Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

Angele Nogue grew up on her grandmother’s farm in Cameroon, and growing vegetables has always been part of her life. In 2008, though, she had to flee her country, and was granted asylum in the United States.

She was placed in the Bronx. “I came here, and all I saw were tall buildings, and I thought, ‘Where am I?’ ” Ms. Nogue, 38, said. It was not until she discovered a community garden run by the International Rescue Committee, which works with refugees, that Ms. Nogue began to feel at home in the United States.

On Friday, Ms. Nogue helped inaugurate the organization’s second garden in the Bronx, on a lot owned by the city’s Department of Transportation at the Grand Concourse and East 153rd Street that was left vacant while awaiting its intended use.

The vast, gray site, New Roots Community Farm, will soon be the home of fruit trees, orchards, an aquaponic greenhouse and up to 60 plots and planting beds, officials say.

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

“By next year, this 6,500-square-foot lot will be a thriving community garden that ties together the neighborhood and people who came here from around the world,” Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said in a statement.

Ms. Nogue and Ms. Sadik-Khan, with the help of volunteers from the refugee organization and children from the nearby KIPP Academy elementary school, put in the first plants, including pepper, tomato and basil plants. The garden, and its produce, will be used to help teach children about nutrition, Ms. Sadik-Khan said.

The city acquired the land, opposite Franz Sigel Park and Cardinal Hayes Memorial High School, as part of a project to rebuild the East 153rd Street bridge over the Metro-North railroad tracks, which was torn down in 1992.

To make way for the new bridge, two buildings on the property were demolished this year. And rather than leave the land vacant until construction moved ahead — there is no timetable set yet — the city decided to cover it with soil and build the garden.

Ellee Igoe, an adviser on food programs for the International Rescue Committee, said the garden would help give refugees a chance to overcome barriers. “The act of planting will help them establish new roots” and allow refugees from different countries to exchange agricultural knowledge, she said.

Ms. Nogue said that at the group’s other farm in the Bronx, Drew Gardens in the West Farms neighborhood, she had met people from China, Mexico, Myanmar and Afghanistan who taught her how to plant crops like strawberries.

The garden, however, is not just for refugees. It will be open to the entire community. Applications are expected to be taken early next year.

Melissa Winkler, a communications coordinator for the organization, said she hoped the garden would help make fresh, healthy produce more available to the whole neighborhood.