South Midwood Garden Tour and Art Show

Campus Road Garden, South Midwood, Flatbush, Brooklyn
Campus Road Garden, South Midwood, Flatbush, Brooklyn

This Saturday, August 23, from 3pm to 5pm, the Campus Road Garden at Avenue H and Campus Road is hosting an art show and garden tour:

Come view the garden, sit among the flowers and butterflies, and see art created by your neighbors.

Related Content

South Midwood Garden Tour, Sunday, July 30, 2006
My other posts about South Midwood
My photos of this garden (Flickr set)

Pakistani-American Festival, Sunday, August 17

via the NYC DOT Weekend Traffic Advisory:

Coney Island Avenue between Avenue H and Newkirk Avenue will be closed Sunday, August 17, from 11am to 6pm for the Pakistani-American Festival as permitted by the Mayor’s Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

The event is sponsored by the Pakistani-American Merchants Association. Today, August 14, is the 61st Anniversary of Pakistan’s independence.

Mosquito Spraying in Southeast Brooklyn overnight

via Brooklyn Eagle.


The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will spray for mosquitoes in several areas of Brooklyn and Staten Island tonight between 7:45 p.m. and 6 a.m.

In Brooklyn, the affected areas include Canarsie, Paerdegat Basin, Georgetown, Flatlands, East Flatbush, Mill Basin, Bergen Beach and Canarsie Cemetery.

People in these areas, especially those with respiratory conditions, should stay indoors. Also, they are urged to remove children’s toys, outdoor equipment and clothes from outdoor areas during spraying.

For this spraying, the Health Department will use Anvil 10 + 10, a synthetic pesticide.

Links

Mosquito Control Notice, August 13, 2008 (PDF)
Spraying Schedule
Heath Department Reminds New Yorkers to Protect Themselves against West Nile Virus, DOH Press Release, August 13, 2008
West Nile Virus home page, DOH

The Greene Garden, Fort Greene, Green With Envy Tour, II.9

Green With Envy Tour at the Greene Garden in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Green With Envy Tour

The Greene Garden is a shady green space across the street from Fort Greene Park. When I saw this, I imagined the wonderful shade gardens that could be created here.

Green at Greene

There are no growing areas, just common areas for socializing, and relaxing, interconnected by wandering paths.

Green With Envy Tour

The gazebo is really nice. In my long-term vision for integrating the rear of my house with the backyard garden, I imagine something like this at the corner of a back porch, providing an entrance from the driveway and garage at the rear of the property onto the porch and access to the rear of the house.
Green With Envy Tour
Green With Envy Tour

This garden is a work in progress.
Flagstones

No glam in this garden, yet. It has the potential to become a showcase shade garden. Meanwhile, there some artificial color is scattered about.

Sign

Pink Flamingo

Snow Bear

I (HEART) MY COMMUNITY

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Green With Envy Tour II
Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1
St. Mark’s Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2
Prospect Heights Community Farm, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.3
Hollenback Community Garden, Clinton Hill, Green With Envy Tour, II.5
Classon FulGate Block Association Garden, Green With Envy Tour, II.6
Clifton Place Block Association Community Garden, Green With Envy Tour, II.7

Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4
Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5
Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6
Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.7
Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8
Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

Clifton Place Block Association Community Garden, Green With Envy Tour, II.7

Green With Envy Tour at the Clifton Place Block Association Community Garden in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
Green With Envy Tour

Planting areas

The usual raised beds, but laid out in an unusual manner, almost mazelike.

Here’s a view from the street entrance area.
Clifton Place Block Association Garden
Clifton Place Garden

Here’s a view from inside, near the rear of the garden.
Clifton Place Block Association Garden

A hint of the maze.
Raised Beds

Composting

They had some brand-new, still-shiny compost bins.
Compost bins

Glam

Are we sick of sunflowers, yet? I hope not.
Sunflower

Bee on Sunflower
Bee on Sunflower

Kale. Almost looks good enough to eat. Almost.
Kale

Moss on Rock
Moss on Rock

I know, you’re sick of Echinacea by now. But it’s hard to take a bad shot of them. They reward close inspection.
Echinacea

And the bees like them some Echinacea, too.
Three Bees

Lily. As fragrant as it looks.
Lily

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Green With Envy Tour II
Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1
St. Mark’s Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2
Prospect Heights Community Farm, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.3
Hollenback Community Garden, Clinton Hill, Green With Envy Tour, II.5
Classon FulGate Block Association Garden, Green With Envy Tour, II.6

Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4
Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5
Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6
Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.7
Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8
Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

Classon FulGate Block Association Garden, Green With Envy Tour, II.6

Green With Envy Tour at the Classon FulGate Block Association Garden in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
Green With Envy Tour

Classon FulGate was the oldest community on the tour, possibly the oldest in Brooklyn. The unusual name derives from its location: Classon Avenue between Gates Avenue and Fulton Street. It’s been in operation for more than four decades, under the guidance of this man, whose name I cannot recall. I’m better with plants than people.
DSC_3270

Street Entrance and Common Areas

Street entrance
Classon FulGate Block Association Community Garden

Most of the common area is located at the rear of the garden, beneath the only tree. As you can see in the opening photo, the shade was a welcome relief, as were the refreshments at this stop.

