Put Down Roots: Million Trees NYC Tree Giveaway

Posted on 2010-04-08 by admin

Once again, MillionTreesNYC is offering free trees, first-come, first-served, at limited locations around the city. Trees must be planted in the ground, not a container or planter, within New York City. They can be planted on private property, with permission of the property owner.

Here are some Brooklyn locations. Check their Tree Giveaway page for the latest updates and other locations and dates around NYC.

SOLD OUT – All 200 trees were claimed in 1/2 hour
Green Fort Green and Clinton Hill & FAB Alliance Giveaway
Saturday April 17th and Sunday April 18th 10 am – 3 pm
Putnam Triangle (Putnam Avenue & Fulton Street)
Brooklyn, NY 11238

Grand Street Campus Giveaway
Saturday, May 1st and Sunday May 2nd 10 am – 4 pm
850 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

April is MillionTreesNYC month. In addition to the tree giveaway, there are many other events and activities scheduled.

Earth Day Corporate Challenge (Thursday, April 22, 2010) – To
celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, NYRP and City Year are
joining forces for a second year to challenge some of New York City’s
corporate leaders to plant more than 100 street trees in Upper
Manhattan’s Washington Heights. To get your company involved, contact
Jimmy Owens, NYRP Corporate Giving Manager, at (212) 333-2552.

NYC Parks Reforestation Day (Saturday, April 24) – more than a
thousand community volunteers will join the NYC Parks Department in
planting 20,000 trees in a single day at 16 park sites across the
city’s five boroughs. To register to volunteer, visit
www.milliontreesnyc.org.

NYC Grows (Sunday, April 25) – NYRP and the NYC Parks Department,
along with presenting sponsor Organic Gardening magazine, invite New
Yorkers to this annual, free outdoor festival that promotes community
gardening, tree planting and care, urban farming and sustainable
living. Tree-planting and care demonstrations will be provided
throughout the day in the MillionTreesNYC pavilion area. To learn
more, visit www.nyrp.org/nycgrows.

Arbor Day Celebration (Friday, April 30) – To commemorate Arbor Day,
MillionTreesNYC lead sponsors The Home Depot Foundation, Toyota and
BNP Paribas will bring their employees out to dig in and green a
Brooklyn residential development. New York City residents are invited
to celebrate Arbor Day by planting a tree in their yard or by adopting
a street tree and watering and protecting it all year long. To learn
more, visit www.milliontreesnyc.org.

MillionTreesNYC Lecture Series (Mondays in May) – To keep the
MillionTreesNYC momentum moving beyond April, a series of lectures
focused on innovations in tree planting and maintenance, public policy
and urban forestry research will be presented each Monday throughout
the month of May. For dates, times and locations of lectures, visit
www.milliontreesnyc.org.

Links

MillionTreesNYC

Free Trees in Clinton Hill, GreenBeat Brooklyn, 2010-04-07

The Fallen

Posted on 2010-04-04 by admin

Due to circumstance and inclination, my three decades of urban gardening have been devoted to mostly ornamental private gardens. I have dabbled in the occasional strawberry jar potted up with herbs (successful) and sweet corn in container (wretched). Nevertheless, most of my experience is with perennials and bulbs.

I label my plants. Rather, I label where I plant them. This is most helpful in the off seasons, to dissuade me from scanning some patch of deceivingly barren soil and imagining all the new plants I could acquire to populate it.

In the first garden, in the East Village, I carefully labeled all the little bulbs and plants with plastic labels. The white plastic contrasted strongly with the dark earth. This led one visitor to describe it as a “plant cemetery.”

I’ve since graduated to aluminum labels. They are durable, erasable and reusable. Perhaps most important, less conspicuous. I’ve also gotten into the habit of scribing the provenance onto the back of the label: the year, and usually also the source from which I purchased the plant.

