Yardwork: A bitter melon grows in Boston

Some people see something special happening at the Berkeley Community Garden in Boston’s South End: a multicultural garden community built from the rubble of a demolished city block; a green oasis of Chinese plants like bitter melon, cultivated here for over half a century.

But others… well, all they see is a trash pile.

In the final installment of Yardwork, the story of how a predominantly immigrant community garden is shaping the built environment, even as gentrification threatened its existence.

Featuring: Arlene Ng, Kim Szeto, Chun Lee, Sue Fong Lee, Helen Ng, Fanny, Ada, Sarah Hutt, Jeremy Liu, Betsy Johnson, Ann McQueen, Valerie Burns

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LINKS

Official Berkeley Community Garden Website

Adversity Can Help A Garden To Grow (NYTimes)

Berkeley Community Gardeners Master Growing...Up (WBUR)

The Trustees of Reservations now owns and manages the Berkeley Community Garden. But many organizations have supported the garden through the decades, including:

• Boston Natural Areas Network (Wikipedia)
• South End Lower Roxbury Open Space Land Trust (Wikipedia)
• Boston Urban Gardeners

Mel King was instrumental in making community gardens in Boston possible. In 1974 he sponsored the MA Gardening and Farm Act, which passed into law and allowed people to farm and garden on vacant public land. He was honored in 2021 by then acting mayor of Boston, Kim Janey.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by Felix Poon

Editing by Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi

Additional editing help from Jessica Hunt and Justine Paradis. 
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Special thanks to Michelle Slater, Julie Stone, Zach Nowak, Mark Gardner, Michelle de Lima, Vidya Tikku, Peter Bowne, Jessica Holden, Lauren Chooljian Nick Capodice, Jason Moon, Christina Phillips, and Eileen Poon.

Music for this episode by Walt Adams, Blue Dot Sessions, and Airae

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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