We have had a very exciting season.  In February we approved a plot redistribution which created 11 new plots.  Many people who were on the waitlist for years now have a plot to grow.  Our community has come alive this season in part because of this fantastic surge of energy from the new members!  We have organized workshops, potlucks, 2 weekly CSA distributions and have been fortunate to have enough rain and sun this season.

The Parks Department project is still underway.  The water infrastructure has been installed, but the water spout and water fountain are not yet functional.  The city also re-paved the sidewalk outside the garden, placed flat stones at the entrance, re-painted the fence, and built a new small fence outside the large fence.

The Brooklyn Compost Project installed a new 3-bin system in our garden on July 21st, with the help of Debbie Sheintoch and our compost committee.  It looks great!

The garden purchased new cedar tool shed this year with much help from Marian and Jules.  The shed arrived on August 3rd.  Jules, Eric, Flynn, and Bill Coleman have put a lot of time into weather proofing – caulking, patching, sanding and staining.  It is looking nice!

May 25th 2011
We received word today that the Parks department is going to install a city water in the garden tomorrow in the location of our rock garden.  Dozens of members cam to the garden tonight to move plants from the herb garden.  We were all shocked and unprepared for this news.

The rock garden has come into full bloom and fruit under the care of Heidi.   The blueberry bush flowered and is starting to fruit for the first time this year.  In addition the raspberry bushes, blackberry and strawberries have grown and multiplied and are full of flowers and small fruits.  There are a lovely assortment of flowering plants from roses, iris, azaleas to wild flowers and flowers I do not know.  The lime green ground cover has beautifully established itself between the rocks and plants.

Here is a link to photos of our rock garden from this year.

Here are some interesting photos that show the garden site and surrounding neighborhood before and during subway construction in 1928/1930.

Revised Proposal with Amendment from the Design Committee

Click the following link to Download the Proposal:

Garden Redesign Proposal Amendment 02.17.11

The revised proposal includes an amendment.  Please review the revised proposal and send any questions you have to the design committee as soon as possible.  They want to answer as many questions as possible before the meeting.

Location and Time
Sunday February 27th @ 6:00pm
The Commons
388 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
347 689 3908

We have chosen this location after weeks of searching for an available affordable meeting space in our neighborhood.  The Commons is a large clean space with chairs, bathroom, food is allowed for our potluck and it only costs $25!

Carpool
Meet in the garden at 5:15pm
We have at least 14 seats available so far.  Email the membership if you would like a ride or if you are available to drive.  Include “Garden Carpool” in the subject line.

By train
Hoyt-Schermerhorn; A, C and G
Bergen Street; F
Atlantic-Pacific; B, M, Q, R, 2, 3, 4 and 5

Potluck!
Feel free to bring your favorite dish to share (please bring serving utensils)
Bring your own reusable plate and fork.

Meeting Agenda
6:00pm-6:15pm –  Meet and greet and load up on snacks!
6:15pm-6:30pm –  Introductions
6:30pm-6:45pm –  Approve board changes
6:45pm-7:45pm –  Discuss and Vote on Design Proposal and Amendment
7:45pm-8:30pm –  Potluck!  Eat and relax with friends
8:30pm-9:00pm — Clean up

Proxy Voting
All current members will have the ability to vote regardless of work-assignment, future plans, or ability to attend the meeting.  If you are not able to attend and would like to vote, please do the following in order for your vote to count:

1.) Ask a garden member who is not on the board to represent you as your proxy.

2.) Email or give a written statement to your proxy at least 24 hours before the meeting (by Saturday 2/26 6pm).  Include the following voting information in your statement:

-Are you in favor of Amendment #1? (yes/no/abstain)

-If Amendment #1 passes, do you vote for the motion to move forward with the Plot Redesign Project? (yes/no/abstain)

-If Amendment #1 does not pass, do you vote for the motion to move forward with the Plot Redesign Project? (yes/no/abstain)

3.) Your proxy must bring your written statement or a print-out of your email to the meeting for your vote to be counted.

You may also ask your proxy to speak for you or read a short statement from you at the meeting (no longer than 3 minutes).

Look forward to seeing you all and start gardening!

This time of year we are sharing seeds, setting up grow lights on timers, and germinating our little seeds that will grow from tiny sprouts to gorgeous plants that will bear spectacular flowers, delicious fruits, and seeds so we can do it all again next year!

On March 19th Ken Green from Hudson Valley Seed Library gave an inspirational presentation at BBG.  The Hudson Valley Seed Library is my favorite place to buy seeds as they specialize in open-pollinated heirloom seeds that are regionally adapted and thrive in New York.  Like a library, HVSL members who choose to save seeds from the plants they grow may return seeds they collect for credits toward their next year’s membership – how cool!  Each year they invite local NY artists to design art for 10 seed “art packs.”  Some HVSL varieties I am excited about are King of the North Pepper and Mama Leone Tomato which Ginger will grow in her plot this season!

Seed Saving has been on my mind for the last year and I am eager to learn more about it. Last fall I managed to collect basil, calendula, snap dragon, and marigold seeds from our garden.  They have all germinated indoors except the marigold.  I’ll keep track of they do this year in the garden.

