first day and first post on phillyblog!! i'm a south philly transplant from queens village. in q.v. there were quite a few public gardens. i'm wondering. . . does south philly have any? where are they?? i live near broad and snyder.

There are large privately owned gardens for the public at the 2300 block of St. Albans, which features are water garden in the center fountain.

There is a similar set of gardens in the 2300 and 2200 blocks of Madison Square.

These are east of the Naval Square on Grays Ferry Ave., above Christian, below Fitzwater.

Then there is the 2000 block of Fitzwater, south side.

But a new garden that needs volunteers is at Carpenter and Grays Ferry, on the west side of GF. While looking a bit weedy now, the lot facing the Trigen buildings has an established set of plots. Need to get your garden fix on?

Contact SOSNA's office for more info and they will direct you to one or two of the SOSNA board members who started this garden. John McHugh is one person involved in it.

Try www.southofsouth.org and post your results. What are you looking for? Walking around? Getting dirty hands? Building biceps? Harvesting veggies? Herbs? Seeds? Getting free plants from those of us who are dividing the monsters now that it is that time of year?

Rumor control: Yes it is true that the 2300 block of St. Albans garden has a wild rabbit. He is brown and not domesticated.

They seem to make their way from the green river corridor through the Naval Square to the street gardens. The cats don't seem to bother him at all. He's been at St. Alban's all summer.

You can see him after the morning rush hour and in the evening at dusk, mostly.

dont you have the room at you're house to have you own garden? what you wanna grow? fields of corn or somethin?

fishcandy was just asking a reasonable question - no need to get smart alecky about it. What a way to welcome someone to the blog. Sheesh.

Not every house has a large enough yard to grow the herbs/vegetables a person might want. And not everyone has trees and bushes on their block, so a green area to relax in can be very nice.

Welcome to the blog, fishcandy! What kind of public gardens are you looking for?

I like the SOSNA link, ljlong. They are a little north of where I am but they have a great web page. Thanks.

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There are/were a number of gardens in Grays Ferry that have been languishing for want of attention -- the folks who started them lost interest, moved, got old. I can't recall which.

I recommend that you contact John Verin at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society -- I am reluctant to put his e-mail address up on a blog lest the spam harvesters get it, so I'd suggest that you call (visit http://www.pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org for contact info). He may be able to put you in touch with other folks at PHS and/or at some of those gardens. You might also contact Libby Goldstein from the 3rd & Christian garden -- she may have another idea of how to network your way into the neglected gardens.

Be advised, though, that many of the gardens here in South Philadelphia are on land owned by individuals and are ripe for development. Having had two gardens taken over and built on by the Evil Developers (*smile*), I have some experience with losing a beloved greenspace that was never really mine, and it's not very much fun.

If I ever regain my appetite for public service, I may see if PHS would be interested in a Displaced Gardeners' program.

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PHS is a great to get all the info on gardens in your immediate area.

FYI, the Grays Ferry Ave. and Carpenter garden next to Trigen is on a city owned lot, so has a better chance than a privately owned lot of becoming a permanent greenspace than lots with property tax owed or liens that can be collected upon by the lien holder via the Sheriff.

Little understood fact about "abandoned property:" there is no such thing. There are lots that have liens, or debts, against them, and the owner is waiting for the property to be worth an amount more than the value of the liens, both public and private, against the property. Anyone who gardens on a lot without doing a title search or consulting an attorney is spitting in the wind.

I just want to get that info out for the future gardeners to avoid the heartache of losing mature plantings and trees. To those who planted and lost in the past, remember what great beauty and joy you brought to the are.

Anyone whose suffered the loss of a beloved vacant lot turned urban greenspace can feel more solid about city owned space. This stands in contrast to lots with an RDA lien. This lot does not have an RDA lien against it. It is truly owned by the city of Philadelphia outright under a discontinued method of city acquisition.

In other words, this lot is the gold standard of vacant lot as candidate for thousands of dollars worth of volunteer time and effort.

But if it has no gardeners, not likely going to remain a garden. The city will probably let it go as a sideyard if there is no political request to retain it as greenspace.

for those who provided real info. . . thank you. for the wise 'acre' who provided nothing but a waste of time. . . i only intended to join in on the beautification of south philly. also i enjoy gardening and unfortunately i live in an apartment that doesn't have lush fields like every other south philly apartment. . . oh wait, that's right it's south philly not idaho.

i sorry bout that. and i welcome you to s. philly and to the phillyblog. i was just thinkin you was in a house.

Isn't Q.V. South Philly?Check out:

Community Gardens in South Philly
http://phillyblog.com/philly/showthr...ghlight=garden

Bodine Street Community Garden
http://phillyblog.com/philly/showthr...ghlight=garden

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