Greensgrow opened their West Philly hub in 2016 (archived photo).

Greensgrow West, the West Philly branch of Greensgrow Farms located at 51st and Baltimore, ceased its operations on Friday, July 22 after the nonprofit urban farm announced a financial crisis earlier this month. The flagship location in Kensington closed in early July.

“This past month, Greensgrow was the victim of a counterfeit check scheme that leaves us struggling to keep our doors open through July,” reads their Instagram post dated July 15. “Although, we typically close in the start of August, this season we are working with bankers and law enforcement to try to recoup $33,000 in lost revenue.”

To help ease the dire financial situation, which made it difficult for the management to meet the next payroll for their workers, Greensgrow has launched a fundraising campaign. Continue Reading

Good news for West Philly green thumbs! After being closed to customers since last spring due to the COVID pandemic, Greensgrow Farms is set to reopen its West Philly hub, Greensgrow West this winter.

Greensgrow West, located at 5123 Baltimore Ave., is scheduled to reopen on February 27th with the following hours: Thursday-Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.. Like many other businesses, Greensgrow has been hit hard by the pandemic and after reopening Greensgrow West will first carry limited selection of items.  Continue Reading

          “Bamboo Lot” at 5123 Baltimore Ave.

As was reported last spring, Greensgrow West, which is currently renting the former Elena’s Soul space at 4912 Baltimore Avenue, had secured a new, bigger location on the 5100 block of Baltimore, on the so-called “Bamboo Lot.”

We’re happy to report that Greensgrow is preparing to welcome customers at the new location by mid to late summer. The new location will have an expanded garden and education center, including a plant nursery, a farmers’ market, a greenhouse, an outdoor classroom, and gathering space. Here’s what Greensgrow West Assistant Manager Lee Baldwin writes about the relocation:

“We will be operating our retail sales out of our familiar 4912 Baltimore Avenue location through mid to late summer. Our current plan is to use the hot months of July and August to transfer the bulk of our operations to the new 5123 Baltimore Avenue location. We are usually at our slowest during late July and early August, and so there will be less impact on our customers if we move during that time.”  Continue Reading

Spring is in full swing and it’s time to stock up on your gardening supplies. The West Philly location of Greensgrow Farms is reopening this weekend just in time. Although smaller than the flagship location in Kensington, Greensgrow West features a fully stocked garden center.

Starting this Friday, you can stop by at 4912 Baltimore Avenue and pick up seeds and seed starting supplies, as well as soils, soil amendments, mulch and more. Also, spring bulbs, pansies, and Easter plants will be available for sale this weekend, plus there will be a special sale on emerging fall blooming perennials!

Greensgrow West is also a farmstand and CSA pick-up location for the Greensgrow Summer CSA program, registration for which is currently underway. Full-share, half-share and add-on share options are available. The CSA season begins the week of May 19 and ends the week of November 3.  Continue Reading

The “bamboo lot” at 5123-29 Baltimore Avenue (Google Street View).

Greensgrow Farms recently signed a lease for a new garden center on Baltimore Avenue, and now they would like to present their plans to the community and get some feedback. A community meeting will take place on Thursday, June 4 at People’s Baptist Church (5039 Baltimore Ave), from 6 to 8 p.m. The meeting is a great opportunity for neighbors to share ideas about what they want to see at this location.

The new garden center is planned for the overgrown vacant lot (aka “the bamboo lot”) at 5123-29 Baltimore Ave. Some likely features of the new location will be a small farm, nursery, an outdoor classroom space and possibly a farmers’ market. However, Greensgrow is willing to work with the community to figure out what the new space should include.

Greensgrow, which is based in Kensington, is also inviting neighbors to check out their temporary West Philly location at 4912 Baltimore Ave. to meet the staff and learn more about their mission and impact.

UPDATED 8/9/13 at 2:10 p.m.: After a few readers asked about the petition in City Paper, we reached back out to Greensgrow to get more info. According to Greensgrow’s Ryan Kuck, as a phase one step, the farm hub gathered signatures from business associations and community leaders for each proposal they’ve assembled. If any of the proposals move forward and once they’ve identified a site, Greensgrow will reach out to the community through meetings and the like for community input.

As we reported in June, a garden center was being proposed at an empty lot at the southeast corner of 51st Street and Baltimore Avenue (pictured). A couple of weeks ago City Paper wrote that Kensington farm and garden hub Greensgrow has its eye on two plots of West Philly land, including at 51st and Baltimore. We checked on it and found out that nothing is set in stone, although, according to a Greensgrow rep, those sites are among many swaths of West Philly land they are considering as their next home.

Ryan Spak, owner of the corner lot on Baltimore, said much the same when we spoke to him this week. While he would be “honored” to bring a garden center to the lot because “the neighborhood deserves one,” he said that he is considering multiple possibilities for the land and an operator has not been identified. As for Greensgrow, Ryan said they were at the community meeting at Seeds Gallery on June 21 and showed interest, but he would not confirm if they are in talks.

We’ll keep you posted on this development when we have more information.

-Annamarya Scaccia