Help Envision a New Garden: Sunday, June 6

Posted on 2010-06-03 by admin

Update: June 16: Community Visioning Workshop for a new Communal Garden

Update, 2010.06.04: Added information about the site.
Update, 2010.06.03: Added registration link.

The Parsonage, Flatbush Reformed Church, 2103 Kenmore Terrace, corner of East 21st Street, Flatbush, Brooklyn

Thus Sunday, June 6, from 4-6pm, we’ll be holding the first of two Community Visioning Workshops for a new communal garden on the grounds of the landmarked Flatbush Reformed Church. One site is a small, fenced-off area. The other is the front lawn of the Parsonage. This landmarked historic building was built in 1853 – though portions of it may be even older – and moved to this site in 1913.

Front lawn, looking east from East 21st Street

The main area is the front lawn of the Parsonage. It’s a large area, about 25-feet deep, from the fence along Kenmore Terrace to the porch of the house, and about 85-feet long, from East 21st Street to the Church parking lot. There are opportunities to further develop the buffer plantings, 3-1/2-feet between the fence and the sidewalk, that Church members have already established.

Buffer Plantings, looking from the entrance gate toward East 21st Street

The site is dominated by large, mature Oak trees lining the fence on Kenmore Terrace and East 21st Street. These cast dense shade, and working with this constraint will be one of the challenges for designing the garden and plantings. I have a lot of experience with urban shade gardens, and see the potential in this site.

The most interesting aspects of this project will be the community partnerships. CAMBA, a large community-based service organization, has a young mothers program that meets at the Parsonage. We want the space and gardens to be child-friendly, and provide opportunities for exploration and learning about nature and gardening. The Flatbush Farm Share CSA distributes from the front lawn of the Parsonage. They offer shares for all income levels, and subsidize low-income members. We want to accommodate their needs for space and provide opportunities for education programs.

Soil Sampling for Texture Analysis

Press Release

Sustainable Flatbush is partnering with the Flatbush Reformed Church to create a new community garden! The whole community is invited to be involved in the planning and care of this neighborhood green space.

Two Community Garden Visioning Meetings have been scheduled for Sunday June 6th and Wednesday June 16th. At these brainstorming sessions community members will visit the garden area, located on church grounds, and work collaboratively to envision this new public green space: what can be grown, how to best utilize the space, how the garden will be built and maintained, what to name the garden, and how to be a part of it!

The new community garden is a joint project of Sustainable Flatbush’s Urban Gardens & Farms Initiative and the Flatbush Reformed Church.

The Urban Gardening and Farming Initiative works to foster community gardening efforts in Flatbush, promoting healthy local food, sustainable horticulture practices, and community building and beautification.

Sustainable Flatbush brings neighbors together to mobilize, educate, and advocate for sustainable living in our Brooklyn neighborhood and beyond.

Flatbush Reformed Church is a welcoming, inclusive and ecumenical Church in the heart of Brooklyn.

WHAT: Community Garden Visioning Meetings
WHEN: Sunday, June 6th at 4pm and Wednesday, June 16th at 6pm.
WHERE: Flatbush Reformed Church, located at 890 Flatbush Avenue at Church Avenue, just three blocks east of the Q train or three blocks west of the 2 train, Church Avenue stop.

Sign up here to attend a Visioning Meeting.

Refreshments and childcare will be provided.

Links

New Community Garden at Flatbush Reformed Church!, Sustainable Flatbush, 2010-05-31

Flatbush Reformed Church
CAMBA
Flatbush Farm Share CSA

Greenbelt Native Plant Center, Staten Island

Posted on 2010-05-03 by admin

Tim Chambers, Greenbelt Native Plant Center Nursery Manager, and our guide for the tour, explains GNPC’s history and mission at the start of the tour.

Monday, May 3, I visited the Greenbelt Native Plant Center (GNPC) for the first time. This tour was one of over 45 events scheduled for NYC Wildflower Week. From the event description:

The Greenbelt Native Plant Center is the only municipal native plant nursery in the country. It is a 13-acre greenhouse, nursery, founder seed and seed bank complex owned and operated by NYC Parks & Recreations Dept. Over the past fifteen years, the center has grown hundreds of thousands of specimens from locally collected seed of the city’s indigenous flora for use in restoration, and replanting projects and is currently developing bulk seed mixes for the city. The GNPC is a partner in the establishment of the first national native seed bank called Seeds of Success.