A community mural depicting residents of the block covers the back wall. The smaller portraits along the top of the wall depict deceased residents.
Community Mural

Growing Area

Nearly all the space of this comparatively small garden – the area of two townhouses – is devoted to growing food crops.

Classon FulGate Block Association Community Garden

The growing beds are sunken rather than raised, relative to the central path. Everything is grown in impeccably neat rows in one of two large communal growing areas, one on each side of the path.

Classon FulGate Block Association Community Garden

Classon FulGate Block Association Community Garden

Classon FulGate Block Association Community Garden

Green With Envy Tour

Glam

Watermelon leaf
Watermelon Leaves

Bee on Canna
Bee on Canna

Marigold
Marigold

Zinnia
Zinnia

Hibiscus syriacus, Rose-of-Sharon
Hibiscus syriacus, Rose of Sharon

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Green With Envy Tour II
Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1
St. Mark’s Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2
Prospect Heights Community Farm, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.3
Hollenback Community Garden, Clinton Hill, Green With Envy Tour, II.5

Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4
Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5
Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6
Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.7
Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8
Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

Hollenback Community Garden, Clinton Hill, Green With Envy Tour, II.5

The Green With Envy Tour gets an explanation of the water collection system at the Hollenback Community Garden.
Green With Envy Tour

Skipping over stop #4 (we’ll wrap that up with some other short stops at the end), we come to Hollenback Community Garden, stop #5 on Tour 2 of the Green With Envy tour of Brooklyn community gardens. Hollenback is another large community garden. They have the largest and most sophisticated rainwater collection system I’ve seen yet. They have an community composting program. They provide multiple channels for folks to contribute, including their so-far-unique composting toilet.

Street Entrance and Common Areas

PLEASE NO PICKIN

Compared to the lush Prospect Heights Farm, in this garden, the common areas near the entrance are spartan.
Hollenback Community Garden

Ornamental plantings line the paths leading into and through the heart of the garden.
Hollenback Community Garden
Hollenback Community Garden

Composting

I was impressed with the scale of these open silos, and the temperatures they achieved.
Compost Silos

Each silo was carefully labelled.
Built and TurnedDexter's

And monitored.
150F162F

The silos were out in the middle of the garden. They had a sweet aroma. There was another composting area, located in the rear of the garden, as is more common.
Composting Area

The finished material is beautiful.
Finished Compost

This custom-made compost-mobile is an important element in their collection system. They partner with the GreenMarket, NYC’s farmers’ markets, at Fort Greene Park. They have drop-offs there on the days the Greenmarket operates. They load up garbage cans in the front crate and pedal them back to the garden for composting.
Compost-Mobile
Compost-Mobile

They also have garbage cans at the entrance, just inside the gate, where neighbors can come by and drop off their kitchen scraps even when the garden is not open.
Deposit

Composting Toilet

This high-end outhouse addresses all the concerns you might have about a composting toilet. There was absolutely no odor around or in this, even when they opened the “basement” lid so we could take a look at the “nightsoil” they’ve collected so far.

Regarding the Toilet

Composting Toilet

The woman on the left seems not so sure of the whole setup.
Composting Toilet

This sign reminded me of the scene in 2001 regarding the zero-G toilet.
You are using a composting toilet

Beneath the base is the finished product. The lid is necessary for periodic maintenance, mainly raking and leveling out the, um, “material”, as well as eventually harvesting the compost. The black lid on the left covers another trap for removing excess liquid. The gray box and white plumbing provide ventilation.
Nightsoil

Water Collection

Massive tanks collect water off the flat roof of the adjacent brownstone.
Water Collection

Water Collection

This big “U” trap behind the main tanks is an important part of the system. It collects the initial flush of water off the adjoining roof, which will have the most airborne contaminants. Only when the trap fills does the flow begin filling the tanks. The trap can be drained independently of the tanks.
Water Cleaning Trap

Glam

Bee on Sunflower.
Bee on Sunflower

Very familiar, some kind of Hibiscus, but I can’t place it.
Hibiscus

Echinacea and Bee
Echinacea and Bee

Rose
Rose

Elephant Garlic, I think
Elephant Garlic

Gomphrena
Gomphrena

Hollyhock in bud
Hollyhock in bud

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Green With Envy Tour II
Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1
St. Mark’s Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2
Prospect Heights Community Farm, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.3

Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4
Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5
Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6
Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.7
Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8
Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

Links

Hollenback Community Garden

Prospect Heights Community Farm, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.3

The Green With Envy Tour at the Prospect Heights Community Farm.
Green With Envy Tour

All the common patterns were present in this garden, writ large:

  • Common areas of ornamental plantings at the street entrance
  • Raised beds with individual planting areas, mostly devoted to food crops
  • Composting area

And something else in this garden that we’ll see more of later: rain-water harvesting.

