Revived community garden faces an uncertain future

Gardeners at Finntown Garden, a plot inside Sunset Park, are pondering the future of their urban farm. Located on the north side of the recreation center, the garden has five raised beds. This summer, gardeners have grown tomatoes, squash, peas, carrots and herbs. The garden, previously known as the Garden Kitchen Lab, languished for many years until last summer, when several community members cleared it out and began growing produce again.

Launched by NYC Parks in 2014, the Garden Kitchen Labs program teaches children gardening, cooking, nutrition, science and digital media skills. It currently operates six gardens across the city. The lab inside Sunset Park opened in 2019, but residents recalled that it closed in 2020. After the recreation center closed, staff members who had maintained the garden were let go.

Ryan Price, an active gardener and Sunset Park resident, recalled that the abandoned garden lab became infested with rats.

“It had weeds that went above our heads. Nobody was taking care of it. If children lost a ball or whatever in it, it was basically gone forever,” Price said.

Price said that in the summer of 2025, a small group of local residents decided to take matters into their own hands. When they arrived at the fence, they discovered the original lock was broken.

“We got into the space, and weeded it, and essentially started taking care of it,” Price said. “In late summer of 2025, we planted a few things in there. That first day, there were 20 or so volunteers going in there and weeding everything. We also bought some water barrels for it.”

After clearing the grounds, community members reached out to the Parks Department and the Garden Kitchen Lab program for guidance on how to care for the space, but they received no response. Gradually, gardeners built a good rapport with staff members at the park, who allowed them to use water from the recreation center.

However, Price said that this June, the Parks Department removed the Garden Kitchen Lab sign, stopped providing water and threatened to close the garden. During a call with Parks Department officials, he said he was told that the department does not allow produce to be grown in any city park. Officials also cited concerns about rats and potential risks of food poisoning.

Land ownership is a thorny issue for community gardens in a city that constantly fights over real estate. Many pioneering community gardens started on vacant lots reclaimed by community members. Today, there are more than 1,000 community gardens across the five boroughs, but not all of them have permanent status. Gardens that are neither under Parks Department jurisdiction nor owned by the Trust for Public Land or the New York Restoration Project are at risk of displacement.

The neighborhood’s only other active, produce-yielding community garden, the 64th Street Community Garden, is built on a vacant lot owned by New York state, leaving it vulnerable to displacement as well.

Price noted that Finntown Garden is not the only garden growing produce in a city park. The farm garden at the Old Stone House and Washington Park in Park Slope grows 26 types of annual food crops and 14 perennials.

In a statement to the Sunset Post, NYC Parks press officer Chris Clark said that under department policy, community gardens are not sited within parks. The department has worked to convert the space into a horticultural pollinator garden and hopes to continue working with the community toward that goal.

Gardeners told the Sunset Post they have been informed that they can use the water for the time being until “the space and situation get figured out.”