Garden of Union

The idyllic Garden of Union, in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, is a bellwether of the burgeoning interest in local foods. Garden administrator Claudia Joseph reports that membership has doubled in the past year. In the garden's distinctive "honor system for harvesting," individual members do not have "ownership" of specific beds or crops; rather, the garden's organically grown produce—spinach, squash, radishes, lovage, chamomile and lots of leafy greens, to name a few—is available to all members, and garden stewards structure plantings with a surplus in mind. Specialty edibles include figs, pink champagne currants and chokeberries, and this year the garden is beginning a mushroom patch, where the oyster and shiitake varieties will be grown. Garden of Union also includes Annie's Garden, a stretch of greenery and quiet nestled between two buildings just a few paces up the street.