GNPC operates as a wholesale nursery serving primarily, but not exclusively, restoration projects around the NYC area. GNPC partners with other growers around the region. Not all their efforts go to NYC wild areas and parks; some go to other, nearby restorations, and they also receive plants of specific species when they don’t have the stock to meet the demand.

There are over 2,000 plant species native to the NYC area. GNPC currently propagates about 350, a remarkable proportion. That range is important; GNPC is not just in the business of species preservation, but also restoration of plant communities. That work requires sourcing of many different species, and the plant “palette” required depends on the goals of each project.

Collection

It all starts with the collection of seed from the wild. Collections are done throughout the region; NYC itself has over 8,700 acres in 51 nature preserves under its Forever Wild program. Wherever it comes from, the seed collection protocol links back to the mission of GNPC. As Tim Chambers, our guide for the tour, and GNPC’s Nursery Manager, explained to us, non-selection is the goal.

Use of plant materials from local populations ensures the success of ecological restoration or enhancement of natural systems. Our seed collection begins by employing internationally accepted protocols for collecting seeds from wild populations that capture the full genetic variability of a given plant population. Genetic variation is the basis for evolutionary success.
– Mission, GNPC

Part of the protocol includes random sampling across a population. Collecting seed from the most vigorous plants, or those with the largest seedheads, or some other criteria, introduces unnatural, human selection. This distorts the evolutionary history captured in the genetic diversity across the population. The population grown on from those seeds will be less representative of the original, less adapted to the conditions in which the original plants were found, and less suitable for restoration efforts.

Collection must be distributed not just spatially across a population, but across time. A given population may have individuals whose seed ripens slightly earlier, or slightly later, than the bulk of the population. These outliers give the population as a whole more resiliency in the face of unusual or extreme conditions: a drought, an early frost, an unusual outbreak of insects. Seed must be collected throughout the ripening seasons to capture that diversity.

Processing

If you’ve never collected seed from your own plants before, I can recommend it. It’s not so straightforward as you might think. You don’t usually collect seeds. You collect the fruits that contain the seeds. Getting the seeds out – separating the seeds from the chaff – can take some work. And it requires different techniques for each species.

Separation Equipment

Barrels of Chaff

This chaff was softer than the softest feathers or wool you’ve ever felt.

Germination

After separation, germination is tested in the Seed Lab. If germination succeeds, it means the seed is ripe; they sow the seeds in trays. They’re germinated and grown in a greenhouse dedicated to this first stage in getting plants from seed.

What results is a dense mat of first growth.

I didn’t get the id of these grass seedlings.

Amelanchier canadensis, Canadian Serviceberry

Agastache nepetoides, Yellow Giant Hyssop

Growing on

To grow past this point, the seedlings must be separated from their siblings. They’re pricked out from the mat and planted in individual containers, just like you find in any plant nursery. It’s delicate, time-consuming work.

The result is an abundance of beautiful, healthy seedlings of NYC-local ecotype native plants. These will be grown onto successively larger containers, depending on the needs of the projects for which they’ve been contracted.

Pinus strobus, Eastern White Pine. Mature height: 150 feet.

These cute little guys are Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip Tree. Mature height: 120 feet.

Preparation and Storage

Slideshow

[http://goo.gl/fb/kWkcS]

Links

Greenbelt Native Plant Center
Forever Wild
NYC Wildflower Week

Plant Sales This Week in and near Brooklyn

Posted on 2010-04-30 by admin

BBG Plant Sale, May 2009

It’s the week for the annual plant sale frenzy. All listed here are benefits for their respective gardens. It’s a great way to support your local gardens, meet other gardeners, and pick up some cool plants.

Saturday, May 1

Bay Ridge
Narrows Botanical Gardens (NBG)
10am-3pm
Annual Spring Plant Sale and Art Show
(Rain Date: May 8)

Sunday, May 2

Kensington/Windsor Terrace
East 4th Street Community Garden
East 4th Street between Caton and Fort Hamilton Parkway
9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Veggies, flowers and herbs

Tuesday, May 4

Downtown Manhattan
The Battery (Battery Park)
11am-1pm

The Battery Plant Sale, April 2008, with spectacular views. That’s the Statue of Liberty there in the background!

