annual Spring Picnic, held in June 2005. Subsequent garden improvements include new furniture and the creation of a seating area to complement an existing picnic table and benches, thanks to a generous donation from Target in 2007. In addition, in 2008, NYRP partnered with the Lower East Side Ecology Center to host a composting workshop in the garden, teaching composting techniques to residents from all over the city.
Today, Rodale Pleasant Park’s membership numbers dozens of regular gardeners and there is a waiting list among community members for gardening spaces. Bylaws require that current gardeners attend garden meetings, complete a prescribed number of service hours and actively utilize assigned planting beds. Although vegetable growing is its primary activity, the garden also features areas designed for ornamental gardening and group gatherings – including a colorful, tile patio mosaic designed by neighborhood children.
Located in East Harlem, this 9,800-square-foot garden spans a full block of open space – encompassing three lots – and sits across the street from Thomas Jefferson Park. Located near the New York City Housing Authority’s Jefferson Houses, several schools, apartment buildings and small businesses – the Rodale Pleasant Park Community Garden serves a busy and growing neighborhood whose residents are primarily of Hispanic and African-American descent. Known as El Barrio, the surrounding area is densely populated and has been identified by city officials as having rates of asthma four times the national average. This has brought about aggressive local greening efforts by the city, nonprofit environmental groups like NYRP and the coalition-based MillionTreesNYC initiative. Currently, LSA's youth asthma group works regularly in one of the garden’s plots.