FIRST STREET GARDEN

Thanks to the support of the community, community leaders and city officials the First Street Garden has now been preserved as a Green Thumb Garden.  If you are interested in volunteering or becoming a member of the garden please email firststreetgarden@yahoo.com.

Our open hours are March through November on Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 5pm and Wednesday from 5pm to 7pm, weather permitting.  We do need more volunteers to help with the open hours, if you’re interested please send an email or talk to a gardener.

Thanks to everyone for their support!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday, December 1st at 7:00am: Green Thumb soil delivery, volunteers need to shovel and spread soil. Please email firststreetgarden@yahoo.com

Sunday, March 12th at 2:30pm: (Rain Date: Sunday, March 19th at 2:30pm) Agenda: TBD.

HISTORY

The garden was first cleaned up and transformed into a community garden in 1983.  Before the gardening group built the garden which is largely ornamental in style , the garden was an eyesore, a garbage dump and a magnet for criminal activity attracting rats, drug activity, rapists, muggers and thieves of all sorts. The gardeners have removed the filth and debris from the sidewalk in front of the garden, and at their sole expense secured the garden with fencing and gates and have planted numerous plants and trees including iris, violets, ferns, lily of the valley, black eye susan, ground cover and other wild flowers, birch, maple and mulberry trees. A small fish pond was maintained for many years by children among our gardeners for whom the garden is a vital resource as no similar verdant resource exists nearby. Birds are drawn to the lush greenery with nesting sites appearing seasonally. A lovely garden path has been constructed by recycling used bricks found at the garden site. A new planting bed was just installed in the front of the garden providing sunlit space for summer flowers.

The City had proposed auctioning off the garden in 1985, 1994, 1995, 1999 and in 2004. The garden had also survived attempts by the City to raise the rent to unaffordable levels in 1995, 1997 and 2002. This garden was one of the gardens saved by court order in May 1999 but was excluded from the settlement of that case in 2002. The First Street Garden, was permanently removed from auction on Friday July 23rd 2004, thanks to an incredible community effort and the support of Community Board 3 and City Council Member, Margarita Lopez. On June 14, 2005 the First Street Garden was granted Green Thumb status.

If you have thoughts or questions please email us at firststreetgarden@yahoo.com.

For more information on threatened gardens and what you can do to help, please visit
http://www.greenguerillas.org/speakup.asp?id=49