A lot that once looked forgotten can become a garden, then a neighborhood fixture, then a place with a waiting list long enough to measure how badly people still want contact with the ground.

Big cities come with a lot of anxiety, noise, and inner emptiness. And without getting too deep into the history of urban gardens around the world, today they simply feel deeply therapeutic: sitting quietly in the morning with birds around you, taking care of something alive, watching it grow, eating real food, and sometimes talking to people who are looking for the same thing you are.

For those who don’t have a backyard of their own, a community garden can feel like the perfect solution. But getting a spot is not always easy. Some gardens have waiting lists that stretch for years — long enough for an entire neighborhood to change around them while the garden beds remain.

The reason is simple: most of these places were created long before the city saw any value in them. Many community gardens began on abandoned lots, industrial leftovers, and pieces of land nobody wanted. Neighbors cleared them, planted them, defended them, and slowly turned them into living spaces.

You might ask: why can’t people just start a garden somewhere near their house? Because in American cities, land is almost never truly “empty,” even when it looks abandoned. Almost every lot belongs to someone — the city, a developer, a transportation company, or a private owner. And as soon as people begin growing food, bringing water in, and organizing a shared space, questions of responsibility, safety, and land use immediately appear.

There are also practical issues: the soil may be contaminated, gardens need water, maintenance, sometimes electricity, trash removal. And if rats appear or neighbors complain — who is responsible?
Cities try to regulate all of this, which is how we ended up with what we have now: long waiting lists and a very limited number of accessible spaces.

Still, the opportunities exist.