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Welcome to the Garden!

Bloomingdale Garden is a tiny patch of green in public space on New York City’s Upper West Side. (The garden’s name pays homage to a traditional moniker for this area that dates back more than three hundred years.)

Located in containers and tree beds along the sidewalk of 219/217/215 West 106th Street, the garden only occupies about a hundred square feet, but provides a welcome splash of color to the neighborhood.

Scroll down for more photos and updates, or follow the garden on Bluesky.

My name is Matthew Cavalletto, and I’ve created this site to showcase the flora and fauna that make their home in and around my garden, and to answer some common questions asked by passers by. I’ll also share some notes about my experiences as a gardener, in hopes that this will encourage other people to create their own pocket gardens anywhere they can.

Potager Garden Bed

Most of the garden is accessible from the street, but there is one bed that’s behind a locked gate, which is where I’ve placed most of the herbs and vegetables.

It’s just five square feet, so it’s not going to replace many trips to the grocery store, but I’ve crowded a bunch of things in so my neighbors and I can have a couple of tasty nibbles this summer.

From left to right, more or less: bibb lettuce, ghost peppers, sweet banana pepper, chives, two varieties of spinach, basil, habanero peppers, leeks, peppermint, Caribbean red hot peppers, and corn.

(The corn is unlikely to produce any edible ears, as it’s tricky to pollinate in isolation like this, but hopefully it will at least be picturesque.)

Spring Cleaning

After a long winter, and a couple of weeks out of town, I finally spent a few hours out in the garden getting ready for the growing season: cleaned up a bunch of last year’s foliage, mixed in two cubic feet of compost, and planted two flats of colorful annuals.

I was super pleased that two neighbors jumped in to help — one aerated the planters behind the fence and dug in some flower seeds, while another cut and attached new pieces of bamboo to reinforce the outdoor bench. (A third had swept up trash and dried leaves while I was out of town last week.) So nice to have the community support!