densityB by Barbara Reiner

It’s the second month of our photo contest, and a hearty congratulations to Barbara Reiner for winning our second monthly NYBG-IGPOTY photography contest. The NYBG photo judges had a tough time picking the winner this month, but in the end felt that Barbara’s rose triptych just edged out cindy {k}’s scene among the tulips for this month’s theme “American Beauty.” Barbara will receive a NYBG gift pack, which includes two All-Garden Passes, a $25 credit towards the Adult Education class of her choice, a catalog for the Library exhibition Historical Views: Tourists at the Alhambra, and the catalog from Hirschfeld’s Broadway Scrapbook. We’re also still working on getting copies of the photography book, Better Plant and Garden Photography, written by IGPOTY founder Philip Smith, over from the U.K. as well. Congratulations Barabara! Please send us an email with your contact information through this form (select website from the pull-down menu).

Head below the jump to see the rest of this month’s winners.

Mario Batali’s Edible Garden in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden features the celebrity chef’s favorite ingredients. In Batali’s Berry Patch; the Otto Pizza Garden; and the Babbo Beets, Beans, Garlic, and Greens Garden, kids and families can learn all about the benefits of vegetable gardening and using fresh produce in daily meals. We asked the chefs at Mario Batali’s restaurants to give us some insight into how they love using the ingredients being grown at the Garden. First up, Anthony Sasso Chef de Cuisine at Casa Mono tells us how he likes to use strawberries (as featured in Batali’s Berry Patch), and Chiogga beets (as featured in the Babbo Beets, Beans Garlic and Greens Garden) in a simple summer salad.

In New York, we get pretty excited about the first culinary signs of the season. Winter, spring, summer, and fall are pretty well defined in the Northeast. So as soon as a fruit or vegetable makes its debut at the local farmers market, chefs are instantly motivated to come up with new ideas and get their hands on what’s in season before anyone else. In the spring, after long cold months of winter squash and mushrooms and potatoes (brown, brown, and brown), that means we get to look forward to ramps, asparagus, snap peas, and anything else green!

Similarly, there are a few things that offer hints that summer has arrived (besides ice cream trucks on every corner), like strawberries. Strawberries have a way of popping up (especially the wild ones) after the first few consecutive days of really warm weather. In New York, that means towards the middle or end of June. And I think I speak for most chefs when I say that we have a hard time coming up with unique ways to use them creatively in savory dishes. Strawberries are sweet and tart, beautiful to look at, juicy, and small enough to use whole, yet they are usually given to the pastry kitchen to be used as a topping for sundaes, as a condiment to shortcake, or cooked down with sugar until they become jammy for cheesecake. I have used them before by pureeing the fruit into a sauce to dress poultry, or simply mixing them with balsamic and sherry vinegar as an accompaniment to our house-made charcuterie.

This year though, we wanted to leave them uncooked and intact, so I started to play around with raw strawberries. I sprinkled them with just a touch of sugar (this lets the berries sweat out their juicy interior) and lemon juice and paired them with our baby beet salad, in which we use Chioggia beets as the main ingredient. This heirloom beet variety has that same great earthy taste as red beets, but tend to be a little bit sweeter and are quite a sight to behold when peeled and cut in half. Inside they have a colorful swirl pattern that best resembles a trippy Grateful Dead bumper sticker (sorry, I’m from Woodstock). Their greens are really delicate and can be cooked down as a nice side dish. The stems are crunchy and make a great snack, or a surprise addition to a crudité platter. They’re easily one of our favorite vegetables at Casa Mono because of how versatile they are. I suppose beets embody the “nose to tail” ethos of the garden, meaning you can use every part in the kitchen.

So when you taste the two together, the match is pretty surprising. The beets are firm and rich and the juicy strawberries lend great sweetness. We pair them with a thickened Greek-style yogurt spiced up with Shiso (Perilla) leaves and garnish it all with summer squash blossoms and basil leaves. A trip to the garden can turn into the perfect summer lunch.

Mario Batali was at the Garden on April 12. But he wasn’t here to see the cherry blossoms or to catch a glimpse of José and Justin. Nope, Mario was here for one very good reason: To promote children’s gardening through the launch of Mario Batali’s Edible Garden at the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden. The gathering also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Family Garden and its role as an important place to educate the public on the benefits of vegetable gardening and using fresh produce in daily meals.

