How to Start a GreenThumb Community Garden

For those interested in starting a new community garden or farm, please keep in mind that there are already more than 550 community gardens and farms registered with NYC Parks GreenThumb across New York City. If you are not able to locate an existing garden in your neighborhood, here are the steps that we can take together to establish one.

Learn About GreenThumb

Before you think about starting a GreenThumb Community Garden, if you can, try to join an existing garden to see what it’s like! You can also check out the GreenThumb Gardener’s Handbook to get a sense of the responsibility and practices shared by GreenThumb community gardeners across the city.

Learn More and Grow More

Knowledge is power. Start by regularly attending GreenThumb's free workshops and signing up for our newsletter. Check our events calendar to find free workshops all across NYC.

Finding Available Land

Here are steps that you can take to find a place to start the garden and getting permission to build it there.

1. Identify a vacant lot

   Finding space for a new garden can be a challenge, but with a little research and by walking through your neighborhood, you may be able to find a suitable spot. This is also a good chance to meet some of your neighbors to find out who might also be interested in pursuing this project with you. Remember - it takes a community to start a community garden. You can view available city-owned lots that are available and potentially suitable for urban agriculture through a map housed on NYC OpenData . This list changes periodically, so be sure to check back from time to time if you don't see a potential lot immediately. Regardless of how you find it, pinpoint the site's location and write it down. Be sure to note the exact location of the lot on the block, including the address of the next door building or house. Please note that property without public access is not eligible to become a GreenThumb garden.

2. Determine the ownership of the site

   If you can determine the address, or block and lot numbers, of the lot(s) that you are interested in, then you can determine their ownership by visiting the Department of Finance's Digital Tax Map . You can also visit New York City's Zoning & Land Use Map (ZoLa) and use the "BBL Lookup" to choose a borough from the dropdown and enter the block and lot as separate numbers.

3. Reach out to GreenThumb

   After you have taken the above steps you can contact GreenThumb using the Intake Form for Starting a New GreenThumb Community Garden . This form helps us determine what efforts might already be underway at that site and helps us give you guidance on where to begin. If the site is a good candidate, we'll work together toward starting a new garden or farm to help beautify, feed, unify and strengthen your neighborhood and our city.

4. Get permission!

   Before you start planning a garden, we need to make sure that you will have permission to use the space. If the lots that you've identified are on publicly owned property, GreenThumb will facilitate the process with the City agency that has jurisdiction to determine if they are willing to allow it to be used as a community garden. This process can take some time, so speaking with GreenThumb first will help get things moving more quickly. If you're pursuing a private lot, make sure you have the consent of the owner first. GreenThumb will only register community gardens that have written permission to be there.