Flatbush Gardener: Green With Envy

Showing posts with label Green With Envy. Show all posts

2009-01-16

Spencer Street Community Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.06

This is the Spencer Street Block Association Community Garden, at 230 Spencer Street, between Willoughby & DeKalb, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. This was the 6th stop on the third 2008 Green With Envy tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens last October.

2009-01-14

Greene Acres Community Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.04

One of the paths defined by hexagonal raised beds at the Green Acres Community Garden in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn

Stop #4 of the third 2008 Green With Envy (GWE) tour of Brooklyn community gardens was the Green Acres Community Garden, at the corner of Greene and Franklin Avenues [GMAP] in the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant.

2009-01-11

Cedar Tree Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.02

The second of the stops on the third Green With Envy tour of Bed-Stuy community gardens this past October was the Cedar Tree Garden at 305 Greene Avenue.

Madison Street Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.01

Winter is a good time to dig into my photo archives. October seems so warm right now.

This is a slideshow from the Madison Street Block Association Garden at 88-90 Madison Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. This was the first stop on the third of the Green With Tours of Brooklyn community gardens I attended during 2008. GWE 2008 III visited gardens in Bed-Stuy.

2008-09-25

Tour Bed-Stuy Community Gardens, Saturday, October 4

Round 3 of the 2008 Green With Envy Tours visits community gardens in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Saturday, October 4, from 10am to 2pm. This tour is organized by the Brooklyn Community Gardens Coalition with support from NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation, GreenThumb, GreenGuerillas and BBG'S GreenBridge.

Click for map biggeremization

Map of the green With Envy III 2008 Tour of Community Gardens in Bedford-Stuyvesant

Gardens on the tour:

Madison Street Block Association Garden, 88-90 Madison Street, between Bedford Ave & Franklin Ave
Cedar Tree Garden, 305 Greene Avenue, between Classon & Franklin
Jane Bailey Memorial Garden, 327-329 Greene Avenue, between Classon & Franklin
Greene Acres Community Garden, 324 Franklin Avenue, corner of Greene Avenue
Target Community Garden, 931-933 Bedford Avenue, between Willoughby & DeKalb
Spencer Street Block Association Community Garden, 230 Spencer Street, between Willoughby & DeKalb
Hattie Carthan Community Garden, 654 Lafayette Ave, 363-365 Clifton Place, on Marcy Ave between Clifton Place and Lafayette Ave
NYCHA Garden Womens Mural, Nostrand at Greene
Greene Avenue Neighbors Association Garden, 490 Greene Avenue, corner of Nostrand
Clifton Place Memorial Park and Garden, 1031-1039 Bedford Ave, at Clifton Place

Join us for this guided tour, visiting Community Gardens in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The tour begins with a 10am breakfast at the Madison Street Block Assn. Garden between Franklin & Bedford, then walk, bike, or ride the bus to visit some AMAZING Brooklyn Gardens.

Special THANKS to the Parks Department for generously providing bus transport for this tour!!! Space is limited... RSVP joncrow [at] earthlink [dot] net.

To get to the start of the tour, take the G to Classon, the C to Franklin, or from Downtown Bklyn, take the B52 or B26 to Franklin and walk to the Madison Garden.

Green With Envy

Links

Green Guerillas
GreenBridge, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
GreenThumb
Bed-Stuy Garden Tour, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation

2008-08-19

Brooklyn Bear's Carlton Avenue Garden, Fort Greene, Green With Envy Tour, II.10

The Green With Envy Tour II at the Brooklyn Bear's Carlton Avenue Garden in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

The final stop on the Green With Envy Tour II was the Carlton Avenue site of the Brooklyn Bear's Gardens.

Check the links below for photos from the other stops on both Tours I and II. And watch for announcements for the next Green With Envy Tour, which I'll post on this blog.

Street Entrance

This garden had the most-developed and luxuriantly planted streetscape of any community garden I've seen. This has a big impact even when the garden is closed.

Approaching the garden from the north, the first thing you notice is the three story mural painted on the side wall of the adjacent building.

Here's a closer look.

As you get closer, the streetside planters demand your attention.

In the planter to the left of the entrance are the silver-white flowering bracts of mountain-mint, Pycnanthemum muticum. I recognized it because I grow the same species in my backyard native plant garden. In this garden as well as my own, at this time of year they are swarming with multiple species of bees, flies, and wasps, all important pollinators of food crops.

Opposite, to the right of the entrance, is another planter with a different design. Asymmetrical plantings like these entrance planters maximize the massing possible with a given plant palette. The greater variety of plants provide for longer, and more varied, blooms. All of these are strategies to attract both plant pollinators and insect predators close to the garden's growing areas.

Every garden has a "garden is open" sign. This one includes several imperatives.

More ornamental plantings, including several mature trees, lie inside the fence.

Common Areas

The garden is built on a slope. The raised beds form terraces built into the hillside. This photo is the best I got to show this. I'd like to see this garden in the winter.

The picnic area, which appears in the opening photo, is part of the gathering area at the low side of the garden.

Composting

The mandatory composting area. This triple-bin arrangement was the most common. These weathered bins are still on the job. Signs moved from bin to bin let gardeners and visitors know where to add fresh material, and where they can obtain compost for use in their beds.

Glam

Marigold

Monarda

Achillea

Coreopsis

2008-08-12

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

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

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.

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

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.

This garden is a work in progress.

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

2008-08-11

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.

Planting areas

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

Here's a view from the street entrance area.

Here's a view from inside, near the rear of the garden.

A hint of the maze.

Composting

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

Glam

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

Bee on Sunflower

Kale. Almost looks good enough to eat. Almost.

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.

And the bees like them some Echinacea, too.

Lily. As fragrant as it looks.

2008-08-10

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.

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.

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.

Growing Area

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

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.

Glam

Watermelon leaf

Bee on Canna

Marigold

Zinnia

Hibiscus syriacus, Rose-of-Sharon

Pages

2009-01-16

Spencer Street Community Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.06

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Links

2009-01-14

Greene Acres Community Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.04

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2009-01-11

Cedar Tree Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.02

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Madison Street Garden, Bed-Stuy, Green With Envy Tour 2008 III.01

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2008-09-25

Tour Bed-Stuy Community Gardens, Saturday, October 4

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Links

2008-08-19

Brooklyn Bear's Carlton Avenue Garden, Fort Greene, Green With Envy Tour, II.10

Street Entrance

Common Areas

Composting

Glam

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2008-08-12

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

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2008-08-11

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

Planting areas

Composting

Glam

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2008-08-10

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

Street Entrance and Common Areas

Growing Area

Glam

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