Community Garden Version of the High Line and More

Today I visited the Long Island City Roots Community Garden which is built on a former rail siding that ran in this industrial area of Queens, NY. The rail is not exposed in the garden but their are tracks visible outside of the garden.  I was told to follow the tracks west as they appeared and disappeared to get to the subway entrance to return to my office. There is a new garden which has sprouted on the tracks.

 It is the Queens version of the High Line, an elevated former rail line on the west side of Manhattan. The second phase of the project which will add an additional 1/2 mile to this linear park will be officially opened on June 8th. While this project has a price tag of several hundred million dollars, This Queens "Low Line" while not so ambitious has probably cost pennies. A few pics:

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I also took a few photos of the Morris Jumel Garden in Washington Heights, Manhattan. They have an interesting Rainwater Harvesting system that collects the rain in a raised barrel with a lower one serving as overflow and a barrel to fill a watering can.

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                    There were interesting little vignette gardens / sculptures.

A metal sculpture with mannequin leg

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A neat assemblage including an outdoor tool rack

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And from the All Peoples Garden in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a beautiful new photorealistic mural of the garden's founder Olean For: