The next planning meeting for the Flatbush Community Garden – aka the Flatbush Unity Garden – will be tomorrow evening at 6pm at the Cortelyou Library.
Flatbush (comm)Unity Garden Meeting Tomorrow Evening
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Tag Archives: Community Garden
Sunday, June 8: Brownstone Brooklyn Garden Walk
Roses and Beam, 222 Washington Avenue, Clinton Hill on last year’s Brownstone Brooklyn Garden Walk.
Temperatures in the 90s will likely dissuade me from several hours of walking. Those of you with sturdier constitutions than mine will want to consider getting out this Sunday afternoon into the green spaces of Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill, and Fort Greene.
The Brownstone Brooklyn Garden District’s Garden Walk will feature at least a dozen private and eight community gardens, open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The highlight is a large triple-lot garden, reached through the owner’s pottery workshop, which has a huge variety of plantings, some dating back 35 years. This garden features a curved wooden fence, raised earth berms and a rock wall, and includes trifoliate orange trees, a “forest” of 40-foot bamboos, woodland azaleas, styrax, tree peonies, foxtail lilies, roses and a small meadow of Canadian anemones and columbines.
I attended last year’s walk and it was terrific.
218 & 216 Washington Avenue, Clinton Hill
The Garden Walk also includes a double-wide garden at an 1839 farmhouse that is remarkable for its trees: blue Atlas cedar, maple, magnolia, dogwood, espaliered trellised crab apples, and a rare 50-year-old dawn redwood. Tickets, $20, at the Forest Floor, 659 Vanderbilt Avenue (Prospect Place) in Prospect Heights, and at Thirst, 187 DeKalb Avenue (Vanderbilt Avenue) in Fort Greene. Advance tickets, $15, and information: (718) 219-2137. (There is no Web site.)
Shady Beauties, 116 St. Mark’s Avenue, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Related Posts
The 10th Annual Brownstone Brooklyn Garden Walk, June 10, 2007
Links
Brownstone Brooklyn Garden District: 11th Sunday Garden Walk
Tomorrow, May 31: Extra-Crunchy Brooklyn Compost Bike Tour
“Compost Happy”
This just in. This is also listed in the Flatbush Gardener Google Calendar in the sidebar.
Bike Tour to Explore Brooklyn’s Composting Sites, Saturday May 31
Come one, come all to the Compost Tour de Brooklyn. It’s free, fun and good for you.
You’re welcome to meet at the market [Fort Greene Greenmarket], too, to see us off on this maiden (for maids and gents) two-wheeled journey of evolution (of carbon cycle) and revolution (of bike wheels).
Take a two-wheeled tour of Brooklyn compost sites on Saturday, May 31 and learn how to reduce household waste and convert food scraps into fodder for new plant life.
Licensed New York City sightseeing guide and newly minted Master Composter Laura Silver will don a worm costume to show off some of the “greatest local innovations in eco-consciousness” and the people who make it happen.
Brooklyn Compost Project table at Making Brooklyn Bloom 2008
Tour goers will have a chance to meet local heroes who turn castoff food stuff into “black gold.” They’ll escort the vegicycle, a trike made to transport food scraps, from the Fort Greene market to local community gardens.
Detail of convection composting aeration tube used at a Brooklyn community composting site
Day: Saturday, May 31, 2008
Time: 10:30 am (until about 3pm, stay as long as you’d like)
Place: Meet at Fort Greene Park Greenmarket near trash cans used to collect food scraps. Corner of DeKalb Avenue and Cumberland Street
Tour stops include:
- Composting toilet at Hollenback Garden in Clinton Hill
- Compost piles at Bed-Stuy?s Greene Acres garden
- A worm bin in a private home in Midwood
- Tour concludes at Floyd Bennett Field Garden with a demonstration of lasagna (layered) gardening
- Demonstration begins at 2pm. Barbeque to follow
Details
- Spots are limited. Please RSVP to compost.cycle@mac.com by May 30.
- Participation is free.
- Helmets preferred.
- Cyclists are requested to bring fruit or vegetable scraps to compost (apple cores, lettuce leaves and coffee grounds encouraged) and full-figured food to grill at the end of the tour.
A report on last night’s Flatbush Unity Garden kickoff meeting
Anne Pope reports on last night’s meeting regarding the community garden for Flatbush, now named the Flatbush Unity Garden:
A group of 20+ people met at P.S. 217 to share their ideas of what they’d like this community resource to become. In addition to growing vegetables and fruits and flowers, what many of us expressed was the desire for a place where we can meet our neighbors, form ties to our community, and enjoy a peaceful outdoor environment. New York City has many examples of gardens that serve as hubs of neighborhood cultural and social interaction as well as providing beautiful green spaces (and in some cases food as well). Clearly there is a longing for such a place here in Flatbush, and our goal is to create one.
