Nestled in the middle of the North Avenue-Collington Avenue-Lafayette Avenue-Chester Street block in East Baltimore is an oasis of green: The Duncan Street Community Garden. Though the ripening vegetables and fruits may not evidence the garden’s location, the rowhomes surrounding it certainly give wind of the urban environment. Twenty years ago, the alley and rowhouses that used to inhabit the are
a of the garden had fallen into disrepair. The alley became a drug warren and a prime space for criminal activity. After the eventual teardown of the rowhouses, people began to use the area as an illegal dumping site. After a few years of this practice, the Pharoah’s club, a local men’s association, began to take control of the site. They established a beautiful, albeit fairly small, vegetable garden. The Duncan Street Community Garden was born. Not long after its creation, the Pharoah’s Club succeeded in securing city government support in closing the alley to traffic. Gates were erected on either side of the alley and gardening became the prime focus. Now the garden has grown to stretch the entire length of the block, with beds planted on both sides of the alley road. The beds are blooming with strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli and watermelon, among many other things. The garden’s success can be greatly attributed to Lewis Sharpe, the garden’s self-appointed manager. Sharpe, a retired U.S. Steel Plant worker, has taken it upon himself to maintain the garden. He is in the garden almost every day and attributes his commitment to the garden to his parents and sister’s enthusiasm for gardening. Though his title is not official by any means, the Broadway East community holds Mr. Sharpe in high regard and respects all the work that he is doing to improve their neighborhood. The garden was further advanced in winter of 2005, when the Parks & People Foundation and the Civic Works crew aided the garden by renovating the raised planting beds. Old, crumbling railroad ties that held the beds in place were replaced with newer, non-toxic timbers. Finally, the garden was beautified by the addition of boards, painted a vibrant green that blended into the green of the garden’s plants. The neighborhood was intrigued and excited by the improvements to the garden, and the project generated a lot of new interest in the garden as the pride of the community. Sharpe, who remains highly active in the garden’s management, calls the garden “the lungs of the neighborhood”—an idea that can be applied both literally and figuratively. While the foliage serves to ecologically regenerate the area, the splendor of the garden offers Broadway East residents a centerpiece to their neighborhood and something to be proud of. Sharpe expressed his hope that his example will lead other residents of the neighborhood to follow his example and get involved. In February 2010, the garden became permanently protected through the hard work of Baltimore Green Space, an organization that has set up a land trust in order to protect urban green spaces for community use. Miriam Avins, founder of Baltimore Green Space, is very happy to see the garden being used by numerous groups and individuals in the neighborhood. Moveable Feast and Southern Baptist Church both have plots. Avins stressed that the community has rallied around the green space. Community residents that may never have gotten the opportunity to grow fruits and vegetables are now doing so with great success. One such example is Mr. Howard, who lives right next door to the garden and has a large and fruitful plot that he runs with great vigor. The Duncan Street Garden, now protected forever, is sure to add to its storied history in the coming years. To learn more about the Parks & People Foundation and community gardens in Baltimore, visit www.parksandpeople.org
To learn more about Baltimore Green Space, visit www.baltimoregreenspace.org - See more at: http://www.baltimoresustainability.org/cleanliness/maintenance-public-land/duncan-street-miracle-garden .dSKKQ9Z9.dpuf
