Columbia Waterfront Public Art Dedication
COLUMBIA WATERFRONT DISTRICT, BROOKLYN
 |
Photo Credit: Rafi Magnes
Nobuho Nagasawa stands beside her etching of a
Sweet Gum Tree at Columbia St. near Baltic St.
|
Urban Green Art: Nobuho Nagasawa
Metropolitan Gardening and Urban Garden Center are teaming up
Here's the details:
Watch the video introduction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=273O4VKNERE
The challenges of gardening in the city require a grab bag of tips and tricks to manage the urban landscape. Join Dimitri Gatanas and Bryan Ogden as they provide a series of hands on workshops and focused leaning experiances located in the heart of Harlem at the Urban Garden Center.
Community Gardens Start Like This! Interview with Trish Anderson
Trish was getting a tree with her sister from the NYRP and Urban Garden Center free tree giveaway. She explained that she was getting the tree for a new community garden that she was starting. There's a lot going on with Trish and design / urban greening - more than meets the eye - so I asked her for an interview and found she is also working with the Brooklyn Grange on a Farm Store in Brooklyn. That story is going to have to wait, and I'm going to get to the bottom of her work as an interior designer as well but here's what Trish has to say about the community garden that she is starting.
We were getting the trees for a community garden/event space we are building in the lot next to our design studio. We call the project Design. Plot. It all started when we found out our landlord was going to concrete in the space and turn it into a parking lot. We freaked as it was the last bit of green left on our industrial street. We signed the lease and set out to transform the lot into a space where nature and art could live harmoniously. We are the first to say we have no experience in urban farming or even gardening for that matter but what we do have is a strong will to learn and a belief that anything is possible if you put your mind to it! This is our first season and we are busy planting, constructing, and testing out new ideas on how to grow things in an urban setting. It has been quite the journey so far and we are excited for what the future of the garden holds! Here are some link to more info/pics of the Design.Plot and our website...
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Design-Plot/246820068668384
kickstarter campaign: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1216881255/designplot
our work: http://domestic-construction.com/
Urban Garden Center Celebrates One Year
The Urban Garden Center is creating a consumer center for sustainable living and life style. The design of the center it's self is a great challenge because of the location under a train trestle. On the other hand the plant selection and prices as well as the shopping experience is top notch. This past weekend the center teamed up with New York Restoration Project to give away 100 trees for free. I spent the day wandering among the plants and meeting with the folks that came to browse and hang out. In addition to the "Green House" showroom for shabby chic housewares and plants - there's a patio area with seating and a planned lunch menu from neighbors Labodega Gourmet @LaMarqueta. I'll be working with Dimitri on some community education workshops in the weekends to come. This spring and summer the trestle will offer a shady garden in the heart of Harlem.Five Boro Bike Tour
.JPG)
The Five Boro Bike Tour rolled through the south bronx on 138th street Sunday May 6, 2012. It boasted 32k riders! Here's a short video of the Five Boro bike tour to give you some idea of the scope.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Urban Garden Center and New York Restoration Project are giving away free trees in Manhattan!
The Urban Garden Center in Harlem is teaming up with the New York Restoration Project (NYRP) to give away 100 trees to help green the community. This sort of support from a retail garden center is unprecedented. The giveaway is happened Sunday May 6. Here is a link you may share to get your friends to register for their tree: FREE TREES EVENT FROM NYRP AND URBAN GARDEN CENTER.
Fill out this form to reserve a tree at Urban Garden Center's MillionTreesNYC Community Tree Giveaway. Trees will be available for pick up at the garden center under the overpass located at 1640 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Limit one tree per household**.
Signing up with this form will ensure a tree of the species you chose will be available between 10am-11am on Sunday May 6th. If a reserved tree is not picked up by 11am at Urban Garden Center 's Community Tree Giveaway your tree will be made available to attendees on a first come, first serve basis. Trees will weigh between 25-50 lbs and are between 4’-10’ in height depending on species. Please make the appropriate arrangements for the transportation of your tree.
and and and....There is a family style bbq on Sunday from 12 to 4 after the free tree event!
(This writer has been invited to help do promotions with Urban Garden Center this spring and will be compensated for this. It helps keep metropolitangardening.com on the air. You'll be hearing about more events like these and all the innovation happening at the Urban Garden Center - news coming soon. )
Union Square Farmers Market Flowers
Hodgson Farms from Walden, NY brings us pallets of amazing blossoms at the Union Square Green Market. It's so early in the season but these flowers are busting. It's hard to believe that spring is here - it's true these temperatures are record setting and bode some concern, but let's just stop for a minute and look at the flowers.
Urban Garden Profile: Maeve Turner High Line Spring Cutback
Maeve Turner tells us about one of the biggest horticultural events on the calendar for the High Line in Manhattan, NYC. The High Line is a public park built on a historic freight line elevated above the streets on Manhattan's West Side. It recently doubled in size and runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues. Maeve describes for us the reasons for the park recruiting over 300 volunteers - and shows us a clear before and after cutback scenario. The daffodils and tulips have gained new space to grow and be happy!
Urban Garden Profile: Lyndon Fenlon UrbanHoneyCo
Lyndon Fenlon runs the urbanhoneyco.com in Melbourne, Australia where he is growing bees to make honey that can be delivered hyperlocally. Lyndon is on my list for one of the most ethical and sustainable business models I've ever seen... um list of well you get it. Lyndon is the beekeeper poster child of the early 21 Century. He gave us an interview and spoke kindly of his love for bees in a way that was super funny and touching. He answers the question of colony collapse disorder (CCD) head on.Bryan Ogden: In your humble opinion what are the major reasons for colony collapse disorder?
Lyndon Fenlon: A lot of things have been lumped under the same heading of CCD but I'll talk about the original condition I first heard of and that was the one where hives rapidly emptied of bees or died off extremely quickly and remained untouched even by the usual creatures that move in to clean up abandoned hives.
My initial thought was that it must be viral but then agricultural chemicals soon became my most dominant thought. It's recently been proven that it's down to neonicotinoids.
Bryan Ogden: What can we do to stop this travesty from continuing??
Lyndon Fenlon I don't like to prescribe advice generally as there is a much bigger picture here. Not using these neonicotinoids would be a good start but then would that lead to a drastic collapse of crops..? I'm sure some would argue that it would but I don't know enough about crops. personally I wouldn't use anything at all on anything I grew.
Extremely large scale mono crops seems to be not a good idea to me, the more things are forced into order the more you have to use things to enforce it. I lean more towards leaving things natural.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)