GreeneHousers Spruce Up Corner Lot
On Saturday, some residents of the GreeneHouse Condominium chipped in to turn a neighboring vacant lot into an Asian-inspired garden. The garden was designed by Jonathan Truong and planted by a group of volunteers. And guess who picked up the tab? The sponsors. GMAP
On Saturday, some residents of the GreeneHouse Condominium chipped in to turn a neighboring vacant lot into an Asian-inspired garden. The garden was designed by Jonathan Truong and planted by a group of volunteers. And guess who picked up the tab? The sponsors. GMAP
Thank you. It is a good thing that the residents took it upon themselves to do this. I know that you did not personally build the condo building or take down the community garden, so I think you are making the best of the situation. Well done for the initiative and I hope it grows nicely!
The neighbors certainly DO appreciate the improvement. Thanks!
I live in the building, and we took it upon ourselves to do this work, rather than leave the lot as a pile of rubble. We are trying to make the best of a bad situation. Most of the people walking by the garden yesterday seemed very happy that we were fixing up the eyesore left by the developers.
this space is not a courtyard or a backyard. It is clearly undesigned, leftover space that the developer imposed upon the neighborhood. As a community we should be demanding that developers adhere to the most basic neighborhood structure…corners that are designed, safe, and active. High metal fences do not meet any of these requirements.
2:05 needs an urban planning lesson. Yes, there is a park nearby. Even with the plantings, a fenced in corner like that one is atrocious; it kills the corner. The corner is almost as bad as the concrete and glass block sterile retaining wall they choose for the base of the building. Skylines are defined by buildings, but streetscapes are defined by public spaces. Greenehouse should be a good neighbor.
Sure, any place can be open to the public, but many places aren’t, like an apartment building’s courtyard or a brownstone’s back yard. The condominium would have to foot the bill for the increased liability insurance, and pay to bring the space up to code as a public park, and that’s unlikely to happen.
Of course it can be opened to the public. There are many private spaces open to the public. Of course no need to do since there is a park nearby.
This picture was taken after most of the plants were delivered but none of them were placed in beds. Yesterday about half were planted. The rest should be planted next week. Next the back wall will get a trellis and in the center there will be a pergola with furniture. . .all slated to be in place within the next few weeks.
Over time, hopefully it will be as lush as the old community garden was. It’s a shame they destroyed the original garden and used the lot to dump construction debris. Given that it is private property it can’t be open to the public (imagine the liability) but we’d like to have it on the Fort Greeene Garden Tour next year.
Rather ironic, that same space was an established community garden with mature trees, honeysuckle, perennials etc. before they built the “greenehouse” on the vacant lot adjacent to the community garden. Is the above picture during the planting phase? Looks pretty scrubby – plus most of the plants are still in their plastic containers. I assume it is not finished yet.