Gardens are officially closed

The frost has set in and gardens are closed for the winter. Hopefully this will mean people have a moment to fill out my survey!

On Monday I attended the “closing” of one of the gardens I had visited at the peak of summer heat (about 40 degrees Celsius). It was quite a contrast from the lush pots I saw mid July (see pictures). This is one of the gardens that measured harvest this season so I was eager to add this information to their survey.

I haven’t had any other garden meetings this week, although three people did confirm that they will complete the survey in the next week. This is good news but I am sure I will have to write more follow-up emails to make sure it gets done.

As the season comes to a close I am really having to think hard about how I will write my short report back to stakeholders. I will obviously be presenting the data, but I am starting to think about how I can present it so that it seems important to those individual gardeners. I am trying to think about this in terms of instigating change (see last weeks post), but my thinking is still ripening (pun intended). I just watched this great video on “why data matters” (from Design Trust for Public Space who has lots of other great videos and resources about UA in NYC and urban planning in general) and now I think it will be important to mention the benefits of consistent data collection on everyone’s part (including on P). I am hoping to present the island results but then bring it back on how good input management and good waste management on the individual garden level has benefits for the individual (financial and productivity wise) and communal (pollution management, cost of waste management, ect). I am also playing with the idea of an accessible video I could send as a link (but that all depends on time).