The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) maintains the largest (and oldest!) urban garden program in the United States. In this unique arrangement, any resident may apply to create and maintain a garden on the grounds of their development. To encourage continued improvement and in the spirit of good fun, they hold a garden competition each year for the more than 650 gardens city-wide. I've served as a judge for this contest for seven years now, and I've been to resident gardens all over Manhattan, Brooklyn, and after this year, the Bronx. I always end up inspired, seeing how creative they are, especially considering how persistent and fearless these gardeners have to be. They have lots of challenges: heavy shade; dry, compacted soil; litter; rats; pigeons...you name it. Sometimes they don't even have convenient access to water. But they keep at it, year after year, gaining more knowledge with each season and always putting an unmistakable personal stamp on everything they do. Take a look and see for yourself!
1 Flower gardens are the original - and still most popular - garden category. This colorful example from the South Bronx flies in the face of convention as a respite from all the brick and concrete.
2 Residents can get a $40 allowance each year to spend on plants. They can also get free seeds and compost. This garden has been on this site for many years, so it has lots of established perennials.
3 The tire planter - once little more than a joke - is becoming a classic garden kitsch item as steel belted radials replace the old, sculptable tires. These fun planters are practically antiques!
4 No real rabbits in the highly urbanized South Bronx, so this collection of plastic one fills in. All the country atmosphere, none of the rabbit damage!
5 Vegetable gardens are the second category of the garden competition. This healthy planting of corn, peppers, and cabbage is accompanied by some cheerful - and possibly pest-repelling - marigolds.
6 The proud gardener and friends. Children seem especially drawn to these gardens, so appealing yet so out of place among the acres of dry lawn and London plane trees.
7 Tomatoes are always a popular choice in any garden.
8 Rob Bennaton, one of the garden program managers, in front of this vegetable garden's casita, or little house. This one is bedecked with window boxes for a cheerful look.
9 A recent planting of carrots shows evidence of succession sowing, one of the scoring categories. This garden is a strong contender for best vegetable garden!
10 This blue casita is part of the nearby "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" garden.
11 Grace, the gardener, maintains beds and lawn on either side of her casita and works a lot with the resident children who love to spend time in her garden.
12 A pretty combination: cerise impatiens with orange Cosmos sulphureus.
13 I have a bit of a soft spot for menacing-looking toys in the garden. Especially if they are insects! Don't know if they provide any real pest control, but they sure look scary.
14 This garden is entered through an arch covered in Clematis paniculata. This kind of considered touch is what makes these gardens so extraordinary and transporting.
15 In Grace's vegetable garden, she grows cucumbers up the fence to save space. Smart!
16 She also grows a couple of banana plants, which she overwinters in her apartment. Though it won't produce fruit, she gives the leaves to neighbors who use them for some authentic Puerto Rican pasteles.
17 Luckily, this garden already has raised beds: the city has mandated that all NYCHA vegetable gardens convert to raised bed gardening in 2011 over concerns of soil pollution.
18 More than just a vegetable garden, this is a garden of edibles, as evidenced by this peach tree. There are also strawberries and raspberries in their own beds.
19 Theme gardens are the third category of the competition. This one is called "Nautica" and clearly employs an undersea theme - this plant has been thrown a life raft, but a sting ray lingers nearby...
20 It's an octopus's garden! But this one is in the blazing sun, NOT the shade.
21 This gardener has named each planted area in keeping with her theme. This one is "Paradise Island." Note the makeshift rake made out of a dowel and plastic fork. Very resourceful.
22 The jugs of water aren't there as part of the undersea theme - they are really for watering the garden, since there is neither spigot nor hose she can use.
23 The centerpiece of "Nautica": a dolphin statuette under an arch of vines.
24 Senior citizens play a major role in many of the NYCHA gardens. This one centers around a large, concrete circular bed.
25 I like this combination of dark plum Heuchera and white and red caladium.
26 I wonder if the real squirrels get confused by this garden denizen!
27 Shady benches and colorful plantings welcome visitors to stay awhile.
28 This garden near the building's entrance is kept neat as a pin.
From: B Docuette | 8/23/10 at 3:25 pm
There is a wonderful book by H.Patricia Hynes entitled A Patch of Eden: America's Inner City Gardeners that looks at the community gardening in various urban centers around the US and the people who have championed them; very inspirational and I highly recommend!
From: Stacey Hirvela | 8/23/10 at 5:21 pm
That sounds great! I'm definitely going to check it out. Thanks!