Nevertheless, they sometimes still serve as markers for those plants that have passed on. This is so common that gardeners have a euphemism for it: “adventurous.” I am an adventurous gardener, in that I will plant things I’ve never grown before, perhaps never ever heard of before reading about it or spying it in some nursery and “rescuing” it.

Here then is a sampling of The Fallen, transcribed from markers I’ve found in different stashes, collecting dust with years-old seed packets, rusting pruners, and forgotten catalogs.

Adiantum pedatum, Maidenhair Fern, Gowanus Nursery, Spring 2008
Alchemilla epipsila, Shady Oaks, Summer 1996
Aquilegia, Columbine, Shepherd’s Seeds, Spring 1994
Ascepias incarnata, Swamp Milkweed, Southern Exposure Nursery, July 2007
Begonia grandis alba, Shady Oaks, Summer 1996
Crocus ‘Skyline’, Scheepers, Fall 1998
Crocus ‘Taplow Ruby’, Fall 1994
Delphinium, Blackmore & Langdon Strain, 1993
Gentiana dahurica, Shady Oaks, Summer 1996
Hosta nigrescens, Carroll Gardens, July 2003
Iris siberica ‘Blue Moon’, Nicoll’s, Fall 1994
Iris siberica ‘Butter & Sugar’, White Flower Farm, Spring 1998
Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, 1993

Hanami begins tomorrow, April 3, at BBG

Posted on 2010-04-02 by admin

via BBG Press Release

From April 3 to May 2, Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) celebrates Hanami, the Japanese cultural tradition of viewing each moment of the cherry blossom season, from the first buds to the pink blossoms that fall like snow.

During Hanami, visitors can take a free Seasonal Highlights Tour (Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m.) focusing on the ethereal beauty of BBG’s Japanese plant collections and specialty gardens, including the more than 220 exquisite flowering cherries, the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum, and the Tree Peony Collection. Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s curator of the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, Brian Funk, will also host a Meet the Curator session (Wednesday, April 14, at 4 p.m.). Throughout Hanami, the cherry display will be tracked in real time on BBG’s web-based CherryWatch feature, which maps the entire collection and provides daily blossom updates.

The four weeks of Hanami culminate in the Garden’s legendary two-day festival Sakura Matsuri — popularly referred to as “New York’s rite of spring” — a thrilling tribute to the Garden’s iconic collection of flowering cherries. Sakura Matsuri is scheduled for May 1 and 2, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, with over 60 performances, demonstrations, and exhibits—many of which are new and specially commissioned for the dynamic weekend celebration. Visitors of all ages are welcome to Sakura Matsuri, the nation’s largest event in a public garden.

During Hanami, visitors can also enjoy a selection of special Japanese entrées at BBG’s Zagat-rated Terrace Café and discover the Hanami Collection at BBG’s Gift Shop (both on-site and online), featuring handpicked items inspired by the Garden’s blossoms and Japanese aesthetics.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden encourages all visitors to share their cherry blossom images in the Garden’s Hanami photo pool on Flickr.

BBG began charging admission in 1996. The weekend of Sakura Matsui accounts for 80% of their gate for the year.

Windsor Farm breaks ground

Posted on 2010-03-31 by admin

A new Brooklyn community farm/garden, christened “Windsor Farm,” broke ground Sunday, April 28 in Windsor Terrace. I went to lend my support, help out for a bit, and check out the scene.

It’s a challenging site, even for an urban garden. The aerial photography of Google Maps revealed that the site is completely covered by trees. It didn’t show that the property spans a steep slope.

Whatever this slope is, believe me, when you’re on the side of it using edge tools to cut through the brambles, it feels a lot steeper!

Even more challenging are the weeds, which include:

Ailanthus altissima, tree-of-heaven
Fallopia japonica, Japanese Knotweed
Gleditsia triacanthos, Honeylocust
Hibiscus syriacus, Rose-of-Sharon
Lonicera japonica, Japanese Honeysuckle

… and a few others I’m forgetting at the moment. I don’t know what annual species the seasons will reveal.

