Q Gardens is managed communally. We share in the garden responsibilities and in the fruits of our collective labor!

The  best way to get involved is to just start coming to the garden during open hours, asking questions, and jumping right in. Another great way is to come to one of our monthly garden meetings. All upcoming events are listed on our calendar.

The current Q Gardens teams are described below. Feel free to sign up for any (or all) of them through our QG Volunteer form!

Growers team: Growers work collectively to plant, water, and otherwise care for the plants at Q Gardens. During the growing season, volunteers can start seedlings, sign up for morning watering shifts, come together at the garden for workdays and weekly Growers Hours, support the twice-annual QG plant giveaways, and more. We have an assortment of culinary and medicinal herbs, native plants, berry bushes, flowers, decorative perennials, and annual food plants, and we’re always growing and open to new ideas. Growers of all experience levels are welcome!

Composting team: Saves tons – literally! – of food scraps from landfill each year and makes a lot of compost ;). Members sign up for 2-hour composting shifts on weekends (as many or few as they like). Folks can also take on tasks during the week such as turning, mixing browns, sifting, and helping to manage the sidewalk bin collection. Newbie and experienced composters welcome! Learn more at the composting page.

Bee team: Q Gardens launched a community beekeeping project on a nearby rooftop in 2017 (see our bee blog). During beekeeping season, we gather regularly to inspect our hives, learn together, and collectively make decisions about how to troubleshoot the many surprises bees bring. During the 2025 season, we are managing two hives and would love for you to join us.

Events & Outreach Team: This team is about building community, a core part of Q Gardens’ mission. The team organizes social events and connects the garden with other local organization and projects. If you love planning and making connections with neighbors and community-based groups, if you have ideas for ways to bring people together through the garden, this is the volunteering opportunity for you! This group has its roots in our 2019 community board project. After the June 2020 uprisings for racial justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the project became a QG working group that planned tabling events around current issues, developed a police-free zone garden community agreement, and collaborated on community projects such as the Flatbush African Burial Ground and The Caton Migration Garden. In 2023, the group became Events & Outreach and has continued to foster connections with local organizations and passionately engage with community initiatives.

Caton Migration Garden (CMG) Stewards: This Haitian Cultural Exchange-Q Gardens pollinator garden is located on Caton Avenue near the corner with St. Paul’s, right across the street from the Q Line station and under the stunning mural created by Flatbush Haitian-U.S. artist, Madjeen Isaac. CMG Stewards develop and take care of the garden. We are in the process of redesigning CMG and would love to have you join us in this new stage of the project!

Tree team: The tree care team coordinates at least one community volunteer day per month to care for street trees around the Q Gardens neighborhood, and collaborates with other organizations to host large seasonal cleanup and planting days!

Not ready to join a team yet, but want to be kept in the loop of general garden goings-on? You can ask to join our general garden listserv by filling out the volunteer form or by emailing q-gardens-coordinators@googlegroups.com.