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The Outsider: Outdoor Living Room in Fort Greene
WELCOME to The Outsider, Cara Greenberg‘s Sunday garden column for Brownstoner. KNOW OF ANY BEAUTIFUL BROOKLYN GARDENS? (Sure ya do!) Contact caramia447@gmail.com
THE LONG, NARROW BACKYARD is a challenge garden designers face in Brooklyn more often than not. The owners of this one, 22′ wide and more than three times as long, approached James Stephenson of The Artist Garden with the notion of two patios plus lots of planting space. They were looking for a clean, modern look that would blend with their indoor aesthetic.
Working with oversized pieces of thermal bluestone, Stephenson laid out a plan for a central inner patio that serves as an outdoor family/living room, and another toward the rear of the property that provides overflow entertaining space for larger groups.
A central pergola made of iron and cedar is an architectural element that will also become a shade structure when the wisteria vines planted in each corner climb up and over.
Don Statham, an Upstate NY-based garden designer, collaborated on the plantings, which include what Stephenson calls “epic” columnar oak trees that will eventually create privacy walls on either side of the central patio. Everything is planted in the ground; there are no raised beds or containers.
The south-facing garden, with in-ground drip irrigation, is essentially low-maintenance.
More detail and photos after the jump.
Photos: James Stephenson
05/27/2012 8:00 AM
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Don’t Forget to Get Your Garden Fix
Just because it’s a long weekend doesn’t mean you won’t have a reason to check back with Brownstoner. The Outsider, the urban gardening column that Cara Greenberg started writing earlier this month, will run as usual on Sunday morning. (Recent posts here, here and here.) This week’s topic: Outdoor Living Rooms (like the one above). And speaking of gardens, you might want to check out Gardenista, the new blog from the interiors geniuses at Remodelista.
05/25/2012 12:30 PM
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The Outsider: Viewing Garden in Park Slope
WELCOME TO The Outsider, Brownstoner’s weekly garden column, written and produced by Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Sunday at 8AM.
THIS GARDEN BEGAN as an outline on a napkin, sketched out by the homeowner. “The client is an architect and had very strong ideas about what he wanted,” says Sasha Newman of Little Miracles Designs, who was hired to turn the concept into a finished design and then to oversee fabrication and installation.
The round central structure, made of Corten steel, serves two functions; it acts as a retaining wall to hold up soil and support plantings, and also provides convivial seating for a group. It was Newman’s inspiration to use Corten for the structure, rather than the stone the client originally had in mind. “A thick wall would have been visually too heavy for a rectangular backyard 18-20′ wide,” he says. Instead, he suggested the material popularized by the sculptor Richard Serra and by its use on the High Line — an alloy that doesn’t rust through, but merely oxidizes on the surface for a coppery patina.
The garden is designed to be viewed from all levels of the house. Plantings were informed by contemporary currents in American landscape design, using primarily foliage plants that don’t rely on floral color but whose interest comes from contrasting combinations of texture. The garden is also, says Newman, “as close to zero maintenance as you can get.”
Details and more photos, including construction shots and a complete plant list, after the jump.
Photos: Sasha Newman
05/20/2012 8:00 AM
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Crow Hill Garden Moving to Dean Street
The Crow Hill Community Garden, the garden on Franklin Avenue pushed out due to a development, is moving to Dean Street. At Tuesday night’s Crow Hill Association Meeting, members explained that they’ve formed a partnership with the Dean Street Community Garden already in place between Franklin and Bedford avenues. They already moved the Arts Not Arrests art project over to the site (pictured) and all the art classes planned at the Crow Hill Garden for the summer will be held at Dean Street. The Dean Street Garden will also hold a farmers market from June 30th to October 30th.
Everything Must Go at the Crow Hill Community Garden [Brownstoner]
05/17/2012 12:00 PM
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Opening Day for Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitors Center!
Last week there was a sneak peek for media of the new Brooklyn Botanic Visitors Center, and today it opens to the public. The project was designed by the firm Weiss/Manfredi. According to a rep for the institution, the mayor will be on hand to cut the ribbon today. Contractors were sprucing up the grounds this morning, and hopefully the slight drizzle that may attend the ceremony will bolster its verdant roof.
BBG’s New Visitor Center About to Open! [Brownstoner]
05/16/2012 11:00 AM
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Development Instead of Proposed Columbia St. Garden
It’s been a bad week for public gardens in Brooklyn. Following the news of the demise of the Crow Hill Community Garden, the initiator of the South Brooklyn Children’s Garden (slated for construction on Columbia Street soon) shared this news:
HPD has retracted their agreement to lease us the vacant lots. Despite me being in communication with HPD about access to this lot for over 4 months now, I was told for the first time today that previously (before our proposal to lease the lot) an RFP for the lots was issued and the vacant lots were awarded to a contractor. The contractor just confirmed they have the financing for the building and is now being scheduled for the coming year.