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Annual Plant Sale
Tuesday, 5/4: Members-Only Preview Sale
Open to the Public Wednesday, 5/5 and Thursday, 5/6
Hours vary by date; see the BBG Web site for details

Wednesday, May 5

BBG Plant Sale

Thursday, May 6

BBG Plant Sale

Sunday, May 8

Park Slope/Prospect Heights
Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue
Annual Plant and Bake Sale
10am-4pm

Links

Narrows Botanical Gardens
The Battery (Battery Park)
BBG Annual Plant Sale

NYC Wildflower Week, 5/1-5/9

Posted on 2010-04-29 by admin

The Native Flora Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, May 2009. This was the first garden constructed after BBG was established on the site of a municipal ash dump 100 years ago, and the first public garden devoted to native plants. Next Wednesday’s tour of this garden with Uli Lorimer, curator of BBG’s Native Flora Garden and an instructor in their Certificate in Horticulture program, is one of over 45 FREE events in all – available during NYC Wildflower Week.

NYC Wildflower Week kicks off Saturday 5/1. This is the third year for the event, and it’s bigger and better than ever. There are events all over the city, including tours of locations otherwise closed to the public. I’m looking forward to visiting, for the first time, the Greenbelt Native Plant Center on Staten Island, “the only municipal native plant nursery in the country.”

You can get all the details at the official, extensive, NYCWW Web site, or at the Parks Department event page:

From Friday, May 1, to Saturday, May 9, we’re celebrating the hundreds of native flowers, trees, shrubs and grasses in the Big Apple. Take advantage of the spring weather, and come out for a week of environmental learning, with free activities, walks, and talks galore.

I’m proud that this year, for the first time, I’ve been invited to participate in an official capacity. This Saturday morning, May 1, I’ll be on-hand at the information booth at Union Square to help answer questions and provide information about native plants.

A male Agapostemon, Green Metallic Bee, on a native perennial Helianthus, Sunflower, in my backyard native plant garden. Native plants provide vital habitat – food, forage, and shelter – for this and the rest of the more than 250 of bees native to NYC.

What can you do to help preserve NYC’s native plants?

Take a walk.
Head outdoors with a field guide and a friend to learn about the botanical jewels in your neck of the woods. Preservation comes to those places that are loved by people.

Ride with the masses.
Whenever possible, take mass transit. Let your legislators know how you travel. New roadways promote sprawl and destroy and degrade habitat. If this money were instead used to bolster mass transit, we could conserve oil, preserve biodiversity and decrease sprawl.

No picking.
Removing native plants from the wild depletes natural populations. Never take plants from parks or other open spaces. An exemption – if a site were slated for development, then the plants should be rescued and moved to another site, but ONLY if you were absolutely certain that the plants would otherwise be destroyed.

Be civically active.
Development is the #1 cause of native plant destruction. Make note of open space slated for a strip mall or housing complex or active recreation area (because even settings like ball fields and golf courses eat up natural habitats). Attend community board meetings. Voice your dissent. Open space allows for passive recreation, like plant hunting, birding and hiking. Such activities nurture the naturalist in all of us.

Preserve open space.
Work to save our natural areas. Become a member of a local land trust or conservancy devoted to preserving open space and natural resources. If one doesn’t exist, consider starting your own.

Join a botanical society.
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut all have native plant societies. These groups lead tours through local fields and forests and always welcome new plant people. See our Resources page to learn more.

Compost with care.
Most homeowners believe it is environmentally responsible to pile lawn refuse (grass clippings, leaves, twigs) in adjacent open areas. Don’t. By dumping garden waste in woods or at property edge, you may be inadvertently overwhelming critical habitat for plants and animals!

Lay off the herbicide.
Is it really that important to have a “weed free” yard? The struggle for pristine green carpet (aka lawn) is a struggle against nature itself. Herbicides kill the native plants on and around your property. Instead, keep turf to a minimum, and maximize color, richness and beauty with native plant gardens.

Legal protection for plants.
New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut all have something in common – none of these states have laws safeguarding native flora. Moreover, they have no legal protections for rare plants. An undeveloped lot chuck-full of uncommon and unique vegetation is not legally viewed as special. This site is just as likely to be built upon as a lot full of crummy weeds. This happens even at the Federal level, where most of the money from the Endangered Species Act goes towards animal protection. Let your legislators know that your flora should have rights. Flower power!

– Why Wildflowers?, NYC Wildflower Week

Cypripedium calceolus var. pubescens, BBG Native Flora Garden, May 2009

Not just for Tree-Huggers: Street Tree Tour Sunday, 5/2

Posted on 2010-04-20 by admin

RESCHEDULED: The Tree Tour has been rescheduled for the rain date of Sunday, May 2, same times and location.

