Introducing Mulch
Mulch is a new sort of community garden — built for busy New Yorkers in the 21st century. It's fundamentally different than any other community garden in three ways:
It's 1) distributed, 2) ambitious, and 3) a tiny commitment.
Rather than picking one fenced-away plot and requiring everyone to commute there, we treat the entire city as our garden to make stewardship effortless for all:
This means that you can:
- Reconnect with nature, right from your doorstep.
- Share that experience as a member of a lighthearted club — without bloated obligations
- Contribute to rewilding the city — in a way that makes sense for you
- And mulch more (had to do it)
In Phase 1, our plan is to rewild empty space in our existing forest (e.g. the 700,000+ street tree beds). Afterwards, our ambition is to move to originate projects for living walls, balcony gardens, and rooftop farms (Phase 2) before finally taking on government projects like green roofs and new tree planting (Phase 3)
What's Included
Here's what you get as a member of Mulch in Phase 1:
- Rekindle your relationship with nature by turning a street tree into a street tree that you care for.
- Feel more calm and grounded daily with bite-sized stewardship that fits your life
- Learn how to take care of a tree (mulch, water, weed, and more) even if you're a complete beginner
- Learn how to grow native wildflowers in the empty space of your tree bed — without much time or effort
- Learn how to protect your tree bed from compaction and waste
- Understand the steps to getting a tree guard permitted and installed
- Get recognized for your stewardship with your name on our Mulch Map (or keep it anonymous — whatever suits you!)
- Connect with other optimistic New Yorkers motivated to rewild the city — starting right from your home
- Get (and give!) support — share progress, challenges, and learnings with the community
- Celebrate wins like germination, first leaves, flowers together with club members
- Avoid wasted time and tap into shared knowledge of how to grow in the built environment
- Feel lighthearted, momentum from across the club throughout your week
- Private access to events (in-person and virtual) to dive deeper into rewilding initiatives
- Speak to the best experts in the world on topics like Living Walls, Rooftop Farms, and Depaving Sidewalk
- Get your hands dirty with one-off nature events throughout the city
- Join Special Interest Committees to push forward pilots for a Living Wall, Rooftop Farm, and Depaved Sidewalk
- Regularly meet club members at our standing in-person meeting
- Actively steer the the direction of our rewilding initiatives
- Review progress, ask questions, suggest updates in real time with the entire club
- A pocket shaker for spreading native wildflower seeds throughout the city — without changing your routine
- Adjustable speed, clear status indicator, and compact design capable of covering 500 square feet per cartridge
- Get unlimited seed refills at cost (over 40% off retail prices)
- Get up to 50-80% off premium plants through our partnerships with local nurseries; all plants delivered to the Mulch Monthly
- Skip middlemen and overcharged plants altogether
- Never worry about the source and quality of your plants
- Our visual scoreboard; feel momentum right from home as you track our community's real time progress
- Create mini-groups with other Mulch members located nearby
- View the entire NYC urban forest at your fingertips; identify tree species, manage your stewardship, and more.
- Weave lighthearted stories, updates, and learnings from across the community into your day, in a bite-sized way
The goal with this club is to bring New Yorkers together to rewild the city — to make feeling connected to the natural environment effortless. To that end, we're also offering annual members the following:
Watering can, gardening fork, and liquid plant food — get our recommendation for the best tools delivered to you. Sturdy enough for the city, but compact enough for an NYC apartment.
A quiet marker of the Mulch community. A durable, aluminum stake uniquely designed for the chaos of NYC. Personalized to include your spot name, in Mulch blue.
A 30 day email-delivered series with tiny stories, written to make you see all the nature woven into the built environment (e.g. how the sidewalk is made up of sea shells)
The cost for joining Mulch is $5,000!!!!
Mwahahaha.
Just kidding. It's $8 / mo. Your fee goes directly into operating this service (materials, logistics/shipping, events, marketing, hosting, and more) and putting on new rewilding initiatives.
Membership
44/50 — 6 left at this price
- One tree bed to steward
- The Mulch Community
- The Rewilding Series
- Private invitation to the Mulch Monthly
- The Pocket Rewilder
- Mulch Resilience Program
- The Mulch Map
- The Email
- Native Rewilding Kit(Annual members only)
- The Stake(Annual members only)
- Field Guide to NYC's Built Environment(Annual members only)
My hope is that this club can be a lighthearted way for you to add community and connection to your life. If for any reason you're not satisfied, you can send me an email at hi@joinmulch.com for a no questions asked refund.
To join, you can click the button below. You'll immediately get an email to schedule an onboarding call — where we can review logistics and get you set up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this legal?
Yes! NYC Parks is aware (we have a recurring call with their stewardship team) — and we are operating completely within their public planting guidelines.
Who are you?
Hi!!! I'm Mayank (Mardia). I'm from Kenner, Louisiana, worked in banking and big tech, and grew a little tired of both. I love this city, but I miss feeling connected to the natural environment like I did back home. This long journey started with a simpler goal: to feel that way here.
What does it mean to steward a tree? Is it mine?
Yes and no. All street trees are under NYC Parks jurisdiction, so you can't do serious work (plant/remove a tree, take out a stump, install a tree guard) without a permit. That being said, things like planting native species, mulching, and watering are all fair game. Any street tree can be yours to steward.
What's the business model? Is this a non-profit?
This is an independent, for-profit business. All those words sound yucky to me too, but — after a lot of consideration — I'm confident it's the best structure for achieving a high velocity of restoration. I don't want to take venture funding or depend on wealthy non-profit donors.
The goal of Mulch is to provide a honest service at a fair price — to earn the trust of this community — and to rewild the city along the way 🌱
Left Twix? Right Twix?
Right 🍫