Angela Maull revived East Harlem’s Diversity Edible Farm Garden in July 2023, on a lot at 1673 Madison Avenue, near East 111th Street. NYC Parks lists the site at 3,000 square feet. The garden it stands in for, Chenchita’s Group Garden, sat at 1691 Madison Avenue until construction took the block.
“This is the garden that was replaced from the building there. The big, tall building,” Maull said.
The beds grow kale, collards, cucumbers and tomatoes, and everyone who holds one pays for it. “So everybody pays for their bed. We buy all of the supplies we need,” she said.
The part that costs nothing is the pantry. The garden works with the East Harlem Community Partnership to run monthly pantries with the community board, and when Maull was asked whether you have to live in the neighborhood to use one, the answer did not take long.
“No, anyone can come from anywhere and just sign up for it,” she said.
Maull said she took part in restoring the garden because it helps her celebrate the memory of her daughter.
The modern community garden movement traces to the 1970s, and GreenThumb, the city program that supports gardens like this one, started in 1978. Nearly fifty years on, what Maull put back on Madison Avenue is a lot with a door in it, and the door opens for anybody who asks.