340 Argyle Road, Beverley Square West, April 2007

Sustainable Flatbush’s 3rd Annual Spring Street Tree Walking Tour will be Sunday, May 2. I’m proud to once again be one of your guides.

Sustainable Flatbush Street Tree Walking Tour, Arbor Day 2009. That’s me in the middle, next to the tree. Photo by Keka (Flickr)

Tours start at 11am and 12noon from Sacred Vibes Apothecary, 376 Argyle Road, between Cortelyou & Dorchester Roads, and loop through the historic neighborhoods of Beverley Square West and landmarked Prospect Park South. In addition to architectural beauty, the area boasts a rich variety of street trees, as well as ornamental trees and shrubs.

View Sustainable Flatbush Spring 2010 Street Tree Walking Tour in a larger map

On the tour, you can see:

Acer platanoides, Norway Maple
Aesculus hippocastanum, Horsechestnut
Amelanchier, Serviceberry
Betula nigra, River Birch
Cercis canadensis, Redbud
Cornus florida, Flowering Dogwood
Cryptomeria japonica, Japanese Red Cedar
Ginkgo biloba, Ginkgo
Gleditsia triacanthos, Honey Locust
Liquidambar styraciflua, Sweetgum
Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Dawn Redwood
Pinus strobus, White Pine
Platanus x acerifolia, London Plane
Pyrus calleryana, Flowering Pear, Callery Pear
Quercus palustris, Pin Oak
Quercus robur ‘Fastigiata’, Columnar English Oak
Sophora japonica, Japanese Pagoda Tree, Scholar Tree
Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock
Ulmus americana, American Elm

… and many more.

The suggested donation for the tour is $5. From the Sustainable Flatbush Web site:

On Sunday, May 2, Sustainable Flatbush will host our fourth Street Tree Walking Tour! Join tour guides Chris Kreussling (better known as Flatbush Gardener) and Tracey Hohman (professional gardener) for a fun, fulfilling and enlightening tour of Brooklyn’s diverse canopy.

On the Street Tree Walking Tour, you will learn to identify a variety of trees (think of how you can impress your friends!), examine local natural tree history and tree lore (no textbooks needed!), explore the way street trees benefit urban areas (you’ll become a tree’s best friend), and find out how you can obtain and care for street trees yourself!

Become a street tree defender as you walk your way around Victorian Flatbush! The tour (recommended by Brokelyn as a great cheap date!) will take about two hours. Make sure to dress appropriately for the weather and the walk!

The Street Tree Walking Tour is about “connecting people to streetscape,” according to Chris Kreussling. Street trees remind us that we are not separate from nature, but instead dependent upon it for our survival and safety. So grab a friend — or three! – for the walk of the season, and fall more in love with the beautiful foliage of Brooklyn!

What: Street Tree Walking Tour
Where: Begins and ends at Sacred Vibes Apothecary (376 Argyle Road, btwn Cortelyou & Dorchester Roads)
When: Sunday, May 2 — two tours are scheduled: one at 11 a.m., one at noon

Suggested donation $5

Keep an eye out for Sustainable Flatbush’s Street Tree Walking Tour next fall!

Directions:

Take the Q train to Cortelyou Road Station and walk west after exiting the station toward Argyle Road.
As a reminder, check the MTA website for schedule and service advisories before you head out.
Buses that stop on or near Cortelyou Road include the B23, B103, B68, and BM1,2,3,4 and x29 express busess.

[goo.gl]

Links

Street Tree Walking Tour April 25th!, Sustainable Flatbush

The First Annual Great Flatbush Plant Swap, Saturday, April 24

Posted on 2010-04-17 by admin

Got some perennial divisions or extra seed-starts you don’t need? Looking to start a new garden, and want some free plants? Looking to meet your gardening neighbors and pick up some tips?

Not the most ideal weekend to be digging in the garden, but if you’re lifting, removing or dividing perennials, or have extra seed-starts, bring them to the First Annual Great Flatbush Plant Swap next Saturday, April 24, in front of the Flatbush Food Co-Op.

Co-sponsored by the Flatbush Food Co-op and Sustainable Flatbush, this is an opportunity to share or swap plants, meet your gardening neighbors, and get some free plants.

When: Saturday, April 24, 12noon-3pm, Rain or Shine
Where: Flatbush Food Co-op, 1415 Cortelyou Road, corner of Marlborough Road

[bit.ly]

Links

Plant Swap at Flatbush Food Co-op on April 24th!, Sustainable Flatbush
Flatbush Food Co-op

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

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

Press Release

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