Though she hopes a silver lining is more awareness of the need for gardens like hers, she worries about keeping up with increased demand now that the garden is closed to the public on volunteer days. It used to get 60 people working per weekend, Ms. Bell said, and the city has also cut park staff members’ hours.

Worry and hope are also the two emotions shared by Karen Washington, who in 1988 helped found the Garden of Happiness, in the Tremont neighborhood of the Bronx, which now keeps chickens and helps run a seasonal farmers’ market with four nearby gardens.

“At the end of the day who’s going to suffer the most?” she said. Ms. Washington, 66, was referring to poorer neighborhoods like her own, where her fellow gardeners are both scared and still busy working overtime at jobs delivering food or serving as home health aides.

Like Ms. Bell, she hopes the pandemic exposes the larger needs that led to building her garden in the first place. In the meantime, Ms. Washington is preparing seedlings for neighbors so they’ll be there when they need them.

“We’re going to have to take care of ourselves,” Ms. Washington said, “so we are going to get ready.”