Saturday, April 6, 2019

Urban Roots workshops continue through May

Brad White, operations manager at Urban Roots
With the days getting warmer and spring officially starting, Urban Roots Community Garden Center is continuing preparing for the growing season with its seminar series.
            The garden center, 428 Rhode Island St., partners with other West Side organizations to put on a series of workshops, which offer tips and assist people with gardening.
The new Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) farmhouse, 387 Massachusetts Ave., has given it more space to hold the workshops and the ability to bring in more people. Patti Jablonski-Dopkin, general manager of Urban Roots, said that instead of the 10 workshops last year, the new farmhouse has given it the space to host 15 this year.
The workshops have been going on since January and will run through May. Along with MAP, Urban Roots partners with Grassroots Gardens WNY, 30 Essex St., to put on the workshops.
            “The three of us are within blocks of each other, we’re all trying to do the same thing, so the three organizations collaborated this year,” Jablonski-Dopkin said.
Jablonski-Dopkin said the workshops aim to work with both the total novice and also the expert gardener as a way for the attendees to learn more about gardening.
            “With the workshops, we always give out handouts and people are given step by step direction on what they need to do, either timewise within the different seasons or in getting started with what they need to line up beforehand,” Jablonski-Dopkin said. Text by Nick Lukasik and Zach Rohde, Photo by Kim-Moi Chin and Jahziel Delgado