Sidewalk Greenspace on New York's Upper West Side
We planted a few strawberry plants in one of our sidewalk containers last year where they yielded a few tiny berries, and I wasn’t sure they’d built up enough strength to survive the winter, but here we are in the middle of March and I’m pleased to see that they’ve put up a health set of new growth.
I’m super pleased to have successfully created a spot where folks can stop and sit for a moment to catch their breath on their way home… and I’m looking forward to this area being a flurry of green in a few weeks.
It’s still early, but a couple of the roses have decided that the risk of frost is over and have started to put out new leaves.
They may be jumping the gun — we’ll still have a few more hours late tonight that are just below freezing — but hopefully they’ll be able to weather that and will have a running start when daytime temperatures start hitting the fifties next week.
It’s still chilly out, but the first signs of spring have come to our little sidewalk garden.
After a very stressful couple of days, this weekend’s drama around the sidewalk garden appears to have receded.
The details are still a bit fuzzy, but it now seems like the city inspector didn’t actually rule the garden illegal — instead, they noted an unrelated issue with the area in front of the building, and somehow the two issues got mixed together.
My confidence is still a bit shaken, but I hope that all of this is now behind us, and I greatly appreciate the support I’ve received from so many of our neighbors over the last few days.
The one bit of good that came out of all of this is that in the course of the weekend’s frenzy, I moved all of the planters, swept the entire area, and put everything back in an organized fashion, so I’ve gotten a jump on the spring cleaning that I would otherwise have had to tackle next week.
I’m still gathering details, but earlier today I heard second-hand that a city inspector had discovered some problem with the sidewalk garden and it might need to be cleared.
I’m working to get official confirmation of this order, and if necessary, to find new homes for all of the flowerpots and plants that have made their homes here over the last decade.
In addition to planting a few hundred bulbs (yes, we know that it is late in the season), Peter and Michael of the Columbus Amsterdam BID also put in some work to remove invasive shrubs from the cycle lane median along Columbus.
(Not pictured: my son Alex, who had been operating the power auger to speed bulb planting.)
As is to be expected, many of the annuals in the garden have died back for the season — but a fresh layer of powdery snow highlights the ones that have retained their color despite the frost.
I thought our (very limited) harvest from the sidewalk garden was done for the season, but I discovered a few more jalapeño peppers hiding behind the foliage on the stoop next door.
I spent a few hours out with volunteers from the nascent 109th Street block association and then with the Columbus Amsterdam BID, planting flowering bulbs in the tree beds on four blocks just around the corner from us to bring up a little color in the spring.
