Worcester residents create urban gardens to thwart climate change - Worcester Telegram

Worcester residents create urban gardens to thwart climate change

Urban gardens: A 'disrupter' in Worcester that fights climate change

One study found that areas with urban gardens are 10 degrees color than areas that don't have them.
Henry Schwan

WORCESTER – Mike Homrok has lived in the same house all his life. All 57 of his years, he has lived in a three-decker on Sigel Street in Worcester’s Green Island neighborhood.

It’s a hot place, with a lot of concrete and not a single street tree on the block to provide shade. The heat can become unbearable in the summer, sapping energy right out of your body. It can take your breath away.

Studies show that Green Island is at least a full 10 degrees hotter than other parts of Worcester that have more trees. It’s a classic case of an urban heat island, and Homrok has something that brings him joy while reducing the extreme heat directly linked to climate change.

It’s the well-cared-for vegetable garden in his backyard.

Fun, not work, for urban gardener

"It’s not work, if you enjoy it,” said Homrok, who showed off his veggies while his pet Shih Tzu, Bascia, was his constant companion.

Homrok's garden pumps out a lot of vegetables. The long list includes cucumbers and cabbages, beans and beets, and tomatoes that Homrok is glad to have because he said they're $6 a pound in the supermarket, a little too expensive for his taste. Plus, he grows jalapeno peppers that add a little kick to his dishes. The last two veggies are Homrok's favorites, because they’re central ingredients in his special homemade chili.

Homrok didn't start his garden a dozen years ago because he wanted to save the environment, but he believes urban gardens like the one he puts his heart and soul into can make a positive impact in the battle against climate change.

“Anything that is good for the environment is beneficial to our progress as a society," he said.

Burncoat neighborhood allows home garden to thrive

Amy Nyman also has a home garden in Worcester. Hers is in the more leafy Burncoat section of the city. Nyman’s day job gives her a clear understanding of the positive environmental impacts from urban gardens.

As the horticulture outreach manager at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill in Boylston, Nyman mentioned transpiration, the process of plants giving off water vapor that lowers air temperature.

Another is flood mitigation, because plants suck in water. That’s important in Homrok's neighborhood, where more intense rainstorms linked to climate change send water from higher elevations in Worcester down into low-lying Green Island. Homrok has seen cars literally floating down his street.

Urban gardens also absorb pollutants, increase biodiversity and reduce harmful carbon emissions. Food grown locally means less food is trucked in from hundreds if not thousands of miles away. Fewer miles translate to fewer emissions.

Urban gardens in Mass. are 'disrupters'

John Rogan has studied urban gardens and their ability to lower temperatures in urban heat islands.

Rogan, a geology professor at Clark University, said these gardens disrupt the extreme heat from climate change on several fronts.

One relates to microtemperatures. They’re not the typical temperature given in the nightly news that indicates one reading for an area. A microtemperature is achieved by going out in the field and using instruments to record the temperature at a particular moment in time in a particular spot.

Rogan and a team of Clark students took microreadings two years ago, and found that Green Island, with 8%-10% tree cover, was at least 10 degrees hotter than the Columbus Park neighborhood that has 30%-40% green space. Both areas have similar elevation.

“The difference in temperature between an urban garden, versus an area of the same elevation without a garden, is as much as 10 degrees,” Rogan said.

Timing is another factor to consider when assessing the cooling effect of urban gardens. Areas with a lot of asphalt and concrete absorb heat from the sun's rays during the day, trap it and cause neighborhoods to roast at night. Urban gardens and other vegetation bring down the heat in the evening.

Bottom line for Rogan: “Urban gardens are disrupters, breaking up connectivity of concrete and asphalt and make the area a lot cooler.”

Anyone can make an urban garden

One of the beauties of urban gardens is that anyone can do it.

“Anyone can learn how to grow plants,” Nyman said. “Just start with one (plant) and build on that.”

Homrok agrees with that. He has a bad back from a car accident that happened decades ago, and while he's careful when walking on uneven ground in his garden, Homrok believes all you need is time and desire to create your own urban garden oasis.

“I’m a perfect example. I have 12 screws in my spine. If I can do it, then most definitely anybody can.”

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Tips to grow your own urban garden

Nyman shared her words of wisdom for anyone interested in starting a urban garden:

- If it's for vegetables, use raised beds because soil contamination can be an issue in urban areas.
- Pay attention to how much sun and shade an area gets, and pick plants that will grow in those conditions.
- Always put mulch around plants to reduce soil temperature and retain moisture. An easy and cheap source of mulch is leaves that fall in autumn. Gather them up, use a lawn mower to chop them up, put it all in a bag to store for the winter, and sprinkle them on the garden in the spring.
- Water consistently and make sure the plants are getting enough supply. Stick a finger a few inches in the earth to check that moisture is sufficient. An easy way to collect free water is put a barrel under a downspout when it pours.

Homrok doesn’t put a finger in the soil to check for moisture. Instead, he uses an old broken golf club or badminton racket to make a hole. Several of each are stuck in his garden plot.

It must work, because Homrok grows a ton of veggies. He gives a lot away to friends and neighbors, because he can't eat them all. But some of the cabbage stays, because Homrok uses it to make a dish called golabki. It’s boiled cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling of minced pork or beef, with other ingredients.

It's an old family recipe that aligns with Homrok's Polish heritage.

“It’s my mom’s recipe that is 70 years old,” he said.

The Telegram & Gazette is investigating the effects of a rapidly heating planet on people who live in our city. Follow along with "City on Fire" as we report the struggle with summer temperatures, even in New England. This is part of the USA TODAY project Perilous Course. Contact reporter Henry Schwan to be included in a story if you have been affected by heat: expense of air conditioning or lack of it, health risks, less access to green space, concern about pets and animals in the summer conditions, worry about an older loved one, etc.

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter: @henrytelegram.