Philadelphia sprouts a produce garden downtown, highlighting appetite for urban agriculture

The Philadelphia Horticultural Society (PHS) recently teamed up with a variety of local businesses, star chefs, academics, artists and urban farmers to create the PHS Pops Up, a temporary garden carved out of a once-gritty vacant lot at the corner of Market and 20th streets.

Pops Up Garden

By Kathy Metheson
Associated Press
July 04, 2011

Excerpt:

PHILADELPHIA — Now when some of the city’s best restaurants boast locally sourced food, they mean really local: a garden in the heart of downtown.

Bounded by two skyscrapers and another pair of high-rises, the Pops Up Garden has filled a long-vacant lot with plots of peppers, corn, quinoa and other crops, promising fresh produce for Philadelphia residents for the next few months.

Open since mid-June, the 3/4-acre parcel cultivated by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society aims to grow urbanites’ expanding appetite for healthy eating and local farming. The garden is also designed to get people thinking about what’s possible for green thumbs, even in a concrete jungle.

“This can really kind of inspire people to do something on their own,” said Sharat Somashekara, a food crop specialist with the Horticultural Society.

As urban foodies have become increasingly passionate about homegrown fare, the “locavore” movement has gone mainstream: The American Restaurant Association named locally sourced meats and produce the top trends for 2011. Even first lady Michelle Obama planted a garden at the White House to promote sustainable, nutritious eating.

The Pops Up Garden, just blocks from City Hall, is Philadelphia’s latest and perhaps most visible statement of support for urban agriculture.

Read the complete article here.

See also “Philadelphia’s Not-So-Secret Garden” here.