Mario Batali & kids dig in alongside Annie Novak, Assistant Manager of the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden

Garden President Gregory Long, Councilman Joel Rivera, Mario Batali, Bronx community activist Karen Washington, and Toby Adams, Manager of the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden

The day was a bit gray and drizzly, but the profusion of Batali orange and a cheerful group of schoolchildren from the Bronx’s own C.S. 211 made the day feel sunny and bright. Mario and the kids were joined by local officials and community gardeners, Garden employees, and Garden board members in preparing the beds and planting the first seeds and plants.

Three individual beds make up Mario Batali’s Edible Garden.

Learn more about Mario Batali’s Edible Garden below!

Newton and Darwin wish you the very happiest of Bun … er, we mean, Mondays!

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

As a California native who was raised in the agricultural belt of that state, I never thought about food in terms of being local, seasonal, or sustainable. Local, in-season fruits and vegetables were always within reach; at roadside farm stands, and in my own backyard. Sustainable was another issue. My father cared for ten plus fruit trees in a backyard the size of ten parking spaces. Throughout my childhood, I plucked softball-sized oranges from our tree; I could not eat them faster than they fell. I later learned this was not a common childhood experience for most; I had no idea.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

During my teaching days at a charter school here in New York City, I remember asking a student of mine casually, “What did you eat for breakfast?” She replied, “Chips and a soda.” She was in the seventh grade. This was not an uncommon answer among my students and that disturbed me. I do not believe it was a choice on their part to eat this way, but rather a matter of access. The school did not have any patches of green space (prior to leaving California, I had never heard the term, “green space”) designated for the students, and school lunches consisted mainly of processed foods. The closest businesses to the school were fast food establishments and a convenience store that sold products in the same category as my student’s breakfast. Like millions of other New Yorkers, my students did not have private or shared backyards, balconies, or terraces in their homes. Growing up in a city, this poses a very serious question for children, where will they learn about food?

Photo by Sabrina Lee

The New York Botanical Garden is an oasis within the concrete neighborhood where it resides. The Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden is an oasis within that oasis. When I first entered the Family Garden, I instantly felt the participatory nature of the space and the imprint of the individuals who have gardened there: in the composting bins, the hanging dried gourds, and the hand painted signs with the names of the vegetables and the names of the young gardeners. This adds to the communal feeling. Food education is paramount to one’s well-being and sets the stage for one’s relationship to food for a lifetime. City children need the opportunity to nurture and grow their own food, and they need to be aware of how their food is grown for them. When you cultivate and care for a garden, your appreciation for food is heightened. The physical labor becomes knowledge in your body. The Family Garden provides city children an opportunity to participate in the full cycle of growing food: sowing seeds, transplanting seedlings, maintaining a garden, harvesting the bounty, collecting seeds, and composting. Children not only gain knowledge and empowerment, but they also gain the sensory experience of working with their hands. It is a wonderful place to visit; I wish I were one of the two rabbits, Darwin and Newton that live there, preferably Newton, his hutch has a succulent rooftop.

Are you a NYBG Member or visitor who would like to share your experiences at the Garden like Sabrina? Consider writing a blog post for Plant Talk! Learn more.

9-Year-Old Everett Sanderson Offers 9 Tips to Get Growing

Elizabeth Fisher is Associate Manager for Education Marketing and Public Relations.

Everett Sanderson is a talented soon-to-be fifth grader who has spent most of his nine summers gardening in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, helping his mom, Han-Yu Hung, who is Garden Coordinator of the Children’s Gardening Program. In the Family Garden, kids work hands-on growing fruits and vegetables, learning that food, fun, health, and teamwork are connected. This year their garden plots have been in the spotlight as part of The Edible Garden.

Unlike most 9-year-olds, Everett is an accomplished gardener and a lover of veggies. Harvesting is what hooked him at first: “I realized that in order to harvest, you have to grow it, and in order to grow it, you have to plant it,” said Everett. Gardening also helped him to love eating vegetables: “If you can plant it, you have a better chance of liking it.”

Now a veteran of the Children’s Gardening Program, Everett, who lives in the Bronx, started gardening at age 3 as a “Garden Sprout” and is now a “Garden Crafter,” leading gardening lessons and hands-on activities.

He shares these helpful tips for kids to get their own gardens growing. read more »