After Columbia Street resident Shannon Mulholland presented a proposal for a children’s garden on the corner of Columbia and Sackett to Community Board 6, HPD told her there were no plans for the lot in the coming two to three years and that the agency would lease it on an annual basis. The South Brooklyn Children’s Garden is now looking for new places and will even consider leasing a rooftop. If you have any ideas for them, be in touch at info.sbcg@gmail.com.
Construction to Begin Soon on Columbia Street Garden [Brownstoner]
Columbia Street Residents Looks to Transform Lot [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/16/2012 9:30 AM
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Everything Must Go at Crow Hill Community Garden
Here’s some really sad news to start off the week: The Crow Hill Community Garden, at 730 Franklin Avenue between Park and Sterling, will be no more by tomorrow night. According to the CHCA, the lot sold and everything must be removed from the garden by Tuesday night or it is in danger of being destroyed. That means all the plantings, furniture, paving stones, and tools must be gone, not to mention the large-scale art installation done through the Art Not Arrests program. The artwork (pictured) will be dismantled Tuesday afternoon. CHCA is asking that residents stop by in the next two days and help dig up the plants to relocate them. Or, if you know of a home for displaced supplies, contact CHCA. As they said in an email: “We understand how upsetting this is, but it is a community project and as a community we will come through this stronger. Any help you can give over the next 2 days is greatly appreciated.” The CHCA will hold a meeting this Tuesday, 7:30 PM at the Gospel Tabernacle Church (725 Franklin Avenue) to discuss what’s going to happen next. It will be open to the public.
Photo via CHCA
05/14/2012 2:40 PM
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The Outsider: Perennial Power in Windsor Terrace
Welcome to The Outsider, Brownstoner’s new garden column by Cara Greenberg, here every Sunday at 8AM.
JOY MAKON’S BACKYARD measures all of 17×24 shady square feet, but that hasn’t stopped her from making the most of her gardening opportunities. There’s also a small, sunnier front bed, and a long, narrow deck in back, which she brightens up with container plantings.
When Joy and her husband Sol began their garden planning back in 1996, they had help from garden designer Glenn Smith. Smith built the wood lattice fence and stone central patio, and recommended the major landscape shrubs — arborvitae, chamaecyparis (conifers or evergreens in the cypress family), holly, rhododendrons, Japanese azaleas, cotoneaster, and enkianthus.
Excessive shade is the main challenge, one Joy has learned to work around. “My garden gets a lot of shade from a Norway maple between my house and the one next door. I’ve learned that green is a wonderful color. I build interest with textures from grasses, ferns, and chamaecyparis shrubs, and use pots of annuals to brighten up dark areas.”
Ninety percent of Joy’s plantings are perennials (hardy plants that survive winter in the ground and re-emerge each spring). Every couple of years, in the fall, she adds flowering bulbs, mostly muscari (grape hyacinth). Because of the Norway maple’s roots, she says, “it’s impossible to dig. I literally go out with a drill bit.”
See and read more after the jump.
Photos: Joy Makon
05/13/2012 8:00 AM
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BBG’s New Visitor Center About to Open!
Today the Brooklyn Botanic Garden gave a press preview of its new visitor center/entrance at 990 Washington Avenue. The New York Times ran a lengthy piece on the building and the architect’s effort to balance the design with the natural setting of the garden. As they say: “Most of the building remains out of sight, seemingly lost in nature, embedded in a grass-and-tree-covered berm. It’s a move that creates high-contrast oppositions between growing and built, and that also defends the garden against the asphalt and masonry of its neighbor.” The “living roof,” which is landscaped with grasses, perennials, and bulbs, will be used for storm water management and is expected to harvest almost 200,000 gallons of water each year. The visitor center is also energy efficient, LEED Gold certified, and surrounded by a newly-planted garden with water-capturing beds. Inside, there’s event and exhibit space. Gothamist published more pics today. Pretty stunning. It will be open to the public next Wednesday.
At Garden’s Visitor Center, a Welcome Transparency [NY Times]
Photo by Elizabeth Ennis via BBG
05/09/2012 2:40 PM
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The Outsider: Rooftop Farm in Bed-Stuy
Welcome to The Outsider, Brownstoner’s new garden series, in this space every Sunday at 8AM. It’s written and produced by Cara Greenberg, who also contributes Brownstoner’s interior design/renovation column, The Insider, Thursdays at 11:30.
Spinach, kale, lettuce, onions, carrots, green beans, sugar snap peas, strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, pumpkin, and broccoli — all grown from seed — are underway this season in Pamela Reed’s and Matthew Rader’s rooftop vegetable garden (that’s a view of last year’s garden, above, in late summer). Artists who live on the fifth floor of a six-story loft building, they began their mini-farm in 2010. It has since grown exponentially, to around 500 square feet.
