Flatbush Gardener: 2008

Showing posts with label 2008. Show all posts

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8

Green With Envy Tour at the Garden of Union, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The Gardens of Union in Park Slope comprise two gardens nearly side-by-side: The large, active Garden of Union, and the smaller, contemplative Annie's Garden two lots up the block. Both gardens are part of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation:

The Garden of Union lies on Union Street, but the name derives as much from its character as its location. The property is composed of two gardens separated by an apartment building. The smaller, located at 540 Union Street, is known as Annie’s Garden for Annie Thomson (b. 1919), the woman whose determination, energy, and spirit was largely responsible for making the garden come to life. Annie’s Garden opened in 1987. The main space, the Garden of Union, is located at 634-36 Union Street and has been operating since 1979. Both areas are maintained by Parks and garden members, most of whom reside in Park Slope. Other volunteers come from all over Brooklyn, from Howard Beach to Carroll Gardens to Sunset Park.

The Garden of Union and Annie’s Garden are community gardens with well-developed plantings of vegetables and flowers. The bulk of the land in the main garden is devoted to vegetables, and much attention is paid to the ornamental qualities of vegetables. Flowers and herbs are also integrated with the vegetable plantings. The garden regularly yields more produce than the members can use, and much of the vegetables are often given away to members of the community and a local soup kitchen.
- Parks Sign

Grotto at the rock garden.

Lily pool.

This mullein is visible in both of the first two photos above. It towered about 8 feet above us.

Composting

This gardening community is well-known for its active community composting program. The composting area was a highlight of the tour.

Here's the industrial scale composting operation. The plastic tubes are perforated to draw air and oxygen into the base of the compost pile.

More awesomeness is this combination triple-bin compost system and grape arbor.

Annie's Garden

Walking from the entrance to the rear of the garden.

At the rear of the garden are these ying/yang beds.

Looking back toward the street entrance.

Glam Shots

Lunaria Pods, Annie's Garden

Death Valley, Annie's Garden

Harvest wreath hanging inside the door of the tool shed in the Garden of Union.

Hydrangea quercifolia, Oak-leaf Hydrangea, with harvesting basket.

Grapes on the composting arbor.

Rhubarb

Water lily.

Hollyhock.

These beautiful beetles were buzzing and crawling around some squash plants. Probably not good for the squash, but I was intrigued. Anyone know what these are?

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

Friday, July 18, 2008

Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.7

Into the home stretch of Tour One of the Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn community gardens, we visited the Lincoln-Berkeley Community Garden. I'm afraid I don't have many photos of this garden. We'd been walking for 3 and 1/2 hours over several miles on a hot, humid day. I was getting tired, and cranky.

But here are a few photos.

I liked the placard on the sidewalk at the entrance to the garden.

Here's the main path leading from the entrance to the rear of the garden.

Some Hosta near the entrance would looking good.

Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6

One of the gardeners shows off his bed.

I lived in Park Slope for 13 years before moving to Flatbush. The Baltic Street Garden, facing busy 4th Avenue, is a garden I knew of but never got to visit while I lived there. Driving along 4th Avenue during the summer, it's hard to miss. The two-story Campsis radicans, the native Trumpet Vine, qualifies this as a 50 mile-per-hour garden.

The interior of the garden used to be screened from the street by hedges. Although you can now see the garden from the sidewalk and street, it's a different experience viewing it from the inside.

The plots are large, raised beds. Gardeners grow a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, herbs and ornamentals.

Awesome.

Some glam shots.

Peaches were falling off this tree. Perfect fuzz.

Even the "necessaries" were photogenic.

I got a kick out of this sign just inside the entrance. That's just how I feel. They missed a view of my "love to hate" though. What would you add to their list?

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5

We're now halfway through the Green With Envy Tour One from last Saturday. We cross the thoroughfare of 4th Avenue, leaving Boerum Hill and entering my old neighborhood of Park Slope.

The Warren-St Mark's Garden spans Warren Street and St. Mark's Place between 4th and 5th Avenues in Park Slope. The contrasts with the gardens we visited in Boerum Hill were striking. First, there was just so much space, and more openness and sunlight. Second, food was being grown here.

