Mystery squash patch spreads along Fourth Avenue

You reap what you sow. In Sunset Park, that can be tricky. Much depends on the patch of soil, access to sun and availability of water. And sometimes the question is: who sowed it?

This summer, a secret patch of squash thrived along Fourth Avenue. Between 27th and 30th streets, vines growing in the median spread over evergreen shrubs and flowers planted by the city. Ten-inch leaves, thick interwoven stems and round squash roughly eight inches across covered the beds. One resident identified the vegetable as calabaza. Similar plants also appeared in the median from 19th to 22nd streets.

Who planted them, how they grew and who harvested many of the large vegetables by the end of August proved harder to answer.

Smack in the middle of the patch is Life Deli and Grill, 815 Fourth Ave. at 29th Street, where Edna Federico takes empanada orders on her phone and makes them with help from her two teenage daughters in the kitchen at the back of the deli.

“Many people pass by in a car and stop and pick the vegetables and park and also pick the sunflowers,” Federico said. She called the vegetable “calabaza” and said it is commonly used in soups in Panama, her country of origin. Large sunflowers also grow near the cross streets at the edges of the vegetable patches.

Asked who planted and cared for the patch, Federico said she believed “the workers themselves, the ones wearing the orange vests” were responsible, referring to contractors who built and planted the recently constructed raised median.

The Sunset Post contacted city agencies to determine who was responsible for the median. The Parks Department directed the inquiry to the Department of Transportation, which then referred it to the Department of Design and Construction. A DDC spokesperson said, “We unfortunately did not plant the calabaza or squash.”

A widely used plant-identification app identified the vines as Cucurbita moschata, a species that includes winter squash and calabaza.

Across the street is the 72nd Precinct. At the front desk, Officer Lopez said, “I didn’t notice [the plants].” She did say trucks periodically water the greenery in the median.

Standing on the corner of 30th Street and Fourth Avenue with a group of neighbors was Sophia Diaz. When asked about the vegetables, she laughed. “I wanted to take some, but someone told me it was stealing,” she said.

Local resident Alex Juarez, walking his dog Milo, referred to the blossoms as “flor de calabaza.” “I wanted to grab some,” he said, but added he was concerned about whether vegetables grown amid traffic were safe to eat.

At the northern end of the patch, near 27th Street, is Flores Marilyn Y Evelyn, a flower shop at 784 Fourth Ave. Silvia Garcia, who was working in the shop, said she did not know where the squash came from, but noted that squash blossoms are commonly eaten in quesadillas.

In front of the shop is a tree bed where employees grow tomatoes and hot peppers. Garcia said some of those vegetables disappear at night after the shop closes.

Along with the identity of the median gardener, the safety of Fourth Avenue-grown produce remains uncertain. The New York City Department of Health says soil near busy roadways can contain contaminants such as lead, arsenic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chemicals produced by burning fuel and other organic materials. The department recommends testing the soil when contamination is a concern and thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables grown in urban soil before eating them. Brooklyn College’s Urban Soils Lab offers low-cost soil testing and instructions for collecting samples.