Gardens across the city

Hundreds of sites, very unevenly distributed, for reasons that are entirely historical.

Community gardens in New York are not spread evenly, and the pattern tells you something. They cluster where buildings were demolished and lots stood empty through the 1970s and 80s — the Lower East Side, the South Bronx, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, East New York, Harlem.

Residents cleared the rubble and planted. Decades later, many of those lots are formally protected parkland; others were sold for development, which is why the history of community gardening in this city is also a history of legal fights.

Manhattan

The densest concentration is in the East Village and Lower East Side, particularly around Avenues B and C, where a remarkable number of small gardens survive between tenements. Harlem and Washington Heights have substantial networks. Space is tight everywhere, so plots are small and lists are long.

Brooklyn

The largest number of gardens of any borough, concentrated in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, East New York, Crown Heights and Brownsville. Brooklyn also has some of the biggest individual sites, including large-scale gardens near the borough's southern and eastern edges where land was available on a different scale entirely.

The Bronx

A strong network, heavily concentrated in the South Bronx and Morrisania, and closely tied to the borough's food-justice organising. Some of the most productive growing in the city happens here.

Queens

More dispersed, reflecting a borough with more private garden space to begin with. Notable clusters in Astoria, Jackson Heights, Corona and Far Rockaway.

Staten Island

The fewest, again for the obvious reason — most houses have a yard. Those that exist tend to be attached to schools, churches and housing developments.

Finding them

GreenThumb maintains the authoritative directory and map of registered gardens, with locations and public open hours. That is the place to start, and it is more current than any list that could be kept here.

Be aware that not every garden in the city is a GreenThumb garden — some sit on land held by land trusts, housing authorities, churches or schools, with their own entirely separate membership arrangements.