NYCHA’s Garden Program is the largest urban gardening program in the country. The program began in 1962 as a competition among resident gardeners with 105 flower gardens participating in the first annual citywide garden competition.

Today the Garden Program provides materials and technical support to over 1,800 adult residents and over 2,400 youth and children in the cultivation of 572 registered gardens citywide. Gardeners develop their gardens around a stated theme in one of three categories: flowers, vegetables, or children's.

Participants receive free seeds in spring and bulbs in the spring and fall. Registered gardeners also receive a newsletter and can participate in educational workshops, trips and tours.

Staff of the Garden Program partners with various not-for-profit and government organizations, including the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, NYC Department of Sanitation, the city's four Botanical Gardens, Magnolia Tree Earth Center, the Horticultural Society of New York and others in the City’s "greening" community to provide additional resources for NYCHA's resident gardeners.

For more information on the Garden Program and to become a registered gardener, contact your Development Management Office or call our Community Coordinators at (212) 306-3511.