Fallopia japonica, Japanese Knotweed, at Windsor Farm. These stalks, 3-6″ high now, will grow to 8-9′ tall by the end of the summer, and produce thousands of seeds.

On Sunday, the community volunteers began clearing the site, cutting and filling to terrace the slope, and removing debris. I don’t know the history of the site. I came across several piles of concrete and rubble that appeared to be construction debris rather than an on-site foundation. It’s possible that the site has endured some dumping, though there was no evidence I found of serious trash that has been overcome in the formation of other community gardens.

Slideshow

Links

A Farm Grows in Brooklyn, being cheap never tasted so good, 2010-03-28

Windsor Farm, Windsor Terrace Alliance

Campus Road Garden’s Last Stand?

Posted on 2010-03-25 by admin

The Campus Road Garden is holding a press conference tomorrow, March 25, at 12 noon. Yesterday they discovered the site had been flagged for demolition. They have invited Brooklyn College Administration to attend tomorrow’s conference.

Press Release

Press conference at Campus Road Community Garden, Brooklyn College
Primary Contact: Madeline Nelson, Community Gardener (718)-421-1814 or (917)-538-7505
Secondary Contact: Tara Mulqueen, Brooklyn College Student, (646)-546-4564

March 25, 12:00 pm
Garden supporters will announce next steps in campaign to save the garden, and invite Brooklyn College’s administration to explain their intentions and timing

Flatbush, Brooklyn, March 24, 2010

The morning after many students, faculty and community members had taken part in a spring celebration and planting party at the Campus Road Community Garden, they discovered that Brooklyn College had planted stakes and twine demarcating its planned demolition of 3/4 of the existing garden, to be replaced by parking for 20 cars. The stakes make clear that under the college’s current plan, most of the trees and all of the common area of the 14-year-old garden would be destroyed.

At a Community Board meeting on February 24, College representatives had promised to make no moves until a faculty coordinator had been appointed and had finalized plans with gardeners. Professor John Van Sickle received an official offer letter yesterday, March 23, after the stakes were in the ground. He told garden supporters he has received no information on when the College administration plans its next moves. Spring break, when many garden supporters will be away from the campus, begins Friday.

College administrators had been invited to the March 22 event, but had cordially declined, without giving any indication of their immediate intentions.

“We figure they are sending us a message, and once again we wish they had had the courtesy to talk with us directly,” said long-term community garden coordinator Toby Sanchez. “But what the stakes really show is how much they are planning to take and how little they are leaving—certainly nowhere near enough for all the activities the college says will happen there.”

For the past year, garden supporters have tried to persuade Brooklyn College’s administration to “walk its talk” on the issue of sustainability. Students and faculty collected over 300 signatures to save the garden, but the administration rejected the petition, insisting that students must get the social security numbers of all signers in order to be recognized. Two CUNY-level sustainability task forces Brooklyn College have recommended keeping and even enlarging the garden. At two “town hall” meetings, participants recommended saving the garden, despite administration efforts to silence garden support.

Supporters of the garden have learned that Professor Van Sickle, when offered the appointment, questioned the college’s priorities. “Opting for parking over ecology seems singularly retrogressive: privileging the old paradigm and insulting the new,” he wrote, adding, “How will this play with alumni? With the press?” He also wrote to Borough president Marty Markowitz: “I am dismayed at the conduct of the college administration. They are betraying the best interests of the neighborhood and the borough and present and future generations of students by their plan to cut down a thriving community garden to make a parking lot.”