– Flatbush Unity Garden kicks off!, Sustainable Flatbush
I’ve added a new tag, Flatbush Unity Garden, for all my posts and photos of this project.
Related content
Links
Flatbush Unity Garden kicks off!, Sustainable Flatbush
May 28: Public forum on the Flatbush Community Garden
Future site of the (potential) Flatbush Community Garden
Since last November, when the vision for a community garden in Flatbush was first made public, a lot of meeting, brainstorming and planning has been going on behind the scenes. Yesterday, Sustainable Flatbush made the formal announcement for a public forum next Wednesday evening at P.S. 217:
Are you someone who loves all things green?
Have you always wanted to grow your own flowers, fruits, vegetables and herbs?
Here is your opportunity!
We have a potential space for a Flatbush Community Garden!Come to a meeting to learn more!
WHEN: Wednesday, May 28, 2008, 6:00 – 8:00PM
WHERE: P.S. 217 Cafeteria, 1100 Newkirk Avenue, at Coney Island Avenue
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it. My Pest Management class at BBG started last Wednesday.
Food, drinks, and child care will be provided.
Get involved and grow!For more information, contact:
Susan Siegel at: 718-282-5595
Anne Pope at: anne [at] sustainable flatbush {dot} orgSponsored by Sustainable Flatbush (Fiscal Sponsor Flatbush Development Corporation)
Related content
The Future Home of the Ex-Lax Gardens, November 1, 2007
My photos of the site
Links
Flatbush Community Garden Meeting, Sustainable Flatbush
Flatbush Development Corporation
Sunset Park Garden Club Needs YOU!
Volunteers tend several gardens within Sunset Park. They need your help. The Chinese Garden was vandalized a few weeks ago:
There is now no sign of what was once a ceramic pagoda, a bridge, and a swimming dragon. The sparkling stream (created with glass beads) still exists, but many of the beads have been extracted. Apparently, some person (or persons) who dislike all things Asian-inspired felt it necessary to use a large boulder within the Chinese Garden to smash the decorations to pieces over two or three days. The items had been bought with a grant given to the Club.
Other difficulties the garden, which sits close to the 6th Avenue and 44th Street entrance, has experienced include plants stolen, a wonderful tree forcibly removed, and parents allowing children to romp about within the confines of the garden.
– Sunset Park Garden Club is looking for members, Best View in Brooklyn
And they need volunteers for ongoing weeding, planting and other maintenance of the multiple gardens in Sunset Park.
View Larger Map
On Saturday, members of the SPGC weeded, cleaned up, and replanted many plants. On Sunday, another member was continuing with the planting and spoke about replacing some of the glass beads in the stream. The lovely garden at the 7th Avenue and 41st Street entrance looks wild and wonderful, and it will also be tended to for weeding and cleaning. Eager and willing hands are always needed to continue the efforts. There are several areas of the park that are nurtured and cared for by the Club. No experience is necessary!
Contact information is available at Best View in Brooklyn.
Links
Sunset Park Garden Club is looking for members, Best View in Brooklyn
Sunset Park, NYC Parks & Recreation
Walk Coney Island’s endangered Surfside Gardens with Kinetic Carnival
The Surfside Gardens, one of the endangered community gardens in Coney Island, is the focus of the latest segment of A Walk Around the Blog.
Related Posts
Endangered Coney Island Community Gardens, February 4, 2008
Links
The episode, Kinetic Carnival: Threatened Community Gardens, is available on A Walk Around the Blog and blip.tv
Gardens To Close as Coney Prepares for Building Boom, Brooklyn Eagle, March 5, 2008
Saturday, May 3: Bay Ridge Narrows Botanical Gardens Spring Festival
Crabapple, taken last fall at the Narrows Botanical Gardens
This Saturday, May 3 (rain date Sunday, May 4), the Narrows Botanical Garden in Bay Ridge is holding their annual Spring Festival:
Join us for our 13th Annual Spring Festival on Saturday, May 3rd between 10am and 4pm (rain date Sunday, May 4th). Browse among our many Craft Booths where you are sure to find something that catches your eye. Stroll along the Shore Road Promenade and meet some of our talented artists whose Art Exhibits will be for sale along the fence line of the gardens.
