Jersey City Parks Coalition member Charlene Burke had an idea as she watched a group of youngsters plant the children’s garden outside City Hall last spring.
“I was thinking to myself, ‘Wow, what a great event it is to beautify an area that otherwise is just a lawn’,” said Burke. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had an event that really got people inspired about stepping up and caring for their local green space, be it a park, or a library, or a school, just an open area?’ I thought, ‘If the city works with us, we can do a citywide event that beautifies all of Jersey City come spring of 2012’.”
Thus, the idea for Jersey City’s first Big Dig was planted.
Months later, more than 600 volunteers found themselves tilling the soil on a bright October Saturday for some 18,000 tulip and daffodil bulbs at sites throughout the city. Thanks to this inaugural event, christened the “Big Dig,” 76 outdoor spaces across the city will be in full bloom next April and May.
‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had an event that got people inspired about caring for their local green space?’ – Charlene Burke
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The types of bulbs planted are “naturalizing,” meaning that as long as the roots are in the ground, the plants will continue to multiply in the years to come.
“Any place where we put in plants, not only will you see them re-bloom each spring, but there will be more of them coming back,” she said.
Burke said the fall planting will allow the bulbs to take root and have some protection from vandals during their early lives. The plants will break ground in the early spring, she said, when the weather is still cold and people aren’t outside much. The hope is that few residents will notice the young sprouts and thus won’t have a chance to sabotage their growth. Eventually, the plants will flower.
First citywide bulb planting
Although the Big Dig is the first citywide bulb planting effort in Jersey City, there have been smaller, more limited city beautification initiatives in the past.
Several years ago, Burke said, the city was actually criticized for planting flowers at some sites around town.
“People felt that if city money is tight, and there’s no money in the budget for services and other things, then we shouldn’t be spending money planting flowers. That’s too much of a luxury,” said Burke.
Thus far, the Big Dig hasn’t received the same pushback from residents, perhaps because it was volunteer-driven and underwritten with donated funds.
The bulbs were purchased at no cost to city taxpayers and were instead paid for with modest donations from companies and individuals. (Donations levels ranged from $250 to $2,500.)
Volunteers used borrowed gardening tools from the Jersey City Department of Public Works.
More ‘Digs’ to come
Despite planting an impressive 18,000 bulbs this year, Burke said, “that’s really a drop in the hat, for the number of sites that we had. It’s 100 here, 200 there. Some parks were lucky enough to get 1,000 bulbs, but they’re huge parks.”
So, it’s not surprising that plans are already underway for a Big Dig II next year. Future Digs could include flower plantings at sites not included on this year’s list, additional bulb plantings at sites covered this year, or tree plantings.
“We want people to stay engaged in how local green space looks, get them to work on improving or maintaining those spaces,” said Burke.
The Jersey City Parks Coalition, a coalition of 13 neighborhood park associations, has been beautifying various parks in the city since 2004. Burke said these park associations stepped up to adopt such parks as Van Vorst Park and Lincoln Park, and Pershing Field, and have maintained them for years at no cost to city taxpayers.
To lean more about the coalition and upcoming Big Dig events, visit www.jcparks.org.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.