Community Garden We Never Knew Existed

      Every week, Lewis and I unearth something amazing about the section of Astoria where we now live.  Being an Astorian for nine years, I didn't think that Astoria had any community gardens.  Due to typical NYC overdevelopment, not many neighborhoods have them.  With 108-square-miles, Queens County is one of the most-populated in the USA (2.5 million residents), yet it merely has 4 community gardens.  Suddenly, I found one!  Its existence is probably attributed to the sense of preservation in Old Astoria.  Our home is equidistant to it and Astoria Park, so we love visiting it.

     It was a breezy October day, as I wandered and meandered, letting Fate steer my exploration.

     At the corner of 12th Street and Astoria Boulevard, I ventured in a new direction... and I was rewarded for my curiosity. 

     I discovered "2 Coves Community Garden".  By municipal mandate, anyone can enter the garden on Saturdays and Sundays as a public space.  However, a woman--who was tilling the soil--saw me through the chainlink fence and welcomed me inside to look around.

     The NYC Parks Department began the garden in 1998 but soon lacked funding (typical of the richest/corrupt city in America).  In fact, the western tip of the garden overlooks Manhattan's iconic skyline... seemingly a world away.

     Alas, the western edge is near the infamous Astoria Houses: part of NYC's Public Housing Projects that are a blight in most communities because they keep inhabitants poor, neglect them for basic needs, and allow them to become infested with illegal drugs and gun violence.  Nearly all "residents" are dark-skinned, and some guys walk around wearing home-arrest bracelets on their ankles.

     With neglected elements caused needlessly by America's richest city, the local Astorians galvanized into a group that saved their sliver of parkland.  In 2006, 60 citizens started a grassroots effort to revitalize it.  

     Due to their success, there are now 200 voluntary members!  (There are a lot of members, due to the area's high population density).  With 25,000 square-feet, the garden is sizable and was featured on a Japanese TV show about urban farming.  (That's delightfully typical of the nature-loving Japanese).  Its format is an allotment garden, with small plots of turf for local residents and volunteers.  Members of the community donate their time for trash-removal, composting, and being on the Steering Committee.  A decade ago, Queens Borough Councilman, Peter Vallone, Jr. ensured that it got a new irrigation system.  

      The entirely organic garden partnered with Community Support Agriculture to sell its harvest, as funding for the farm.  Local eateries use some of the "fruits of their labor", too.  2 Coves welcomes "guest gardeners" who want to share the chores and take a portion of flowers/food home.  Whilst I was there, I met gardening people of all skin colors and nationalities: a Japanese couple, a young Russian woman, two Chinese families, a woman of African heritage, a silver-haired white lady with a young boyfriend, and a pair of Indians who wore a sari and a kurta.  

     I sat on a bench and finished my coffee.  I saw butterflies, honeybees (the garden has a bee aviary), chickadees, squirrels, mockingbirds, morning doves, blue jays, cardinals, orange-breasted robins, and European starlings.  The mockingbirds made beautiful songs but vehemently chased away the unwanted pigeons and black birds.  I saw one cease pecking at bugs when it saw some black birds nearing the perimeter.  Like an air-defense squadron, it soared into the air and confronted them head-on.  My grandfather taught me that you don't want to mess around with a mockingbird.  Fiercely and relentlessly, it chased those birds through a variety of trees and across the street.  Then, it perched on a shed and sang again.  When one black bird returned, the fierce chase resumed!  The mockingbird won.  Bluejays and cardinals are also known to defend their territory against encroachment.  Perhaps that's why there are no NYC pigeons or scavenger birds in the garden.  

     I spotted an orange Monarch Butterfly landing on blossoms to refuel during its miraculous thousand-mile migration to Mexico.  

     Many of the flowers had fanciful shapes and hues.  I hope you like my serenely invigorating pictures.

Clearly not slapdash work, handmade trellises were tied with sturdy knots, repurposed rods, and hand-hewn sticks.  Those efforts literally "bore fruit"!

One corner of the garden was full of fall-like colors.

There was even an October rose--as pretty as porcelain.

In addition to migrating Monarchs, I spotted other types of butterflies.  When pairs of the bluish/white ones got together, they paired and twirled in the air like dancers!  Beautiful.

Myself and others love to see Nature growing--even in the end of the season.  

Like an infant learning to stand, tendrils unfurl on trellises, and soon squash and gourds will dangle like Christmas ornaments on a tree.

Unseen from the view of apartment houses, eggplants are maturing in the shade.

Above, bitter melons hang on their vine.  Below, reddish/purple beans have orchid-like blossoms, and melons and peppers ripen in the sun.

In my imagination, these blooms resembled droopy starfish in the sea.

Mother Nature seems to know when to add autumnal colors to the season of tree foliage.  Fringed with gold, this saffron-colored species of French marigold is called Red Knight.

I spotted purple cabbage.  Under dangling tendrils and coils of vines, gourds grew in the shade... always the pleasant signal of autumn!

Above, a gardener trustingly left their straw hat on a bamboo trellis.  Below, phallic-shaped Okra grew upward.

Above, a sole apple tree harkened to a bygone century when orchards filled the area.  

For a moment, a car with loud Hip Hop music paused by one end of the garden.  Suddenly, a chirpy bird began singing vociferously with the music.  It was cute, and you can see the singing bird flutter around in the tree in this video...

Below, a "hand cleansing" area was erected on a colorful plaza, close to the garden's entrance/exit.  A year-round gazebo is a picturesque place to eat.

Being a former gardener myself, I appreciate the various hues and shapes of herbs... not to mention their fresh aromas.

     It truly is an urban oasis (a gem within the mud) because directly across the street, the city allows businesses to dump garbage and litter.  Despite being illegal, no fines or corrections about that are made by the authorities.

     On the other side of the fenced garden, food trucks dump their trash and rinse their grease onto the street, which permanently stains the pavement (which is not cleaned by the city as it should be) and makes odors.  NYC doesn't enforce any regulations for grease/oil disposal.  The leftovers of fatty foods and cooking oil merely pools into the street and attracts vermin.

      Gardeners and visitors must pass those smelly eyesores when entering the garden, but hopefully it encourages them to maintain their shred of beauty in NYC.

     On my second visit, it was a weekday but the gate was open, so I entered.  The only occupants were myself and two Caucasian women who pruned their plot and harvested squash.  As they left, they said, "You look lovely sitting there.  I love your pumpkin-colored jacket.  Feel free to stay as long as you want.  When you leave, please lock the gate behind you."  That was so trusting, and I felt honored to be entrusted.  However, as I departed, a man arrived by bicycle to tend to the compost and swung the gates open wider to welcome any passersby.  He complimented my autumnal outfit and orange & green sneakers.  Made for Y-3, they were designed by Yohji Yamamoto.

We wished each other a lovely day.  

     A muscular white guy informed me that the garden gladly collects compost waste from local households, and he showed me where to deposit it.  From then onward, Lewis and I saved our organic trash and brought it to their compost site as a donation of goodwill.  *(Unfortunately, NYC cannot keep itself clean, so the city's rats infested the compost area, and the community garden ceased collecting organic compost in 2021.  They blamed the Food Truck cleaning area and the uncleaned facilities at the NYC Public Housing Projects). 

     I look forward to sharing my next discovery!