'Now We Are Six' Weeks Old

Beautifying Hunters Point, one tiny bit at a time.

Sunday the 27th marked the sixth week since the first Montauk daisies went into the ground in our Footbridge Garden. Look what's happened since!

Our watering is still the big hang up. Volunteers from two buildings have been known to come with all manner of watering devices. A 5-gallon jug on a hand cart, and a garbage pail on a dolly can be seen being rolled down 21st Street. People stare.

The other day, a man coming over the bridge stopped and looked at the closed garbage pail on wheels. It was sitting in the parking lot while I was watering the garden. He stood in front of it, obviously puzzled.

"What's in there" he asked suspiciously.

"Do you want to see?" I asked.

"I'm afraid!" was his response.

When he found out it was just water, he laughed, and said,

"It just looked so strange, I could not figure out what it was!"

But, thanks to all, it's really starting to take shape. And, thanks to the LIRR, there are plenty of rail 'spikes' unearthed while shoveling, that can be used like large nails.

Comments

The Footbridge Garden 2012

Oh, what a journey it's been. In the last post - nearly a year ago - I made a to-do list for this blog. We were so busy watering and pulling weeds, it's taken a back seat. But not the plants. We are proud to be in our third year. Yes, we have LOTS of photos to post, however, it's a problem we all have these days - sufficient time! View from the footbridge looking down, where spare tires were dumped among the liquor bottles. Recapping the season : Many good things, new plants and mega growth - and two bad events. I'll post some pictures here to show how lovely things are in general, and then, a few showing the two downers. This year, no natural wind storms, no drunk garden vandals, but spray from the LIRR weed killers (who did not see our weathered garden signs), and a very sad visit from the DOT, who cut and pulled ALL the sunflowers along the parking side of the footbridge. They should have been heading for the underpass of the LIE. What sho...

Summertime 2018!

Summer 2018 and we're still going strong! With help from the community, we've got lots of new plants, and the familiar and much loved sunflowers are just beginning to blossom! So far, the LIRR has not sprayed (they did extra last year) and the DOT is not working on the bridge right now. Things are changing in the neighborhood, however, and new faces emerge who are interested in the garden, and the new businesses. Check back soon for a compendium of the best photos of the last few years. If you need to reach the garden hostess, please call: 917-727-7132, and leave a message. Sunflowers are coming. Now in its 9th year, we're still growing!

Could THIS be a garden?

Hunters Point Footbridge As one goes down the steps from the footbridge over the LIRR tracks, after passing under the LIE, there's a sliver of land the shape of a skinny piece of pizza. Since I'd been making the short trek from the No. 7 train on days I did not drive, I'd noticed this little parcel of land. How very sad; underutilized and barren. Until a clean up in early May (I've later learned it must be the MTA who cleans here periodically), it had been a dump for tires, for cans and bottles and goodness knows what else. It was truly ugly. So, until May, I thought the idea of a garden was impossible. All those tires, all those cans and terrible weeds. Then one day, the place was cleaned up, leaving it more or less with nothing there. Few weeds had begun to peek through the broken glass and metal in the soil; nothing was visible except rocks and broken glass buried in the earth. Why not make this into a garden? Well, at least, try. But how? No water in sight. A week...

Gravel to Green

Search This Blog