Of course, my eyes were still drawn more to the ornamental plantings.

This big, yellow Asteraceae demanded attention. I didn't recognize it. I thought at first it was a Heliopsis. The flowers remind me more of a Coreopsis, but I've never seen one so huge as this. This specimen was about 6 feet tall. Anyone know what it is?

I also admired the subtle beauty of the Horsetails in the foreground above.

The composting area is off to one side at the middle of the garden, near Big Yellow, peeking in at the lower right. The big bag contains sawdust for folks to throw in when they're adding vegetables.

There's a nice area of stadium seating toward the St. Mark's end of the garden. They show movies there, using the side of an adjacent building as the screen.

Links

Warren St. Mark's Community Garden (Web site and blog)
Warren St. Mark's Community Garden (Yahoo Group, requires membership)

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Boerum Hill, July 12, 2008

Buddy 50 Windowbox, 381 Pacific Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

The Green With Envy Tour One of community gardens last Saturday was a walking tour. Lots, and lots, of walking, Five hours of walking interspersed by standing around, and occasionally sitting, in the beautiful gardens.

It was also a street-side introduction to Boerum Hill, a neighborhood with which I'm not familiar. Here's some things which caught my eye, including some gardens which were not officially on the tour.

"Flags" (T-shirts, actually), 485 Pacific Street

Gardens, North Pacific Playground, Boerum Hill

At first glance this building seems out of place, but take a closer look. The brick and wood relate to the dominant materials on the block. The detailed brick lintel across the width of the ground floor echoes details of its neighbors. The windows reflect the street trees and sky.

Fellow Flickrites luluinnyc and mayotic and I were all intrigued by this unusual building at 385 Pacific Street.

The frieze above the door - I thought it was a wood carving, but on closer inspection it could be terra-cotta - reads "Cuyler Church."

It really was built as a church building. It has a fascinating history. It served an "immigrant" community of Mohawk ironworkers and their families that settled in this neighborhood starting in the 1930s. In Spring 2001 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The former Cuyler Presbyterian Church is located in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of northwestern Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Designed by Staten Island architect Edward A. Sargent, the building is an example of High Victorian Eclectic design with elements of both Gothic and Romanesque styles of architecture. The Cuyler Presbyterian Church began as an extension of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church to support its growing programs. The chapel was built one-half mile away from the Lafayette Church in the North Gowanus neighborhood (now called Boerum Hill).
- Cuyler Presbyterian Church

Here's GRDN, a gardening store in Boerum Hill which I've been wanting to visit. It's on the same block as the Hoyt Street Community Garden, but time did not allow me anything but the briefest entry into the front of the shop. I drooled over the hand-thrown Guy Wolfe pots. I want to go back.

GRDN, 103 Hoyt Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

Another beautiful building, this is the Brooklyn Inn, a local watering hole since the mid-1800s, at 148 Hoyt Street.

The Brooklyn Inn, 148 Hoyt Street, Boerum Hill

Rubbernecking at the Gowanus Community Garden, only time to admire it as we walked by.

Another lovely windowbox, this one at 218 Bergen Street.

Windowbox, 218 Bergen Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

Finally, here's a different view of the Buddy 50 scooter and windowbox that opened the post. They were each so perfect and beautiful.

Buddy 50 Windowbox, 381 Pacific Street, Brooklyn

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

Links

Boerum Hill Association

Monday, July 14, 2008

David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4

Another lovely, ornamental garden in Boerum Hill. It may sound strange, but the first thing that really wowed me about this garden was the sinuous brick path winding from the front entrance to the back seating area.

Solid, perfectly bowed from the center to the margins for drainage. A herringbone pattern, with each marginal brick perfectly cut to fit the curve of the path. A professional job, which makes sense, considering that this garden is owned by the Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust, which has access to the resources for a job like this.

There was also plenty of vegetal eye candy, as well.

Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Brooklyn Bear's Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26

Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3

I didn't get many shots of this one, another ornamental green space. There's only one narrow path which loops like a shepherd's crook from the entrance into the heart of the garden. It was hard to assemble everyone on the tour into the garden at once.

Many trees and large shrubs shade the rest of the property, much of it not accessible to the casual visible. (Gardeners, of course, make their own paths.) I imagine it must be a paradise for birds.

Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Green With Envy Tour, Tour One, Stop 1
Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2

On busy Atlantic Avenue, at the corner of Hoyt Street, lies the green oasis of the Hoyt Street Garden. This was our second official stop on the first leg of the Green With Envy Tour yesterday morning.

Dominated by a large Metasequoia and an oak, this is a shade garden, so no vegetables. The center circle is used for story-telling on the weekends. Funds from an annual plant sale funds micro-grants for projects that benefit the Boerum Hill community.

Green With Envy Tour, Tour One, Stop 1
Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Brooklyn Bear's Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1

The Brooklyn Bear's Community Garden at Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue. That's the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower behind.

Today I attended the first leg of the Green with Envy guided walking tour of some of Brooklyn's numerous community gardens. Today we visited 10 community gardens in Park Slope and Boerum Hill over 5 hours. Yes, my feet hurt.

I also took hundreds of photos, which will take me a few days to get through. Here's the first batch, from the Brooklyn Bear's Community Garden at Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue. There are many more on my Flickr site.

Touristas (mostly)

The garden occupies a wedge of land at the intersection of Pacific Street and the every-busy Flatbush Avenue. There's an entrance on each side.

Here's a view of the Pacific Street side. The entrance is just past the raging Capmsis radicans, Trumpet Vine, which dominates this fence during the summer.

Here's the entrance on Flatbush Avenue, from outside, and in.

As you enter from Flatbush, the individual plots are to your left.

Mostly vegetables.

But also ornamentals.

Common areas are devoted to ornamental plantings. They're attractive to all kinds of insects, which satisfy the vegetables' needs for pollination. View these flower portraits in their larger sizes to see which insects they're attracting.

I also had the pleasure of meeting two fellow Flickrites: luluinnyc and mayotic. I'm looking forward to seeing their shots of today's tour.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Dog-Day Cicadas

Tibicen canicularis, Dog-Day Cicada, in my backyard last fall.

So, we never got any Brood XIV Magicicada this year, but I just heard my first dog-day cicada of the summer.

I'll be looking for their exit holes in the ground, and the husks they leave behind from their metamorphosis.

A Weekend in the Garden, October 8, 2007

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Weed Cortelyou some more this weekend

This weekend Flatbush residents have two more opportunities to weed, clean up, and mulch tree pits along Cortelyou Road:

Saturday, July 12, 9am to 12 noon, between Rugby and Marlborough Roads. Meet at the clock at the northwest corner of Rugby and Cortelyou, by the school and playground.
Sunday, July 13, 9am to 12noon, between East 16th and East 17th Streets. Meet at the corner of East 16th and Cortelyou.

One of the tree pits on Cortelyou Road between Rugby and Marlborough, across the street from the Food Co-op, June 28, 2008. The weeds were as high as the parking meter then. They're even higher now.

We will be there both mornings from 9am to 12noon or when that block is weeded, whichever comes first. No gardening experience necessary! We will show you what to do.

Bring your own drinking water, sunscreen, and gloves and be ready to get dirty.

Thanks to Flatbush Development Corporation for buying mulch for the tree pits! And many thanks to my neighbor, Tracey Hohman, for jump-starting this cleanup!

Cortelyou Weeded (Partly), July 5, 2008
Weeding Cortelyou, June 28, 2008

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Brooklyn's Raccoons in the New York Times

Flatbush Raccoon, June 26, 2008

Last week, I was interviewed by reporter Ann Farmer for the New York Times about my experiences with raccoons. The article is published in today's Times:

Raccoons have long been widespread in New York City, and there is no way to say with any statistical certainty whether there are more now. But Capt. Richard Simon of the Urban Park Rangers, which is part of the city’s Parks Department, said a rise in the number of 311 callers reporting sightings, encounters or interactions suggests that “the citywide population of raccoons has increased.”

