I teach vegetable and herb gardening at the New York Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I am very active in the local food movement in my area, and write about gardening, cooking, and foraging.
There are gardens all over New York City, not just the botanical gardens but community gardens, small backyard gardens (what I have), rooftop and terrace gardens. In fact, there is hardly a block in NYC (outside of the business district downtown) that doesn't have some sort of public or private garden. There is also a thriving horticultural industry--I made my living as a professional gardener in the city for several years.
What is different here is that most of the gardens aren't visible from the street. On my street, for example, if you were standing outside my apartment building you would just see a block of buildings with no space between. But every single one of those buildings has a garden in the back, and my own garden is adjacent to six neighbor's gardens separated by nothing more than chainlink fences. Don't believe everything you see in the movies, LOL!
Welcome to the group. I mean no offense when I express surprise at gardening in NYC? I live in rural Oregon about a mile from the beach. I am surrounded by farms (Tillamook Cheese is made here) and our image of NYC is wall to wall people and cement. I am glad to hear of city folks making to most of their space.
Phillip
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What is different here is that most of the gardens aren't visible from the street. On my street, for example, if you were standing outside my apartment building you would just see a block of buildings with no space between. But every single one of those buildings has a garden in the back, and my own garden is adjacent to six neighbor's gardens separated by nothing more than chainlink fences. Don't believe everything you see in the movies, LOL!
Phillip