2008-07-18

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

One of the gardeners shows off his bed.
Green With Envy Tour

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.

Baltic Street Community Garden

Baltic Street Community 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.

Baltic Street Community Garden

Awesome.

Baltic Street Community Garden

Baltic Street Community Garden

Some glam shots.

Hemerocallis

Echinacea and Sedum

Peaches were falling off this tree. Perfect fuzz.

Peach

Even the "necessaries" were photogenic.

Supplies

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?

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

Related Posts

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

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Chris, is this garden actually on the grounds of a public school? (I see it says PS 133.)

I think you know where I'm going with this question... ;)

Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener) said...

Yes, the property is owned by the adjacent school. You can see the building in the background of the first three photos.

From speaking with the gardeners there, this is not such a good thing. For one thing, they can't have "open hours" for the garden, due to liability issues. Gardening with children starts off great in the Spring, but fails during the summer, during vacation, when everything goes to the weeds. This was an experience I heard echoed at several of the gardens. Some suggested that day-care settings would be a batter model for consistent participation.