One thing seems clear. In the leafy neighborhoods surrounding Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and Green-Wood Cemetery, residents have been flooding the Internet with raccoon stories.
- The City’s Latest Real Estate Fight: Humans Against Raccoons, Ann Farmer, New York Times, July 8, 2008

That pesky Internet! Ms. Farmer cites the Brooklyn blogosphere as one source for the reports:

Chris Kreussling, a computer programmer who lives just south of Prospect Park in Flatbush, posted pictures on his Flatbush Gardener blog recently of several raccoons in his backyard. It elicited a quick round of similar testimonies.

Another Brooklyn blog, the Gowanus Lounge, chronicled multiple raccoon sightings in recent days in Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Windsor Terrace and Red Hook.

When contacted, many bloggers recalled raccoons rooting around in gardens and compost piles, traipsing into children’s wading pools and sometimes rearing up on their hind legs when startled. Many expressed awe at seeing the nocturnal mammals so close.

“People need access to wildlife in urban areas,” Mr. Kreussling said. “I consider it a bonus.”

That last quote is a reference to biophilia, literally "love of life or living systems." I think the way I expressed it in the interview was something like: People need nature around them.

Ms. Farmer also interviewed several of my neighbors. Check out Nelson Ryland's cautionary tale of the hazards of cat doors!

Thanks to my neighbor Brenda of Crazy Stable and Prospect: A Year in the Park for putting Ms. Farmer on the trail!

Rabies in NYC: Facts and Figures
Summer Nights, June 26, 2008
Raccoons

Links

The City’s Latest Real Estate Fight: Humans Against Raccoons, Ann Farmer, New York Times, July 8, 2008

Monday, July 07, 2008

Some recent and current blooms in my garden

Hemerocallis, Daylily, June 21, 2008

Just some quick photos of plants recently or currently blooming in my garden. The first few were taken two weeks aga.

Daylilies

I don't "collect" daylilies, at least not the way I try to collect Hosta or native plants. We inherited a few with the gardens when we bought the house. For that reason, I consider them to be "passalong" plants: dependable, sturdy, hardy, tolerant of neglect, vigorous, and so on. I gave away several clumps this Spring. I'll have more to give away over time.

Hemerocallis, Daylily, June 21, 2008

Native Plants

Ascelpias incarnata, Swamp Milkweed, June 21, 2008

Echinacea pallida, Pale Coneflower, June 21, 2008

The Shady Path

In this short section of the shady path on the north side of the house, I have my two big-leaved monsters: Rodgersia pinnata, on the right, and Kirengeshoma palmata, on the left. The Rodgersia has a lot of drought damage from our heat wave a few weeks ago, but it's off-frame of this photo. I'm keeping a close watch on the Kirengeshoma, as it also crisps up at the slightest hint of drought. There are buds on it now, which mature very slowly into waxy yellow bells. It benefits here from its location next to my neighbor's mixed border, which gets watered by soaker hose.

Both of these plants are several years old, possibly even a decade. I've lost track of when I purchased them. They're slow-growing, but continue to increase in size every year, despite never being divided in all that time. They are well worth the wait.

I used to keep the Kirengeshoma in a large container, which I could never water enough. It's much happier in the ground. Both of these plants would prefer constant moisture. I have long-term plans to build a rain garden in the shady part of the front yard. When the time comes, both of these plants will be very happy there.

Nestled between them in the foreground is a small, yellow-leaved, purple-flowering Hosta. I've lost the id for this. I think it might be 'Little Aurora.' Any Hosta aficionados out there who can weigh in on what this might be?

Heirloom Canna

Last to share with you today is the Heirloom Canna 'Mme. Paul Caseneuve' blooming in a large, glazed container in the front yard. This is the same specimen that I grew for the first time last year. I overwintered it in the same container in an unheated, but enclosed, section of the front porch. I'm surprised it came back.

