Riding out the Harvest, BQLT Bike/Van Tour, Saturday, September 27

UPDATE Friday, 2008-09-26: CANCELLED. The announcement came at 10am from the tour's organizers:

Intrepid gardeners,

With a forecast of some serious rain, we've come to a decision to cancel this Saturday's (9/27/08) bqlt "Riding out the Harvest" bike/van tour.

Save your energy for next week's (10/4/08) "Green(e) with Envy," another great opportunity to explore the world of community gardening.

I'm disappointed, but I'll admit I wasn't looking forward to slogging through the rain with my camera. I am looking forward to the Green With Envy Tour of Bed-Stuy Community Gardens next Saturday, October 4.

---

Classon Ful-Gate Block Association Community Garden, one of nine Brooklyn community gardens on this Saturday's tour.


The Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust (BQLT) is hosting its Second Annual Bike and Van Tour this Saturday, September 27th:

Jump in the van or hop on a bike - we're visiting a sampling of BQLT gardens - saying hello, having some snacks along the way. It all begins at 9:30am with a coffee reception at Hollenback Community Garden (Washington Ave between Gates and Green Avenue ). The harvest ride will culminate in a cookout beginning at 3:00pm at Euclid / Pine Street Block Association.

MEETING TIME/COFFEE: 9:30am @ Hollenback Garden
DEPARTURE TIME: 10:00am Sharp!
TOUR’S END/COOKOUT: 3:00pm @ Euclid-Pine Garden

This is a BIKE & VAN TOUR:
Bicyclists will be led by Isak Mendes - RSVP/Info: eaglemendes [at] yahoo [dot]com
Seats in the Van are limited! Reserve yours by contacting Brothel Dean: strechdean [at] msn [dot] com

Suggested donation: $5/person

The gardens on the tour are:

• Hollenback Community Garden, Washington Ave. between Gates & Greene Aves.
• Classon/Ful-Gate Block Association, Classon Ave. between Putnam & Madison Aves.
• St. Mark’s Ave./Prospect Heights, St. Marks between Vanderbilt & Carlton Aves.
• Mama Dee’s Garden, St. Mark’s Avenue between Bedford and Rogers Aves.
• Westbrook Memorial Garden, Pacific St. between Bedford & Nostrand Aves.
• United Herkimer Garden Club, Herkimer St. between Bedfor & Nostrand Aves.
• Rogers/Tilden/Veronica Place Garden, Corner of Tilden Ave. and Veronica Place
• Sheffield Garden, Sheffield Ave between New Lots and Hegeman Aves.
• Euclid-Pine Block Association Garden, Corner of Dumont Ave. & Pine St.

View Larger Map

Related Posts

Classon FulGate Block Association Garden, Green With Envy Tour, II.6, August 10, 2008
Hollenback Community Garden, Clinton Hill, Green With Envy Tour, II.5, August 8, 2008
St. Mark's Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2, August 2, 2008

Links

Riding out the Harvest, BQLT Bike/Van Tour
Google map

Prospect Heights Community Farm, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.3

The Green With Envy Tour at the Prospect Heights Community Farm.


All the common patterns were present in this garden, writ large:

• Common areas of ornamental plantings at the street entrance
  
• Raised beds with individual planting areas, mostly devoted to food crops
  
• Composting area
  

And something else in this garden that we'll see more of later: rain-water harvesting.

Street Entrance and Common Areas

Nearly every garden has a charming, hand-painted "The Garden Is Open" placard that sits out on the sidewalk and invites passersby in.


Regular open hours are almost always also posted at the entrance. I think this is a requirement for gardens operated by the Trust for Public Land, locally represented by the Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust.


Step inside, and you're enveloped by the lushness of the garden.





At the rear of this garden is another common area for composting, tool storage, and relaxing in the shade.

Individual Plots

Composting

Demonstrating another common pattern, this production line arrangement of sturdy, uniform bins helps organize the work, minimizes the need to move heavy compost around, and keeps a steady flow of materials moving through the system.

Water Collection

The fact that something different is going on inside is announced by this big sign at the entrance.


This is the beginning of the water collection system, so well-camouflaged I almost walked past it. The downspout from the adjacent building is on the left, the storage tank is on the right.


This all leads to some serious tankage.

Glam

Just 'cause it's not all compost and rainwater.

Echinops


Rudbeckia


Sunflower, detail


There were several chairs and benches placed in the shade of common areas, painted in bright colors, and adorned with a hand-painted, smiling sun.


Shed Door, detail

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Green With Envy Tour II
Pacific Street Bear's Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1
St. Mark's Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2

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
Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8
Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

St. Mark's Avenue Community Garden, Prospect Heights, Green With Envy Tour, II.2

The Green With Envy Tour at the St. Mark's Avenue Community Garden in Prospect Heights, July 26, 2008.


Biking was definitely the preferred mode of transportation on this tour. I don't have a bike, so my feet and legs got a workout.

As soon as we arrived, our hostess proudly informed us that the garden was not only a butterfly sanctuary, but a praying mantis sanctuary.

Emptied egg case on the front gate


In the flesh.


This photo illustrates a pattern realized by many of the community gardens we visited: a common area, just inside the entrance, comprised largely of ornamental plantings. This is part of the "community" aspects of these gardens: putting your best face forward makes both the street and the garden more inviting, and helps keep good relations with the neighbors.


Seating in common areas.


I was charmed by this child-scaled seat composed of salvaged building materials.


Stepping past the threshold you come to the raised beds with vegetables.


Here's a detail of that window visible in the photo above. A church is next door.


The ubiquitous composting area was located at the rear of this garden, furthest from the street, another common pattern. I wonder what all the rear-yard neighbors think of this arrangement.




Glam shots.

Squash leaf.


Nasturtium.


Solenostemon (Coleus)


Wasp on Dill.

Related Content

Flickr photo set

Pacific Street Bear's Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, II.1

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
Gardens of Union, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.8
Green With Envy, Tour One, Final Stops 9 and 10

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

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