The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) has opened a new $28 million Edible Academy. The indoor-outdoor campus will allow NYBG’s edible gardening program for children, families, teachers, and the general public to double its capacity to 100,000 people annually and operate year-round.

Children are invited to roll up their sleeves and help tend the gardens in the Edible Academy: dig in the soil, sow seeds, water the seedlings, and harvest ripe produce.

Each season offers new themes to investigate through hands-on activities and take-home projects. Going on now is “Pickle Me!” (ending August 10, 2018). The comes “Pollinator Pals” (August 14-September 9), “Three Sisters: Corn, Beans, Squash” (September 11-October 5), and “Goodnight, Garden” (October 9-November 4).

Two Family Weekend Series are set: “Totally Tomatoes” August 11-12) and “Harvest Weekend” (October 6-8).

“Fresh from the Garden Tastings” will be available between 2 and 2:30 p.m. and again 4 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays through November 4, 2018. Cooking demonstrations will show family-friendly recipes using seasonal vegetables, fruits, and herbs.

The Edible Academy, with the existing Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden as its centerpiece, features a 5,300-square-foot classroom building with a demonstration kitchen and classroom; a teaching greenhouse; two outdoor pavilions for programs, including one at treetop level offering a vista of the Garden’s old-growth forest and the Bronx River; a tiered lawn amphitheater designed to seat 350, and gardens where children, educators, and other visitors will learn about plants and grow and harvest their own produce.

The New York Botanical Garden is a museum of plants located at Bronx River Parkway (Exit 7W) and Fordham Road in New York City. The Garden is open year-round, Tuesday through Sunday and Monday federal holidays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

(Photo courtesy of New York Botanical Garden)