Buster English: The Green Thumb – New York Times Photos and Audio

For 15 years, Mr. English, 55, has been growing neatly planted rows of vegetables in a public housing project in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Buster English: The Green Thumb

Interviewed and produced by Rogene Fisher and Sarah Kramer.
Photographed by Todd Heisler

Mr. English began gardening as a teenager with his grandfather in South Carolina, then took it up again to “stay out of trouble” after moving to the Walt Whitman Houses. He lives with his three teenage daughters (his son lives with a grandmother), and calls his plot of land the Cabbage Patch.

A handyman who does odd jobs, Mr. English said the garden helps keep fresh food on the table for his family at low cost. He has won several trophies for his vegetable garden in the New York City Housing Authority’s annual contest. “I never dreamed of living in the projects” Mr. English said. “Now you can’t even pay me to move out of here. You can’t take a bulldozer to get me out of here.”

See the complete photo and audio story here.