Common Grounds – An Introduction to our Gardening Blog
You may have noticed that we posted our first edition of Common Grounds in May, highlighting the importance and function of Wildflowers. Here’s what we hope to accomplish with this blog series, and with corresponding events through our gardening program.
To our neighbors
This blog is a call to reimagine our neighborhood, not only as a community of people but also as a shared environment built on the understanding that ornamental plants (the roses in your yard), insects (bumblebees and butterflies), and edible plants (your strawberries, tomatoes, and cucumbers) will thrive only if they maintain a constant relationship with each other. As urban gardeners, it is our role to make every effort to nurture that natural relationship and make every effort keep our veggie gardens, flower beds, planters, and pollinating insects closely connected despite our neighborhood’s dense network of streets, avenues, buildings, and parking lots.
With this blog, we hope to reach out to our neighbors with a pot on a windowsill, a planter on a balcony, or a yard, and invite them to create of a Community of Gardens in which the quality of the whole benefits every one of its parts.
Not only a blog
Commonpoint is a strong presence in our community for the services it offers, including a vast array of educational programs. In the spring of 2023, we launched a beautification project on the grounds of the Main Building, along 108th street right in the heart of Forest Hills. Implemented through the year with the participation of our various youth programs, this highly visible garden emphasized Commonpoint’s role as an environmentally responsible organization striving to improve the urban landscape while educating the children in our care. The Native ecosystem started on that strip of soil by students from Pre-K to 6th grade will provide them with environmental awareness and replicable life-long skills, as well as few academic skills aligned with NYS Learning Standards in Math, Earth Science, Social Studies, and more.
The new Native ecosystem will also serve as a model and a reference for our community in two ways: it will promote native plants and native pollinators in their symbiotic relationship. In addition, it will be the educational platform on which to base our Community of Gardens.
We have started to offer free demonstrations and hands-on workshops, garden open-door hours to answer our neighbors’ questions on gardening. We have also distributed free plants, seedlings, and seeds of Native plants to facilitate their propagation through our community. This blog will come as a resource on seasonal information, practical tips on gardening, and announcements about local nursery sales.
Stay tuned for more updates, events and advice, and if you have any questions feel free to reach out to me directly at mzanzal@commonpoint.org. Thank you!