If gardening is your love, you may just find that special plant, shrub or flower that would suit your taste just in time for spring planting at our Plant Sale! Or, maybe you just have a question that needs answering on plants or gardening, our NBG experts would be glad to help.
It’s a Family Event…so bring the kids! The NBG knows that kids are our future! What better way to introduce them to their environment then exposing them to the beauty of the gardens. Showing them how just a few people volunteering together made that difference.
Fun Stuff for Kids! Native Plant Tours: See who can spot a frog, turtle or fish in our pond! Paint a Flower Pot: plant it up in time for Mothers Day. Face Painting. Story telling.
– via email
Narrows Botanical Gardens is in Bay Ridge, along Shore Road between Bay Ridge Avenue and 72nd Street. When I visited it for the first time last fall, due to sidewalk construction along Shore Road, only the northernmost entrance, closest to Bay Ridge Avenue, was open. Unfortunately, the Native Plant Garden – and Turtle Sanctuary! – was also closed when I visited.
Nestled between beautiful Shore Road and the sparkling waters of The Narrows, in the welcoming community of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, four and a half acres of rambling parkland have been transformed by the inspiration and nurturing of a community of volunteers into the Narrows Botanical Gardens.
The Turtle Sanctuary in the Native Plant Garden. Since 1995, this verdant collection of hills, pathways, and gorgeous harbor views has blossomed into a lush conservatory of nature’s beauty and brilliance, providing an unequaled opportunity to stroll amid fragrant blossoms bustling with butterflies, a bubbling brook where turtles sun on the rocks, majestic Redwood trees that seem to touch the sky, and delicate orchids growing wild in a Native Plant Garden. Linger at our city’s only roadside lily pond, or promenade through the towering Linden Tree Allée. Snap portraits at the picturesque Rock Wall bench, or find meditative calm in the Zen Garden.
… And, when you have visited the Narrows Botanical Gardens, strolled its pathways and smelled its roses, you will be amazed to learn it is wholly created by, built by, and nurtured and maintained by volunteers, making the Narrows Botanical Gardens one of the largest community gardens in our great City of New York.
Related Posts
Narrows Botanical Gardens, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, October 22, 2007
Links
Saturday, April 26: Help cleanup a community garden in Flatbush/PLG
Via email from Anne Pope of Sustainable Flatbush:
This Saturday all are welcome to help clean up a community garden here
in the neighborhood.Woodruff Seniors Garden Cleanup
Saturday April 26, 12-2pm
Ocean Avenue between Crooke and Woodruff Avenues
(two blocks from the Southeast entrance to Prospect Park)
[Google Map](I don’t know too many other details at this point — history of the
garden, future plans, etc., but will post as they become available)
Ditto what Anne says. I’m not familiar with this garden, myself.
Links
Brooklyn Bears Community Garden
Grass and Birch, Brooklyn Bears Community Garden
Last Sunday, between the Brooklyn Blogade and the Atlantic Yards Camera Club, Frank Jump and I wandered for about an hour in the bitter cold. The Camera Club was meeting at the Brooklyn Bears Community Garden, so we spent some time there.
Birch Trunk
Detail, Birch Bark
The only blooms to be found were a Witchhazel and a few Snowdrops.
Witchhazel
Snowdrops
There still was plenty of color.
Variegated Pine
Rose
Bergenia Leaf
Shelf Fungus
Wheelbarrow
Seedhead
Hydrangea
Pine Cone
Frank and I were there too early for the garden to be open. We spent some time shooting from outside the fence, then wandered around some more before coming back. By the time we were back, the garden was open and the photographers had begun to gather inside.
I saw Jon Crow, one of the leaders of this garden, whom I met recently for the first time at the Brooklyn Community Gardeners meeting three weeks ago. He excitedly pulled me aside to show me this:
This is the damage a sapsucker made along all the stems of a large Viburnum in the corner of the garden. Here’s a detail shot.
The precision of the holes is impressive. Jon and another gardener observed that, despite the extent of the damage, the branches were never girdled, so the plant itself may well recover from this.
Fearing for the health and survival of this huge specimen plant, gardeners tried to deter the Sapsucker with aluminum foil. It was ineffective. In fact, Jon sent a photo of the bird in action a day after I took these shots.
Jon asked, “This is going on the blog, right?”
Yes, Jon. It’s on the blog!
Related Posts
Flickr photo set
Brooklyn Blogade
Atlantic Yards Camera Club
Links
Strolling with the Flatbush Gardener
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker vs. Yellow-bellied Developer