Nine-Year-Old Wins Scotts’ Youth Gardener Award

Posted in People on May 13 2010, by Plant Talk

Ursula Chanse is Director of Bronx Green-Up and Community Horticulture and Project Manager, NYC Compost Project in the Bronx.

Yesterday, nine-year-old Jada Nicole Young from the Mott Haven section of the Bronx (pictured with her dad, Mike) received the Youth Gardener Award from The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company at the Community Vegetable Gardening Season kickoff at The New York Botanical Garden.

Jada Nicole’s youthful bashfulness quickly gives way to joyful excitement when she talks about gardening, which she has been doing since she was 4 years old. Since I first met her at her community garden, Padre Plaza Success Garden, I have seen her jump into all activities, and in all weather, from helping to build a pond to planting garlic, working the compost, and feeding the fish and turtles.

The Young family, Mike, Sheila, and Jada Nicole, was pivotal in revitalizing the three-quarter acre Padre Plaza Success Garden at 139th Street and St. Anns Avenue, and is key to the continuing leadership of that garden, which is supported by the Botanical Garden’s Bronx Green-Up program. Mike is a certified pruner and vegetable gardener through our horticulture certification programs, and the garden holds community garden compost certification through the NYC Compost Project in the Bronx. Mike and three other members are also active tree stewards through our partnership with MillionTreesNYC. With an active core group of 23, Padre Plaza Success Garden organizes a weekly farmers market and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) effort aided by Sustainable South Bronx and Just Food. The market provides fresh produce to residents of the Mott Haven neighborhood, an area with few supermarkets.

Currently, there are 16 plots in Padre Plaza, with four more planned for this season. Garden members grow tomatoes, peppers, collards, mustard greens, garlic, broccoli, corn, oregano, thyme, basil, lettuce, eggplant, and strawberries. There are also apple, pear, and peach trees. The garden features an active composting system and a beautiful pond, which houses Tommy the Turtle and 300 goldfish. Padre Plaza also provides summer programming for neighborhood children through the Summer Youth Employment Program.

Jada Nicole planted seedlings in her garden’s greenhouse last winter for community gardening plots, in place now. Jada Nicole started these vegetable and flower seedlings while simultaneously teaching other children in the neighborhood about gardening. She is a welcome presence in the garden and also enjoys decorating Padre Plaza for Halloween, Winter Wonderland, and spring and summer festivities. Hundreds of residents from the neighborhood and all over the city participate in these events.