Not what you’d expect to find growing in the Bronx, is it?

If your love for New York’s hip-hop history runs smack into a penchant for urban gardening, this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Literally. I mean, how often do you get to blend the defining musical stylings of the Bronx with the green thumb’s art?

It’s called the Bronx Urban Farm Tour, and this year’s trip leads you through some of our borough’s finest working farms, as guided by a pioneer of the hip-hop movement which started here in the 1970s. It’s an enlightening way to see and experience the food, music, and culture of the Boogie Down through the eyes of one of its most esteemed supporters–this year’s tour narrator will be none other than the prolific Grandmaster Melle Mel! For the uninitiated, that’s Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Or maybe The Sugarhill Gang rings a bell.
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Daniel Atha is an Associate Editor of NYBG’s systemic botany journal, Brittonia, and a researcher with specialties in floristics, taxonomy, and economic botany. He has also taught classes in anatomy and systemics at the Garden’s School of Professional Horticulture and is currently working on a project to develop identifying DNA barcodes for plants of the Northeastern United States.

Chickweed (left) and false chickweed (right)

Certain plants have a poor reputation, one that isn’t always deserved. And in the case of this particular “weed,” the old adage stands that if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em:

Stellaria media (L.) Vill. (chickweed)

This is a direct quote from Wikipedia: “… this plant is common in gardens, fields, and disturbed grounds. Control is difficult due to the heavy seed sets. Common Chickweed is very competitive with small grains, and can produce up to 80% yield losses among barley. [It] is edible and nutritious, and is used as a leaf vegetable, often raw in salads. It is one of the ingredients of the symbolic dish consumed in the Japanese spring-time festival, Nanakusa-no-sekku.”
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