I have 2 Lacinato kale plants that are 19 months old in the garden.  They were transplanted in fall 2008 and have survived 2 winters unprotected in the garden.  They produced more delicious kale than I expected and were more resistant to white flies than the other brassicas in the garden.   Kale is a biennial meaning it will complete it’s life cycle in two years.  It will send up a flower stalk and produce seeds in the second year.  Most garden vegetables are annuals and will complete their life cycle in one year.  I have my fingers crossed that these 2 kale plants will send up flower stalks this spring, get pollinated and produce seeds that I can collect and grow again this fall.  This sounds like a fun experiment!

If anyone experiments with seed collecting this season – please post your photos and notes about it here!

February

The pond and compost area covered in Snow 2/27/10

We had 2 huge snow storms in February that dumped record ammounts of snow and damaged many trees.  February 10th and February 27th the garden turned into a winter wonderland with over a foot of snow!  Several cedar trees in the back of the garden next to the library fell and were removed in March 3rd by Brooklyn Forestry.  It didn’t help that the trees had shallow root systems as a result of the subway tunnel only a few feet below them.  Now there is more space and light in the compost area, but the cedars will be missed.

March

Crocus in the Kris’s plot #23

March 6 and 7 - The next weekend  was gorgeous!  Sunny and warm – the first time I wore short sleeves in the garden while cleaning up plant remains and attacking the english ivy.

March 13 and 14 – We had a huge windy rain storm which damaged and brought down more trees in Brooklyn.  The BBG Making Brooklyn Bloom Conference was on Sat 3/13 and the topic was SOIL.  There were fantastic morning and afternoon workshops and a Nina Bassuk gave an outstanding presentation of her work researching urban street trees and developing structural soil at Cornell University.

Monday March 15 – First garden board meeting of 2010 hosted by Stacy and Nick.

Saturday March 20 – First Garden Maintenance Day of 2010!  Great turn out.  We had a seed swap  were we shared seeds and seed starting tips.  I have organized a Garden Seed Library (in a shoebox).   Contact me if you would like to donate seeds to our little library or grow seeds from the library.  Bonus points for anyone who saves seeds from plants in our garden!

Way to go Susan!  Your cold frame veggies look great!

March 26 and 27 – light rain

April 3 and 4 – Gorgeous weather!  Sunny, warm, light breeze.  Perfect day for a picnic in the park.  I’m sure the young plants growing in the garden were happy.

It seems raccoons could be bringing more than just their love of food to the garden. Sean Casey has alerted us that they’re have been cases of Leptospirosis reported in the new york city area. From the wikipedia entry:

Humans become infected through contact with water, food, or soil containing urine from these infected animals. This may happen by swallowing contaminated food or water or through skin contact.

As is always recommended, wear garden gloves whenever possible while working in the garden, wash your hands after working in the garden, and wash your fruits and vegetables before eating them.

Only 10 days until the winter solstice and the garden is full of life (and food!).  The weather has been mild enough that many plants are thriving without coldframes or row covers.

Debbie’s garden overflowing with gorgeous Lettuce, Kale, and Collards
in plot #23

Phoebe’s enchanted Broccoli forest in plot #25

Susan’s greens taking off inside the coldframe in plot #2

Ann’s lovely Lemongrass in plot #24

Bill R.’s Arugula has been going strong all fall in plot #27

Stacy D.’s Garlic patch & Arugula in plot #11

Sunday the Compost Committee met to review this year’s compost accomplishments and discuss goals for next year.

Here are some of the things we accomplished this year.  Way to go everyone!

1. CSA Compost Collection and Education
Thanks everyone who signed up and talked to people at the CSA!
2. Indoor Worm Bin Workshop
A terrific workshop and we gave away 6 new worm bins and some worms.  Thanks Lianna, Jules, Sarah, Stacy, Vanessa, Flynn!
3. New Signage in Compost Area
Clearer three-step process 1.)Cut compost to small pieces & remove all plastic stickers and debris 2.)Put in open bin 3.)Cover with browns
4. Started a Relationship with the Brooklyn Compost Project
5. Compost Information on Garden Website
http://eastfourthstreetgarden.wordpress.com/composting/
6. General Compost Email address
garden.composting@gmail.com
People can use this email to contact the compost committee and sign up for orientations
7. Sign on Gate
Encouraging our neighbors to compost, but not leave donations in front of garden.
8. Neighborhood Leaf Collection!
We have a lovely pile of leaves in the compost area and saving many neigborhood leaves from going to the landfills.

We have several plans for the next year so we can include more people in our composting operation, accept more donations, produce more black gold, and enrich our community.  Compost is the heart of the garden, and the garden is the heart of the neighborhood!

Here are minutes from the compost meeting on Sunday:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=d7k2n6f_168gfv5x9cx

If you have any questions or would like to become more involved in the composting efforts please email: garden.composting@gmail.com

There are many flowers and veggies growing in the garden this November.  Here are some of the highlights:

Michael S. scotch bonnet peppers in plot #1

Echinacea in the butterfly garden

Kris’s Broccoli in plot #23

Mark and Lorna’s Dalia’s are still blooming in plot #7

Masayo’s lovely mix textures and shades of green in plot #15.  The feathery asparagus foliage and curly kale are very pretty.