Ask Councilmember Eugene to support city composting

Remember how the City used to collect leaves in the fall for its Compost Giveback program? Well, that program has been killed (or at least, temporarily disabled). The PLG Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) blog reports on a new campaign to encourage City Council reps to resume the compost program. Our rep, Mathieu Eugene, sits on the Council Environmental Committee, so there's going to be a “Compost to Council Shout-Out” to urge Eugene to help bring back the program.

Up until 2008, the NYC Compost Project included the collection of our city’s fall leaves–roughly 20,000 tons per year–which will increase up to three times with the Million Trees Initiative, for the production of
municipal compost. This compost was given back to NYC residents and the Parks Department to revitalize our gardens and open spaces. However, the NYC Compost Project faced a lack of financial and political support for the Fall Leaf Collection and Giveback Days, and they have been cancelled entirely "until further notice."

It costs the city nearly $100 per ton–close to $2 million per year–to dump the leaves in out-of-state landfills. This is a costly burial for a local resource, and a primary human cause of methane–a
destructive greenhouse gas–in the atmosphere.  As an efficient, cost-effective (as we already have fully operational municipal composting facilities), and sustainable alternative, composting fall leaves should be the clear choice for our city.

Want to lend your voice to the effort? You can sign the petition organized by East New York Farms right here.

Lincoln greenstreet still unloved

Last year we wrote about how the green triangle at the intersection of Lincoln, Flatbush, and Washington had been sadly neglected. At the time, I wondered out loud who was responsible for maintaining the space. (The plot is part of the City's Greenstreets program; and such spaces are maintained by local community groups or other residents.) The Lefferts Manor Association? A block association? We never found an answer, but the triangle was brought back to life shortly thereafter.

Sadly, the plot is once again looking pretty grim. The plants are still alive, thanks to all the rain we've been having, but weeds have taken over. 

So we'll ask again: does anyone know who's in charge of this plot? Perhaps if they're unable to maintain it, someone else would be willing to volunteer. After all, it's prime real estate!

NY Daily News highlights the "greenest block"

A sampling:

Lincoln Road between Bedford and Rogers Aves. in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens took home the title for the first time - after 10 years of trying.

"This block has been really developing its green thumb for the past two decades," said block association President Tolonda Tolbert. "We finally pulled down the big one."

Read more.

PLG block wins "Greenest Block in Brooklyn" contest

After years as runners up, the block of Lincoln Road between Bedford and Rogers has won first place in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest. Apparently, there's been a bit of controversy about the block getting short shrift in previous years. 

Congrats to the R&B Block Association for getting its due. In previous years, the block has won numerous honorable mentions; in 2005, it tied for third place.

Why are so many trees on Lincoln dying?

I noticed the other day that two more street trees on Lincoln Road—on the south side, near Ocean Avenue—have died. If I'm remembering correctly, these trees were healthy last season. I think they were among the batch planted about three years ago, after construction on Lincoln ended. Around the corner, on Ocean Avenue, an older tree is dying and the one next to it seems to be headed toward the same fate. I have no idea what kind of trees these are, but here's a detail of the sick leaves.

Further down Lincoln (around 40 Lincoln), another young tree—which appeared healthy last season—is on its last few limbs. The one next to it died a couple of years ago but was replaced with a new tree this spring, thanks to the Million Trees Project.

As someone who asked the City to replace the dead tree (using the handy Million Trees form), I now feel partly responsible to help keep it and the others alive. If anyone has a clue, please say so in the comments, and let us know if anything can be done.

Free Tree giveaway this weekend

Flatbush Gardener pointed us to this neato event on Saturday, October 18:

1,250 FREE trees will be available for adoption by homeowners and community groups at select locations throughout the five boroughs this October. Trees will be distributed by New York Restoration Project (NYRP). Note – individuals and families are limited to adopting one tree per household; and all tree recipients are required to register their new tree at www.milliontreesnyc.org. Interested community groups that can plant and care for 5-10 trees should contact mcrowley@nyrp.org before October 18th.

For residents who do not have their own yard to plant a tree, information on volunteering, educational programming and contributing to MillionTreesNYC will also be available.

A variety of trees of different sizes, including flowering and medium and large canopy (shade) trees will be available. Our horticultural staff will be present to provide advice on which species tree is best for your home.

Brooklynites can pick up trees at the Sunset Park Green Market on 4th Avenue and 59th/60th Streets. Details and other locations can be found here (pdf).

Need tree guards for your block?

If any PLG block associations are interested in getting free tree guards for their block, now's a good time: Marty Markowitz has just sent out the applications for Brooklyn's Neighborhood Beautification Fund. Since I couldn't find the form online, I scanned the one they mailed me, which you can download here.

Who can apply for free tree pit guards?

Block associations and other civic and community organizations... We will favor applications which include all of the street trees located on a particular block. Property owners adjacent to a street tree must indicate on attached consent forms whether they wish to participate in the program....

Commercial streets are not eligible to receive tree guards under this Fund...

Projects will be awarded based on the following criteria:

• a demonstrated ability and commitment to provide for long-term maintenance of trees;
• a previous participation in Brooklyn's Greenest Block competition;
• have not received tree guards from the Brooklyn Borough President in the past;
• a commitment to plant and maintain flowers and greenery in tree beds

There's more information on the application. Deadline is by June 6, 2008... and you can only include trees located on residential blocks as of May 15, 2008.

Local Garden on Brownstoner

What kind of local blog are we when Brownstoner scoops us on a story in our own backyard? Literally.

Today's Brownstoner Garden of the Day is diagonally across from our own garden. Since the owners weren't named on Brownstoner, we won't name them here without their permission, but we will continue to enjoy our live view of their yard.

Not-so-green streets

Now that one of the young trees at the triangle on Lincoln and Flatbush is dead and gone, the "green street" is now host to but one sad and lonely evergreen. Both trees there were hit by a car a few weeks ago.

When I first noticed the fallen trees and went to look at them, a passerby told me not to worry, that the Lefferts Manor Association maintains this space and would fix it. According to someone on the Lefferts email list, the Parks Department is responsible.

Whether any person or group does in fact maintain this space remains a mystery. Even before the trees were hit, the small garden resembled a scraggly brown patch. When I talked to someone at the Parks Department last summer, the rep told me that the Parks Department can only handle initial plantings and that it's up to community members to maintain street trees and green streets.

So what shall become of Lincoln's little green street? If the green space is effectively orphaned — as I suspect it is — it'll stay that way until someone volunteers to care for it.

Any takers?

Greening Things Up

The weather forecast for this weekend is looking promising, so I thought I might spend some time out of doors turning my back yard mud pit into something other than mud.

I took a stroll this week down to local Kings County Nurseries, on New York Ave at Fenimore, to check out the pickings. Things are looking pretty green over there, and we hear that by this weekend there should be a good selection of annuals to choose from. King's County also sells a bunch of veggies if you're inclined to do some gardening for eating (be sure to plant any edibles in safe soil, ie; not your untested back yard).

I like to go local, and the guys at Kings County are great. But for items beyond your basic "garden variety" plants, you may have to search farther afield. If you don't have access to a car, some other Brooklyn nurseries (Gowanus, etc.) may deliver for a fee, or you can turn to the internet.

If shopping on the internet, make sure you know what size pot (if any) the plants are shipped in. Be warned: there are a lot of inexpensive internet nurseries out there, but many plants are shipped bare root, which means you'll be waiting eons (or at least a few seasons) for your plants to look anything like what the photo shows. Garden Watchdog is a good place to start weeding through the mire of internet garden suppliers.

Happy gardening!