It doesn't look as pink as I remember it from last year. The color is more apricot/salmony this year. At least it's got the same bronze foliage.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Cortelyou Weeded (Partly)

Before: Weeding Cortelyou

This morning I joined about a dozen neighbors to weed, clean up, and mulch the tree pits on Cortelyou Road between Argyle and Rugby Roads. Many hands made light work of the 15 tree pits on the north and south sides of this one block. We got them all done in about 2-1/2 hours.

They look great. If you visit the Greenmarket tomorrow, or visit the block during the week, take a look and thank your neighbors. Thanks to Tracey Hohman for organizing this. And thanks to Flatbush Development Corporation for buying mulch for the tree pits!

After: Cortelyou Weeded

Weeded and mulched tree pit

We could only do this one block. There's more to be done. If you're available to help out on upcoming weekends, please let us know by responding to the poll in the upper-right of the sidebar, or email me at the address in my profile.

Weeding Cortelyou

Links

Flatbush Development Corporation
Invasive and Noxious Weeds of the Northeast, USDA PLANTS Database

Friday, July 04, 2008

Cortelyou Greenmarket Update: Raffle and more farmers

From Stacey McCarthy, market manager:

This Sunday, July 6, at the Cortelyou Road Farmers Market, come by the information table to enter the FREE RAFFLE of Greenmarket goodies donated by our market's farmers. Presented in a stylish Greenmarket tote bag, the raffle items will be available to pick up next Sunday, July 13.

This week promises to be a full house with the arrival of VICTOR PAVIA of El Mirador Farms. Victor tells me he will have a good selection of lettuce, herbs, summer squash and SQUASH BLOSSOMS. Victor, like Jorge Carmona of Amantai Farms, is part of the New Farmer Development Program, which "identifies, educates, and supports immigrants with agricultural experience by helping them become local farmers and establish small farms in the region." Pick up a program fact sheet at the information table to learn more about the program that trains the next generation of our regions farmers.

Farmers in July 6:

Hodgson’s, Walden, NY -- plenty of plants, rose bushes, herbs, and strawberries
Red Jacket Orchard’s, Geneva, NY -- apples, CHERRIES, juices
El Mirador Farm, New Jersey -- ZUCCHINI BLOSSOMS, lettuce
Muddy River Farm, New Hampton, NY -- Lettuce, SUGAR SNAP PEAS, fennel, HERBS, BEETS
Amantai Farm/Jorge Carmona, Breinigsville, PA -- Lettuce, cucumbers - perfect for pickling or eating as is, greens, zucchini, GREEN BEANS and YELLOW WAX BEANS, honey
Bread Alone, Boiceville, NY -- bread, pies, muffins
Meredith’s Bakery, Kingston, NY -- bread, pies, QUICHES, jams

Probably (!) coming on July 6: Knoll Crest Farm, Hyde Park, NY -- Eggs, chickens, and pasta

COMING SOON ... sometime in July: Valley Shepherd, Long Valley, New Jersey -- artisanal cave aged cheeses, plus yogurt

Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26

On Saturday, July 12 and 26, visit Community Gardens in Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights. On both guided tours, you can join us for a 10am breakfast at the Pacific Street Bear's Garden on Flatbush Ave, then walk, bike, or drive the routes below. More info: 718-636-4273.

Special thanks to the Brooklyn Community Gardeners' Coalition, GreenThumb, and Brooklyn Botanic Garden's GreenBridge.

Tour One, Saturday, July 12

Pacific Street Bear’s Garden at Flatbush Avenue, Park Slope
Hoyt Street Community Garden at Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Hill
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill
David R. Foulke Memorial

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Composting

Annie's Garden

Glam Shots

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Friday, July 18, 2008

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Thursday, July 17, 2008

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

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Monday, July 14, 2008

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Sunday, July 13, 2008

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Saturday, July 12, 2008

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Friday, July 11, 2008

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Thursday, July 10, 2008

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Tuesday, July 08, 2008

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Monday, July 07, 2008

Meta

Daylilies

Native Plants

The Shady Path

Heirloom Canna

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Saturday, July 05, 2008

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Friday, July 04, 2008

Tour One, Saturday, July 12