Rain date: Saturday, April 23, same time.

This bus tour has limited space. Please only sign up if you are committed to attending, and please cancel your ticket if you are no longer able to attend so we can offer your seat to someone else. Tickets will be available until two days before the event. This will allow us time to prepare for the attendees who have registered in advance.

Growing in high tunnels is a practice that extends the growing season, lowers soil erosion, reduces certain pest pressure, improves plant and soil quality, and offers more abundant locally grown, culturally relevant produce to communities that need it most. Take an in-depth look at some high tunnels right here in the city on this tour. See the many different types of high tunnels in action, including taking a peak at what’s growing inside, and asking questions about the structure and funding sources.

Schedule:

- 12:30 p.m.: Meet at New Roots Community Farm for bring-your-own brown bag lunch

- 1:00 p.m.: Tour begins at New Roots Community Farm

- 1:30 p.m.: Bus leaves for tours of Garden of Happiness and Bissel Community Garden

- 3:00 p.m.: Tour ends at Bissel Community Garden, 4510 Furman Avenue, near Nereid Ave. 2/5 trains

Facilitated by Claudia Navas, Farm School NYC, and members New Roots Community Farm, Garden of Happiness, and Bissel Community Garden. Claudia Navas is a Project Manager at Farm School NYC, an urban agriculture training program for adults to build self-reliant communities and inspire positive local action around food access and social, economic, and racial justice issues. She has a background in community education, outreach, and program management.

Photo: High tunnel at Edgemere Farm by Mara Gittleman

Please visit the GreenThumb GrowTogether Conference Guide for a full list of workshop descriptions, facilitators, and other details. The guide is also available as a map.

Established in 1978, NYC Parks GreenThumb is proud to be the nation's largest urban gardening program, assisting over 550 gardens and over 20,000 volunteer gardeners throughout New York City.

The theme of this year’s GrowTogether is “Deeply Rooted: Growing Community Connections. Community gardeners from across New York City have been gathering at the GrowTogether conference each spring since 1984 to celebrate the start of the garden season with a day of learning, networking, and reconnecting with friends. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the conference is hybrid this year, and we're spreading it out over the course of two weeks. Part I took place virtually in February (watch the webinar recordings here!) and Part 2 will be in community gardens around the city in April.