Links

Stop the Demolition of the Campus Rd Garden, online petition

College values cars over plants, say protestors, Brooklyn Ink, 2010-03-25
Gardeners’ last stand: wall of flowers symbolically rises against threat of razing, Helen Klein, Brooklyn Courier-Life, 2010-03-23
Productive dialogue between gardeners and Brooklyn College, Helen Klein, Courier-Life, 2010-03-01
Land of the Free, Home of the…Cars?, Dassa Gutwirth, Sustainable Flatbush, 2010-02-23 (Illustrated with my photos of Campus Road Garden)
BC issues plan for new community garden, stirring ire, Courier-Life, 2010-02-09
Saving the Campus Road Community Garden from Parking Lot Fate, 2009-10-19
Brooklyn College to pave over popular garden to expand track, Flatbush residents not pleased, Daily News, 2009-10-09

Finally, Spring!

Posted on 2010-03-21 by admin

View from South Cove, Battery Park City

The March equinox (vernal in the northern hemisphere, autumnal in the southern hemisphere) occurred this morning at 1:32 PM Eastern Time (UTC-04:00, since it’s now Eastern Daylight Time). Yesterday, I walked along the Esplanade of Battery Park City on the Hudson River. With a week of warm weather, and highs 20F degrees above normal for this time of year, the pace of bloom has been accelerated and compressed. I found:

Crocus tommasinianus and other Crocus
Eranthis hyemalis, Winter Aconite
Galanthus nivalis, Snowdrops
Helleborus orientalis, Lenten Rose
Iris reticulata
even an early Narcissus, Daffodil

While the Daffodil was surprising, the others are all early bloomers. I’m just not used to seeing them all blooming at the same time.

The Return of Persephone (1891), by Frederic Leighton (1830–1896). Leighton depicts Hermes helping Persephone to return to her mother Demeter after Zeus forced Hades to return Persephone.

I like the story of Demeter and Persephone. Winter doesn’t occur because Hades is evil/dark/etc. Persephone was not the keeper of the earth. The earth didn’t miss her, Demeter did. Demeter grieved for her loss, and neglected her gardening duties, and that’s why Winter occurs. Demeter rejoices at the return of Persephone, which restores her interest in the world, and that’s when we get Spring.

Illumination of the Earth by the Sun on the day of an equinox

Happy Spring , 2009
Persephone Rises, 2008
Happy Vernal Equinox, 2007

Links

Wikipedia:Equinox

In Observance of Irish Pride (St. Patrick’s) Day

Posted on 2010-03-18 by admin

Updated 2011-03-17: Added links.

Yesterday, with the first good weather of the year, I visited the Irish Hunger Memorial in downtown Manhattan, two blocks from Ground Zero. I’ve been there before. It definitely had a wintery, wind-swept feel to it this visit. This year, I want to visit it a couple times during the seasons.

Some of the surrounding buildings are new, even in the past few years, since my first visit. The juxtaposition of modern, even stark, architecture with rustic elements is striking.

Here are my photos from that visit.

Slideshow

[goo.gl]

Links

Wikipedia: Irish Hunger Memorial

Spring Cleaning on Cortelyou Road

Posted on 2010-03-16 by admin

The daffodils are pushing up along Cortelyou Road and they would be so much prettier if they don’t bloom in the midst of garbage! Join Sustainable Flatbush and your neighbors from the Beverley Square West Association to help clean up the tree beds.

When: Sunday, March 21st
Where: Meet up at 10am in front of the Library, near the Greenmarket tent, at the corner of Argyle and Cortelyou Roads.
If you miss the meet-up, look for us along Cortelyou Road between Coney Island Avenue and East 16th Street.

Bring gloves and rakes if you have them; we will also have some to share. Children are welcome to join us!

