Urban Vegetable Trials in Public Gardens

We will create several trial and demonstration plots in public growing spaces in New York City, centered around adapting vegetable production to an urban setting through soil management and identifying best-suited varieties. Two new projects would be most relevant to the intern's role:

1. Brooklyn Botanic Garden has agreed to host a trial/demonstration of the impact of excess nitrogen on peppers, with accompanying signage, in their Herb Garden.
2. A continuation of an ongoing African eggplant project focused on identifying and developing varieties of this culturally significant crop adapted to urban environments in New York and the Northeast United States.

We are excited about the public education impact for both projects. Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) hosts 800,000 visitors annually, and the pepper trial will appear at the entrance of the popular Herb Garden area, with signage that shares the results and starts a conversation about how we manage soil nutrients. In our trials of African eggplant varieties at 12 partner farms and gardens in NYC in 2024, participants were enthusiastic and engaged, including public-facing trials with partners who expressed interest in trying more African eggplants – including Queens County Farm Museum, with over 500,000 visitors per year, and Queens Botanical Garden, with 300,000 annual visitors.

Roles and responsibilities 

The intern will be responsible for data collection in both the pepper and African eggplant trials, working with CCE mentor and faculty advisor to interpret the results. At BBG, the intern will harvest and weigh peppers each week, tracking the progress of treatment and control plots. The intern will also assist with maintaining the peppers and other garden tasks in the Herb Garden. For the African eggplant project, the intern will interface with project participants who are evaluating varieties and breeding populations of this crop. In addition to conducting and coordinating data collection, the intern will work with the CCE and faculty mentor to develop educational materials on seed saving and plant breeding that will be disseminated to project participants and the public.
 

Qualifications and previous coursework

This opportunity is available to non-graduating students in Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

• Must be willing to do outdoor garden work in a variety of weather conditions
• Attention to detail is required for data collection
• A general understanding of experimental design is helpful
• Be reliable and able to maintain respectful relationships with gardeners and visitors encountered during the work
   

Learning outcomes 

During the internship, the student intern will:

• Learn about unique considerations for growing vegetables in urban environments and in public settings
• Understand how nitrogen in the soil impacts plant growth and crop productivity, and how this relates to nitrogen amendments used in agriculture
• Develop an understanding of the methods and strategies used in developing new plant varieties
• Gain insight into the role stakeholders play in the variety development process
• Enhance their skills in communicating scientific information to diverse audiences and building relationships with stakeholders in the community