Ways
to Support the Garden
Houston between Bowery & Second Avenue
GARDEN HISTORY
This was the First Community Garden in New York City founded in 1973. It is
located on the northeast corner of Bowery and Houston Streets in Manhattan.
During the 17th Century our site was then the corner of Bouwerie and North
Street, the southern tip of a large farm owned by Peter Stuyvesant, the last
Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam. In the centuries following, this bouwerie
(which is Dutch for farm) changed radically. It was in complete decline in
the 1970's when many buildings were abandoned and torn down.
In 1973 a local resident named Liz Christy and a group of gardening activists
known as the Green Guerillas were planting window boxes, vacant lots with
‘seed bombs’ and tree pits in the area. They saw the large rubble-strewn
lot as a potential garden and in December went to the City to find a way to
gain official use of the land. Volunteers hauled the garbage and rubble out,
spread donated topsoil, installed a fence and began planting.
On April 23, 1974, the City's office of Housing Preservation and Development
approved the site for rental as the "Bowery Houston Community Farm and
Garden" for $1 a month. Sixty raised beds were planted with vegetables,
and then trees and herbaceous borders were added. In their second year this
forerunner of today's urban community gardens won its first Mollie Parnis
Dress Up Your Neighborhood Award. People from other neighborhoods in all five
boroughs saw what could be done and wanted information on how to start similar
projects.
Soon the Green Guerillas were running workshops and planting experimental
plots to learn how a wide range of plants could be grown in hostile conditions.
The garden became a site for many plant giveaways, where plants grown on-site
or donated from nurseries, professional horticulturists and local gardeners
were given to new gardens all over the City. In 1986 the Garden was dedicated
Liz Christy’s Bowery-Houston Garden, in memory of its founder. In 1990,
after years of uncertainty and a ground swell of support, the local development
group, the Cooper Square Committee, pledged to preserve the garden in its
entirety in its renovation plans for our neighborhood. The 2002 agreement
between the City of New York and the NYS Attorney General calls for the preservation
of the Liz Christy Garden.
There is a collection basket in the garden, proceeds help pay for tools and
supplies; it is there during the official open hours, and the gardeners can
accept donations in check form for the garden during open hours. If you wish
to mail in a donation please feel free to send a check to: The Liz Christy
Garden c/o The Green Guerillas, 214 West 29th Street 5th Floor, New York,
NY 10001
THE GARDEN TODAY
The Liz Christy Garden has a pond which is 2.5 feet deep. The fish and red-eared
slider turtle communities live there year round. The garden also has a beehive
and a wildflower habitat, beautiful wooden furniture, a grape arbor, a grove
of weeping birch trees, fruit trees, a dawn redwood, vegetable gardens, berries,
herbs and hundreds of varieties of flowering perennials. It is divided into
individual areas, designed and tended by the garden members; general maintenance
is shared. The beauties of this natural place can be enjoyed in every season,
including winter during the weekly open hours. For additional information
on the history of the garden or this website contact Donald
Loggins. To volunteer at the garden contact one of the members
in the garden during open hours or email L. Brandon Krall. You can also email The Green Guerillas if you want to make a donation to the Liz Christy Garden. Donations
by check should be made out to the Green Guerillas, call 212 594-2155 for further inforamtion.
BECOMING A MEMBER
The way to become a member of LCBH is to Volunteer! Come to the garden during open hours and introduce yourself to the Gardener who is on duty. They will find you some work to do in the garden and enter your name and the number of hours you volunteered into a log book, kept in the shed. After you have spent 20 hours volunteering (and in the course of that time you will meet some of the other Gardeners), you will be eligible to receive a key to the garden. Afer 40 hours of volunteer work you will be considered a Gardener with voting rights ! One thing that really matters, is your desire to garden, and LCBH is a delightful place to learn and to develop your skills and love of gardening !
RULES OF CONDUCT
Sun bath, read, bird watch, stroll, relax, listen, smell and otherwise enjoy
the garden. Dogs must be kept on the paths and under no circumstances may
visitors pick, or cut flowers or plants in the garden, nor should visitors
ever walk into any garden plot unless they have the individual gardener’s
permission to enter their garden area. Please do not add any additional fish
or turtles to the pond as it can only safely support the current population.
Children with their parents are welcome to visit and learn how to garden,
but wild play and running are not allowed. Feel free to ask the gardeners
about plants, and to share your experiences and knowledge about plant gardening
with them.
Photography is only permitted with hand-held equipment. Tripods or other equipment
make the paths impassable and are not permitted.