We love a well designed community garden and Our Little Green Acre at the corner 122nd Street on FDB/8th Avenue is one of the better examples to be found uptown. This little green patch has cast iron gates to section it off from the sidewalk and the garden inside is meticulously manicured each season. One can even see a charming tool shed that looks like a barn when passing by. Many of these gardens were built on abandoned lots and the ones that are successful all have these formal elements to them. Otherwise they tend to still look like abandoned lots even though an effort has been made to plant on them.
Love the tool shed with Dutch barn roof and window shutters. I think the gardener here was a farmer as evidenced by the flourishing furrowed rows. These vacant lots can by tough to grow on as sunlight is limited.
ReplyDeleteThe book "Eat the City" includes a chapter on Willie Morgan, the man who runs this urban farm. he's a great guy and will show you around if you catch him. Each summer the New York Community Garden Coalition hosts a walking tour of Harlem community gardens and it's a wonderful opportunity to see the wide variety of amazing community gardens.
ReplyDeleteAs a community gardener in Harlem, however, I must object to the broad generalizations made of Harlem community garden spaces. There are some really lovely community gardens in Harlem that do not follow the formal structure of well-manicured rows. Each garden has it's own way of managing planting spaces, whether they be raised beds cared for by individuals or sprawling gardens maintained by the gardeners as a whole. And each space provides value to the community.
Community gardens are maintained by volunteers, members of the community who want to preserve green spaces in this urban environment. It is back-breaking work done in our free time with limited resources. Some gardens don't have the same level of committed membership that others do. If you see a garden in your neighborhood that's looking a little run down, contact them to see how you can get involved. We always need more help and love it when people offer to pitch in.