All images: Matthew McDermott A quick update on the status of new proposed rules covering New York City's community gardens: Scores of garden supporters turned out for a public hearing, alongside activists and the City Council Speaker, all saying they want the gardens to be permanently protected. What that exactly means and how to get there remains open to...Read the full story on TreeHugger

all photos: Matthew McDermott If you're a New Yorker or just a fan of community gardening no matter where you live, pay attention: Under newly proposed rules from the New York City Parks and Recreation Department and Department of Housing Preservation and Development, many of the Big Apple's thriving community gardens are again under threat of being turned over to private developers. Here's why:...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image: Suck UK Is it the militarization of gardening? Or the gardenization of weapons? Following in the tradition of putting flowers into gun barrels, Tony Minh Nguyen and SnowHome have taken inspiration from the concept of "guerilla gardening" to design these clay hand grenades full of seeds. Rye grass seeds take root in the first week, then buttercups and poppies pop up a bit later. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

photo: Zoey Kroll Zooming by Oak and Fell Streets in San Francisco, you may not notice the bustling growth that is taking place behind the fence on the corner of Laguna and Oak. When the City removed the Laguna freeway off-ramp, there remained 2.5 acres of unused space, from Oak to Fell and from Laguna to Octavia Streets. The plot was originally slated to become condos, but then the economy tanked and now the plan has been shelved for the next 2-5 years. In the meantime a group of urban farmers, garden educators, and landscape designers have joined together to get permission from the City of San Francisc...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Images from savefortisgreenallotments It's a David and Goliath story ; an instructive lesson in community activism with a great ending. Here's the story: Thames Water, the UK's largest water and wastewater services company owned a huge swathe of land on top of a reservoir in the North London area. It had been the site of allotment gardens for almost a century. Thames Water then decided that they wanted to sell the land to a private developer. The local community and the allotment holders flew into action. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo: Rodale Institute. The Edible Schoolyard program, which began in 1995 at Martin Luther King public middle school in Berkeley, has inspired growth of garden programs in other communities throughout the county during the past 15 years.The program teaches children valuable lessons as they learn to grow food. However, Caitlin Flanagan's diatribe against school gardens, "Cultivating Failure," in the latest...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image by Leopoldo For many years now (read our first article about Leopoldo in 2005), this Catalan design is appearing in more and more homes, restaurants, galleries and other spaces in need of green and locally grown food. It changed in size and colour, and another interesting aspect of the Leopoldo Urban Vegetable Garden is its use in hospitals. The flat-pack recyclable steel structure with its black recycled planters...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Batalla Verde battlefield in open spaces. Image from Urbanarbolismo You probably heard of la Tomatina, the tomato fight, in Spain, where each year some 50.000 visitors get together to throw 100.000 kilos of tomatoes at each other. And then there are water fights, pillow fights, foam fights, and so on, all of which are a lot of fun but also quite a waste of resources. Not so the Green Battle, or Batalla Verde. This way of fighting could be classified under Read the full story on TreeHugger

We're big fans of edible schoolyards. From Alice Waters' original edible schoolyard efforts in California to one school's garden in the arid deserts of Arizona the concept is reconnecting kids with their food and each other. Kids in my neck of the woods are getting their hands dirty too, and they've even created a great video to show the world the fruits of their labors....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Alissa J. Novoselick's students bonded over their shared love of chilies. Photo by nattu via Flickr. A cynic might look at a program like the Edible Schoolyard -- the much-lauded school garden initiative launched by Chez Panisse's Alice Waters -- and wonder if such a thing would be possible outside the favorable growing climes (and foodie sensibilities) of California, and without the support o...Read the full story on TreeHugger