Street Entrance and Common Areas

Green With Envy Tour

Nearly every garden has a charming, hand-painted “The Garden Is Open” placard that sits out on the sidewalk and invites passersby in.
THE GARDEN IS OPEN

Regular open hours are almost always also posted at the entrance. I think this is a requirement for gardens operated by the Trust for Public Land, locally represented by the Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust.
Sign

Step inside, and you’re enveloped by the lushness of the garden.

Prospect Heights Community Farm

Prospect Heights Community Farm

At the rear of this garden is another common area for composting, tool storage, and relaxing in the shade.
Green With Envy Tour

Green With Envy Tour

Individual Plots

Prospect Heights Community Farm

Prospect Heights Community Farm

Prospect Heights Community Farm

Prospect Heights Community Farm

Composting

Demonstrating another common pattern, this production line arrangement of sturdy, uniform bins helps organize the work, minimizes the need to move heavy compost around, and keeps a steady flow of materials moving through the system.

Composting Area

Composting Area

Compost bins

Water Collection

The fact that something different is going on inside is announced by this big sign at the entrance.
Signs

This is the beginning of the water collection system, so well-camouflaged I almost walked past it. The downspout from the adjacent building is on the left, the storage tank is on the right.
Water Collection

This all leads to some serious tankage.
Water Collection

Glam

Just ’cause it’s not all compost and rainwater.

Echinops
Echinops

Rudbeckia
Rudbeckia

Sunflower, detail
Sunflower, detail

There were several chairs and benches placed in the shade of common areas, painted in bright colors, and adorned with a hand-painted, smiling sun.
sunsmile

Shed Door, detail
Shed Door

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Green With Envy Tour II
Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1
St. Mark’s Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2

Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4
Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5
Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6
Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.7
Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8
Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

St. Mark’s Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2

The Green With Envy Tour at the St. Mark’s Avenue Community Garden in Prospect Heights, July 26, 2008.
Green With Envy, St. Mark's Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights

Biking was definitely the preferred mode of transportation on this tour. I don’t have a bike, so my feet and legs got a workout.

As soon as we arrived, our hostess proudly informed us that the garden was not only a butterfly sanctuary, but a praying mantis sanctuary.

Emptied egg case on the front gate
Preying Mantis Egg Case

In the flesh.
Preying Mantis

This photo illustrates a pattern realized by many of the community gardens we visited: a common area, just inside the entrance, comprised largely of ornamental plantings. This is part of the “community” aspects of these gardens: putting your best face forward makes both the street and the garden more inviting, and helps keep good relations with the neighbors.
St. Mark's Avenue Community Garden

Seating in common areas.
Fig Seat

I was charmed by this child-scaled seat composed of salvaged building materials.
Tiny Rock Chair

Stepping past the threshold you come to the raised beds with vegetables.
St. Mark's Avenue Community Garden

Here’s a detail of that window visible in the photo above. A church is next door.
Caged Dove

The ubiquitous composting area was located at the rear of this garden, furthest from the street, another common pattern. I wonder what all the rear-yard neighbors think of this arrangement.
DSC_3077
Compost bins
This Pile is Cooking

Glam shots.

Squash leaf.
Squash Leaf

Nasturtium.
Nasturtium

Solenostemon (Coleus)
Solenostemon (Coleus)

Wasp on Dill.
Wasp on Dill

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1

Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4
Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5
Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6
Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.7
Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8
Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1

Green With Envy Tour Two at the Pacific Street Brooklyn Bear’s Garden
Green With Envy, Pacific Street Bear's Garden

Saturday, July 26, Tour Two of the Green With Envy tour of Brooklyn Community Garden’s kicked off where it started two weeks earlier: at the Brooklyn Bear’s Garden at Pacific Street.

We’re building raised beds at the Flatbush Community Garden, so I was paying more attention to details of their construction at different gardens on this tour.
Raised Beds, Pacific Street Bear's Garden

Amazing how quickly things change. Two weeks before, I didn’t notice this cabbage. The fingerprints show how irresistible it must be to touch.
Cabbage

I didn’t get any good shots of this “Office Al Fresco” on the first tour. Very organized.
Al Fresco

The inside of the door shows photos of all the gardeners.
Garden People

I love these exuberant Trumpet Vines (Campsis radicans) growing in several of the gardens. It’s one of my favorite native vines, but there are few places where it can be grown effectively under cultivation, especially in compressed urban settings. It gets to be a huge in both height and mass, requiring a large, sturdy, long-lived structure to support it. Also, it’s a bit of a thug and throws up runners everywhere, so weeding and cultivation of the ground around it must be considered before placing it. I also see this growing over backyard fences into the B/Q subway cut, which is as good a placement as any!
Campsis radicans

Oak-Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), one of my favorite native shrubs. Again, the species is too large for most urban gardens. Several “dwarf” cultivars are available.
Oak-Leaf Hydrangea

The Zinnias continue their psychedelic bloom.
Bee on Zinnia

Related Content

All my photos of this garden (Flickr)

Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26
Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4
Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5
Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6
Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.7
Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8
Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

Links