Grow Pittsburgh is sowing a swath of leafy greens across vacant city lots this summer with its first formal community garden program.
“Here We Grow Pittsburgh, Here We Grow” will bring Grow Pittsburgh together with community groups in East Liberty, Friendship, Garfield, Larimer and Bloomfield to create community gardens that will bloom and grow and expand into new communities in seasons to come, explains Miriam Manion, executive director.
The program was launched with the help of $7,500 Seed Award from The Sprout Fund.
“It’s been said that all things start with heirloom tomatoes,” Manion says cheerfully. “It certainly has been proven that if you start greening vacant lots, it adds considerable value to the community they’re in terms of increasing the value of adjacent properties. It’s a way to bring people together, plant an urban garden and clean up lots.”
Grow Pittsburgh has hired a community garden coordinator with the funding whose primary job is to work with community leaders, offer expertise, provide equipment and help with the planting of individual gardens.
Grow Pittsburgh, founded in 2005, has already established four successful and innovative agriculture programs in the region: Braddock Farms, The Edible Schoolyard, The Grow Pittsburgh Internship Program and The Frick Greenhouse Project. (For the Pop City story, click here.)
The unique aspect of the program is its long range vision of greening the city and cleaning up vacant lots through community gardens, says Manion. The URA has offered to support long range planning as well. The communities decide whether they want to open their own farmstand with the produce, or simply share the seasons bounty with others in the community.
Writer: Debra Smit
Source: Mariam Manion, Grow Pittsburgh
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Image courtesy Grow Pittsburgh