462 Halsey Community Garden

In 2014, 462 Halsey underwent a complete re-design. We adopted a communal-growing model to increase our crop yield. The remodel addresses deficiencies in our soil and our inadequate sunlight. We rebuilt all of our beds and made them much deeper - a whopping 24'x 4'x 30"! This will allow us to grow more food and engage with our community in more comprehensive ways. The communal beds provides a more equitable access to the small space we share. Garden members and community members can now come together to learn and grow in our greatly expanded common spaces.

The garden approved a proposal to upgrade our existing rainwater system. We are looking into recycled barrels to collect rainwater and taking measurements of the surrounding buildings to figure out how much water can be harvested. We already have a solar panel and battery hooked up to power the rainwater system once it is fully in place. The buildings on the garden's east and west sides agreed to let us cut into their drainage systems.

We have space for more compost bins and are awaiting funding.

We mapped the sunniest part of garden and have plans to build a passive solar hoophouse on beds in that part of the garden. We will use black rain barrels and cinder blocks as a heat source. We are looking into installing compost curing stations on the outside of the beds to provide more heat. Though this is all funding-dependent, we are drawing up plans now.

Last summer, 462 Halsey participated in a soil testing study and we were not happy with the results. We learned that our soil was not healthy, in fact, we faced toxins all around – from passing buses to lead-filled soil on the ground. Because healthy soil equals healthy food, we implemented an ambitious plan last fall. We are growing a living wall of decorative perennials at the front of our garden to capture pollution from the street.

We adopted a communal model, replacing our small beds with 4’x24’ rows that are 30” deep. We added organic material to the soil, to keep toxic soil out and to prevent heavy metals from leaching into the water. The remodel gives us much more space to work with. Our garden is shadier than is ideal and the communal planting plan will maximize our sunlight.

Once we have our water system in place, we will be able to maximize our food production. The expanded compost system will continue to produce healthy soil for us to grow in and the hoop house will expand our season. All of this will expand the role that 462 Halsey already plays as a source of healthy food for the neighborhood.