The Guerrilla Gardener

There are few places that couldn’t benefit from a little extra greenery – even a neighborhood as gifted with towering trees and plentiful stoopside gardens as Park Slope.

Which is exactly why, a few weeks ago, under the cover of night, Todd Bieber commandeered a small plot of land near his Eighth Avenue apartment to create his own personal guerrilla garden.

“Before, this was like this gross eyesore,” he said, hovering over a small, fenced-off garden plot attached to a parking lot onEighth Avenue and Fifth Street. “There was trash in it. We pulled lighters out of here. Even a pill bottle.”

Though the plot has yet to transform into a lush islet of green, Bieber has planted what he hopes will eventually grow into a bounty of produce –tomatoes, thyme, potatoes, chives, cucumbers, sunflowers, basil all planted in organic soil. A row of marigolds from the Grand Army Plaza GreenMarket—a natural pest repellant—rings the space.

“We decided to plant anything we could imagine,” said Bieber, who, though hailing from the farming country of Central Pennsylvania, has little experience in gardening himself. Peas, which he had hoped might grow up the chain link fence, were the first of his experimental plantings to falter after the spring’s heavy rains killed them off.

Bieber, who works for Upright Citizens Brigade when not as a vigilante gardener, has been stopping by every few days to water the garden, carrying with him a disposable, soft plastic watering can on his way to work.

Of course, if the owners of the property ever do take note of his little gardening project, Bieber said he’s happy to split the bounty.

He works on the garden mostly at night – and often strangers have stopped by to volunteer. It’s been a good way to meet neighbors on a block where he’s lived for three years without ever befriending a soul.

“We were planting tomatoes, and one woman stopped by and asked if she could help,” he said. The woman then said she may come back and plant the second plot—still filled with litter and decaying leaves—on the other side of the parking lot entrance.

Since embarking on his guerrilla gardening mission, Bieber has circulated a video about the project to friends and on YouTube, hoping others might get inspired to do a little guerrilla gardening of their own.

“I’m not trying to start a movement,” he said. “But it would be nice if we could encourage other people to do this, too.”