Making Brooklyn Bloom at BBG, this Saturday, March 13

Posted on 2010-03-11 by admin

Making Brooklyn Bloom in March 2008

I’m hoping to attend the 29th annual Making Brooklyn Bloom at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden this Saturday. The theme of healthy soils, communities and cities is of interest to me.

via press release

The urban gardening community will kick off the spring gardening season at Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) with the 29th annual Making Brooklyn Bloom, a daylong conference on how to green up the borough, presented by GreenBridge, the community environmental horticulture program at Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

This year’s Making Brooklyn Bloom, “Soil in the City: Growing Healthy Neighborhoods from the Ground Up,” focuses on revitalizing our soil, the foundation of life in the garden. The free event features a keynote address by Dr. Nina Bassuk, director of the Urban Horticulture Institute at Cornell University, developer of Cornell Structural Soil, and author of Trees in the Urban Landscape. Exhibits and workshops on rooftop farming, community composting, and soil testing will be offered—all presented by members of BBG’s horticulture staff or experts from other greening organizations in New York City.

“For 29 years, Making Brooklyn Bloom has introduced urban gardeners to sustainable practices and encouraged ecological awareness in city gardens—whether those gardens are on windowsills, in backyards, or in community gardens,” says Robin Simmen, director of GreenBridge. “Focusing on soil this year addresses an issue that pertains to everyone interested in cultivating green space in the city. GreenBridge is proud to bring together leaders in sustainable horticulture and environmental science to share their knowledge on this critical issue—and in doing so, strengthen the community of Brooklyn gardeners,” she adds.

To celebrate its centennial, BBG is commemorating the renewal of Brooklyn’s urban environment by sharing before-and-after photos of local community gardens. Attendees are encouraged to bring photos of their gardens on the day of the event; BBG staff will be on hand to scan and share them on the web throughout our centennial year. Like many of Brooklyn’s gardens, BBG itself started from scratch, transforming its grounds from a derelict coal ash dump into an emerald gem in the heart of the borough.

No preregistration is required for Making Brooklyn Bloom, but it is suggested that visitors register by 10 a.m. on Saturday at BBG’s Palm House to secure their first choice of workshops. Entry to BBG is free before noon or with a flyer about the event. For more details on Making Brooklyn Bloom, please call 718-623-7250 or visit bbg.org/vis2/2010/mbb/.

Making Brooklyn Bloom 2010: Saturday, March 13 | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Workshops:
Soils 101: Theory and Practice
John Jordan, Prospect Park Alliance

Building Soil with Mulch and Cover Crops
Luke Halligan, NYC Compost Project in Brooklyn

Advanced Composting: Beyond the Basics
Jenny Blackwell, NYC Compost Project in Brooklyn | T Fleischer, Battery Park City Parks Conservancy

Soil and Stormwater: Lessons from the Bronx River
Dawn Henning, Bronx River Alliance

Digging Up History: Learning About Your Garden Site
Steven Romalewski, CUNY Center for Urban Research | Mara Gittleman, Council on the Environment of NYC

Rats! (And Other Rodents…)
Caroline Bragdon, NYC Department of Health

All the Dirt on Soil Contaminants
Joshua Cheng, Brooklyn College Soil Testing Lab
Marisa DeDominicis, Earth Matter

Choosing a Soil Test and Interpreting the Results
Matt Brown, Central Park Conservancy | Hannah Shayler, Cornell Waste Management Institute

Soil Fertility: An Organic Approach
Lorraine Brooks, Cornell Cooperative Extension

Native Plants for City Soils
Uli Lorimer, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Dirt Cheap: Starting Seeds Indoors
Solita Stephens, Olympus Garden Club

Rooftop Farming: Soil in the Skies
Jeff Heehs, Community Advocate | Jennifer Nelkin, Gotham Greens | Annie Novak, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm

Revitalize Your Soil with Compost Tea
Karla Chandler, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Community Composting Projects in Brooklyn
Claudia Joseph, Garden of Union | Kendall Morrison, Earth Matter | Jessica Katz, 6/15 Green
Matt Sheehan, Brooklyn New School

Networking Brown Bag Lunches:
Bring a bag lunch to take part in these conversations:
• Advocating for School Gardens
• Therapeutic Horticulture
• Street Tree Stewardship

Visitors to Making Brooklyn Bloom will also have an opportunity to take a free Seasonal Highlights tour at 1 p.m.; enjoy lunch at the Zagat-rated Terrace Café; and view the exhibition of BBG artist-in-residence Emilie Clark, a conceptually based body of new work inspired by the 19th-century naturalist Mary Treat.

