By Marc Lucarelli, Tiffany Monde and Kori Sciandra
BengalNews Reporters
Now that spring is here, West Side residents will begin to see more volunteers and organizations pushing to beautify with the implementation of community gardens.
“People want to do things. It’s empowering, we just give them the tools to start,” said Susannah Barton, director of Grassroots of Buffalo.
The push to beautify the West Side is coming from within the community: residents are taking pride in how their neighborhood looks and are taking action to create and achieve the change they want.
Grassroots of Buffalo is affiliated with Buffalo Growing, an umbrella organization that encompasses community gardening organizations including Buffalo Reuse, Urban Roots, The Massachusetts Avenue Project, the Community Action Organization and the New York Sustainable Agricultural Working Group.
Dan Ash, a member of Buffalo Growing routinely participates in the distribution of seeds on both the West and East Sides.
“More and more we will try and have workshops to help fulfill the needs of the community,” Ash said.
These workshops are intended to teach and assist residents who want to enrich their community by planting either a community or backyard garden.
The refugee population on the West Side is growing rapidly, which is increasing the demand for gardens, farms and fresh food. Barton said that many of these immigrants coming into the West Side had farms back home, they lived off the land, and so the need for organizations like these is growing.
Urban Roots, a consumer cooperative with more than 500 members, is giving the city a place to shop for hard-to-find plants and gardening materials. The cooperative is working with members of the community by running workshops and offering advice to anyone with gardening needs.
“We want to change the look of the community. You look around and you see people really working on their homes, “ said Patti Jablonski-Dopkin, general manager of Urban Roots. “They might not have a lot of money but they’re keeping it clean, planting. They’re putting a few pots of flowers on their porches.”
Funding for community and backyard gardening is provided to Grassroots of Buffalo, a non-profit organization, primarily through grants, donations and financial contributions by local foundations such as, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.
Barton referred to the open grant period as a way to "tell your story." When a member of the community wants to request funding to plant a garden they submit a grant application explaining their new project, or program they want to do for the year. Other factors are how many seeds needed for the project, or a new marketing campaign and why they deserve this and how much it’s going to cost.
Grants that are approved by the state are reviewed annually. After review the state then decides whether to completely or partially approve the grant or deny the request. Support from Niagara District Councilmember David Rivera, allows for a fair amount of funding.
"He sees the positive impact on beautifying the community. It gets people talking, engaging and working on projects together," Barton said.
While gardening can be used to beautify a community, not everyone has the space or location for it. For one living in an upstairs balcony, gardening may seem like a daunting task, but with the option of container gardens the task becomes far more realistic.
ReplyDeleteWhen choosing your container don’t just choose a cheap one, especially those made of plastic. They crack when in the hot dry sun. Choose a glazed clay pot or wooden boxes. If choosing wood be sure to choose redwood or cedar because they are less likely to rot.
Be sure to figure out how much direct sunlight there will be on the location that you are choosing. On average, five hours a day is good but when choosing your plants, research first because different flowers and vegetables need varying amounts of light.
Be sure to water daily especially if the plants are in an exposed location and the weather is hot and dry.
Find out how much weight your balcony can handle and if you are unsure about this talk to a contractor before beginning your planting.
When looking for annual blooming flowers to plant gardenguides.com gives these suggestions: Alyssum, Begonia, Geraniums, Latana, Marigolds, Petunias, Snapdragons and Zinnias as some options. --Tiffany Monde
Almost every garden could use a gardener with a green thumb, a flat of impatients and a watering can. But, what about a bat or two?
ReplyDeleteAccording to http://www.overthegardengate.net/wildlife/bats: “bats fly and feed by night, so a plentiful supply of night flying insects is essential. Many herbs and flowers attract insects, and those that give off scent by night are particularly important to bats because it is these that will attract the insects.”
Although bats aren’t usually thought of as a friendly creature, they are! Especially to a garden. Bats consume the insects that consume the plants and flowers within a garden.
Without bats or pesticides it can be very tricky to stop insects from eating away at a garden and creating holes in the leaves of plants.
Trees and ponds are key factors when trying to attract bats to a garden. The trees are important because they are used for shelter and a pond is helpful to attract bats because they attract mosquitoes, which bats feed off of.
If possible, creating a garden near a tree or a pond will increase the likely hood of bats swooping by the garden for a late night snack.--Kori Sciandra
With the increasing push for community and backyard gardens on the West Side of Buffalo, there is a cheap and natural way to help facilitate the successful growing of plants.
ReplyDeleteFor people with backyard gardens, composting will allow them to not only create their own nutrient-rich soil which will help their plants and crops grow but will save money too. Composting helps save money on the gardening budget because you won’t have to buy soil, your garbage output will be lower because part of what would normally be thrown away is now going into the compost pile. Composting can also help lower your water bill because the mineral particles in the soil increase its ability to retain water which means that you will not have to water your garden as often. Greenlivinganswers.com gives helpful advice on how to start a compost.
Aside from the personal benefits of backyard composting, there are environmental benefits as well. Composting keeps organic material from going into landfills which helps reduce the negative environmental impact that comes with organic material decomposing in landfills. Composting also means that the soil will be richer, so there will be less need for the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers which can have negative health impacts on not only the plants and surrounding environment but humans as well.
If they don’t mind the smell, composting is a cheap way to help people start and maintain healthy gardens. - Marc Lucarelli