I love being a sidewalk gardener on Bethune Street. When I moved into Westbeth Artists Housing, I spotted the nine planter boxes lining the block from Washington to West Streets, each tended by a different gardener. This looked like fun, so I put my name on a waiting list. (Everything at Westbeth involves a waiting list.) A few years later, the Beautification Committee notified me that one was available. My sidewalk garden is a 4’ x 5’ wooden planter box with a callery pear tree in the middle.

I was assigned my little plot of earth in the year 2000. As I watered my plants over the years, I saw the block change from a working factory across the street into a row of luxury townhouses. I grew as a gardener. I went from a being a novice, whose prior experience was limited to growing geraniums in a window box, to a veteran.

Since I’m an extrovert, I enjoy talking to people when I’m outside. Tourists stop and ask directions to the to the Whitney or the High Line and I become the friendly New Yorker. I get compliments from my neighbors at Westbeth: “Great colors.” This is gratifying, especially in a building where people often gripe about things. No one complains about someone planting pretty flowers and making the block beautiful.

I talk to people walking their dogs to Hudson River Park. I talk to people hanging out in their cars while waiting for the parking space to become legal. One woman, who was vacuuming her car, told me I had a green thumb.

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