11th Hour for Campus Road Garden

Posted on 2010-02-23 by admin

2010-02-23: Added a brief history of the Garden.

Last Fall, Brooklyn College announced plans to destroy the Campus Road Community Garden, located at the western end of Brooklyn College’s athletic fields since 1997, for a parking lot. This Wednesday, February 24, the Brooklyn Community Board 14 Committee on Education, Libraries & Cultural Affairs is having a public hearing:

When: Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 7 PM
Where: CB14 District Office, 810 E 16th Street, Brooklyn, NY

Agenda:
1. Update on Brooklyn College Garden – Representatives of Brooklyn College and South Midwood Residence Association
2. Presentation on Brooklyn Public Library initiatives – Tambe Tysha-John, Cluster Leader, Brooklyn Public Library
3. Other business

If you would like to speak during any of the public hearings or during the public portion of the board meeting, please call the CB14 District Office at 718-859-6357 to register for time. You may also register to speak on the evening of the meeting.

The “Brooklyn College Garden” is part of Brooklyn College’s greenwashing campaign. On February 3, they posted this announcement (since removed) on their Web site:

Brooklyn College announced today the creation of the Brooklyn College Garden that will serve as the basis for a broad spectrum of academic and sustainability initiatives for faculty and students. Members of the surrounding community will also be welcome to plant on individual plots, which will be assigned to them on a yearly base.

The garden, to be situated at the campus’s Avenue H entrance and bordering the college’s athletic field, is designed to be approximately 2,500 square feet.

which is where the Campus Road Garden, occupying more than twice the area, already exists.

View Brooklyn Community Gardens in a larger map

Brooklyn College’s unilateral announcement is disingenuous, at best. They omit any mention of their plans to destroy the Campus Road Garden, or the parking lot that will take its place. Such is the basis for their “sustainability initiatives.”

Not content with destroying a garden with decades of history in the community, they plan to pick at its bones for their private benefit:

Trees and bushes from a temporary community garden that made use of the area in previous years will be carefully replanted in front of the West Quad Center to create an inviting new garden. The college envisions the new green space as a “serenity garden” with comfortable seating for visitors to linger.

A garden that has been in place for 13 years is not a “temporary” garden.

Once again, the hearing is this Thursday, Wednesday, February 24, at 7pm, at the CB14 District Office at 810 E 16th Street.

[bk.ly]

A brief history

Provided by the Campus Road Garden:

1970s: Brooklyn College Organic Gardening Club starts a garden on a vacant college lot on Campus Road, sustained by community residents and students.
1980s: The City sells the lot at auction and evicts the gardeners. The developer defaults, and the lot remains vacant and overrun by weeds.
1990s: New Campus Road Garden Residents negotiate with the bank holding the property, and successfully recreate the garden. The bank again sells the lot and evicts the gardeners.
1997: Gardeners negotiate with Brooklyn College to relocate the garden to its current location. Then-President Vernon Lattin calls it “Brooklyn College’s gain.”

Links

Stop the Demolition of the Campus Rd Garden, online petition

Education, Libraries & Cultural Affairs Committee, Community Board 14

Land of the Free, Home of the…Cars?, Dassa Gutwirth, Sustainable Flatbush, 2010-02-23 (Illustrated with my photos of Campus Road Garden)
BC issues plan for new community garden, stirring ire, Courier-Life, 2010-02-09
Saving the Campus Road Community Garden from Parking Lot Fate, 2009-10-19
Brooklyn College to pave over popular garden to expand track, Flatbush residents not pleased, Daily News, 2009-10-09

Flatbush Gardener

Urban Habitat Gardening with Native Plants

Author Archives: admin

Put Down Roots: Million Trees NYC Tree Giveaway

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