Flatbush Community Garden Planning Begins
Plans are in the works for a community garden here in Flatbush! The site is a privately owned property on Albemarle Road off of Marlborough, near the subway tracks; Flatbush Development Corporation, Friends of Cortelyou, and owners of local restaurant The Farm on Adderley will all be involved with this project, and Sustainable Flatbush hopes to offer up some energy and ideas as well. Last weekend some interested prospective gardeners paid a visit to the East 4th Street Community Garden in nearby Kensington to get ideas; Flatbush Gardener has many photos depicting the amenities this garden (organized in 1979) offers to all residents of their neighborhood — including a lovely tree-shaded seating area, a pond, individual plots, and a distribution center for the local CSA. They also have a composting area, and rainbarrels for water collection. The prospect of a neighborhood composting site here in Flatbush is very exciting, and having rainbarrels in the community garden could be a great demonstration project to show homeowners and apartment buildings how they can do it too.
photo: Flatbush Gardener
Bulb Planting on Cortelyou Road
Last weekend a group of neighbors planted daffodil and crocus bulbs in the tree pits on Cortelyou Road. Flatbush Gardener and Ditmas Park Blog both have photos and accounts of this event. I am told by the experienced gardeners that these bulbs are planted now to bloom in Spring.
photo: Flatbush Gardener
If you missed it, no worries… there will be more bulb planting this Saturday and Sunday* at 10am. Meet at the corner of Cortelyou and Rugby, bring gloves and gardening tools if you’ve got ’em.
*That’s the latest: Sunday bulb planting at 10 a.m. is ON!
We’re going to re-schedule the Sunday morning plantings so they don’t conflict with the site visit. Haven’t picked a new time yet.
We’re on for Daffodil plantings both Saturday and Sunday.
The daffodil planting was a wonderful community project and hopefully the spring will bring a colorful reward for our efforts.
The project also is part of a city wide project called the “Daffodil Projectâ€.
Since 9/11 “The Daffodil Project†has been made possible in part by the generosity of a Dutch bulb supplier, Hans van Waardenburg of B&K Flowerbulbs, who has pledged to donate 500,000 daffodil bulbs to the project each year as long as there are volunteers willing to plant them. It’s a nice remembrance of 9/11 and ties our efforts to the entire city.
Our thanks go the active members of the community that requested the bulbs, showed up to weed and dig and The Flatbush Gardener who kept the project moving forward.
Thanks John, for the info and the links!
Go Gardeners!! Can’t wait to see what Cortelyou Road will look like in the spring!