“You just want to keep trying new things,” says Pamela. Both are from small towns, Matthew’s in Ohio and Pamela’s in Pennsylvania, so growing vegetables is not entirely new to them. “For my 8th birthday, I got a wheelbarrow,” Matthew recalls.
Though they are renters, the building’s owners “have been really nice about it,” Pamela says. “Though at first, I think they expected just a pot or two.” Veggies are grown in wood boxes lined with plastic, or 20- and 36-gallon Rubbermaid bins, using bagged potting mix. They compost, have a worm bin, and don’t spray pesticides, but being wholly organic “is not an enormous concern of ours,” Matthew says.
Water is collected in rain barrels; they’ve also stretched a hose from a nearby laundry room. But even if the couple had to carry water up the stairs in jugs, as they did the first season, they probably would. This garden is nothing if not a labor of love.
Arriving home last August after a week away, during which Hurricane Irene hit NYC, “We got out of the cab and before we even went to see our cats, we took our suitcases up to the roof to see how our poor garden had fared,” says Pamela. There was some shredded foliage and a missing pump, but “structurally it was fine, and everything recovered.”
Both consider it a shame that rooftop gardening isn’t more prevalent in cities across the country. “Our building has a roof the size of a football field, and we’re the only ones taking advantage of it,” says Pamela. “Everyone who lives here could have a nice-size garden on the roof.”
Lots more photos and info after the jump, and if you want more still, visit Pamela’s blog.
05/06/2012 8:00 AM
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Construction to Begin Soon on Columbia St. Garden
A sign up on the proposed Columbia Street Children’s Garden, on the corner of Sackett Street, announces that work will begin on site this spring. There’s a proposed garden layout on display, which includes a greenhouse, a rain water harvest tank, compost bins, and a barn coop. The garden’s focus will be on children and education. The garden membership coordinator filled us in: “We hope to start planting soon. We are now just anxiously awaiting official approval from Green Thumb, the organization that oversees all community gardens in the city, before we gain access to the lot.” This green space was first proposed to Community Board 6 this January. Back then, the board expressed some doubt in convincing HPD (who the lot belongs to) to hand it over, so it’s great news the plan is moving ahead!
Columbia Street Residents Looks to Transform Lot [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/02/2012 12:00 PM
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Closing Bell: Plants Sale Starts Today at BBG
This week the Brooklyn Botanic Garden holds its annual plant sale, which offers the largest collection of plants in the NYC area, with an emphasis on native plants. Today, from 4:30pm to 8pm, the sale is only open to BBG Members. The sale opens to the public tomorrow, May 2nd, from 9am to 8 pm, and Wednesday, May 3rd, from 9am to noon. It takes place on the (tented) Cherry Esplanade. There’s a plant sale entrance and pickup right off Flatbush Avenue… you can see a map at the website. They’re promising just about every type of plant in stock, including annuals, perennials, shrubs, houseplants, vegetables, and more. So stop by, and call us when your garden starts looking really good this season!
Plant Sale 2012 [Brooklyn Botanic Gardens]
Photo by Rebecca Bullene
05/01/2012 4:00 PM
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Construction Work Comes to 4th Avenue Lot
A reader noticed that construction machinery turned up at the empty lot on the corner of 4th Avenue and Sackett Street, as well as some tarps to block viewers from 4th Avenue, which could mean one of two things. On the one hand, Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman told us earlier this year that a community garden would occupy half the lot this spring. On the other hand, this site covers an underground water shaft tunnel (and therefore cannot be built on) and the Department of Environmental Protection has another 5 years of work on the site. The DEP has had full access to the space for more than a decade but promised to give it to the community once work wrapped. The last word was that half the site would be given to the community for an “interim community garden” this spring, until DEP finished all work. So this could be the promise of a community garden, or just routine work by the DEP. That’s some pretty heavy machinery so it feels like it may be the latter. Anyone heard rumblings?
Some Green Space Planned for Slope Lot This Spring [Brownstoner]
Community Garden Finally Coming to 4th Avenue Vacant Lot [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/01/2012 10:00 AM
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The Outsider: L-Shaped Deck in Park Slope
Welcome to The Outsider, Brownstoner’s new Sunday column devoted to design and use of outdoor space, from backyard gardens to green roofs. Like The Insider on Thursdays, it’s written by Cara Greenberg, who blogs at casaCARA: Old Houses for Fun & Profit. Find The Outsider here every Sunday at 8AM.
THE NEW WOOD DECK and the backyard behind this single-family limestone row house are essentially one and the same. “The backyard is very tiny,” says landscape architect Liz Farrell, who masterminded the project. “The whole backyard is the deck.”
In an available L-shaped space about four feet off the ground at the rear of the 17.5-foot-wide house, Farrell replaced an old deck that had rotted away with a new one made of ipe, a Brazilian hardwood. It incorporates arbors for climbing vines and planter boxes for herbs and annuals. A hedge of bamboo in an 18-inch wide strip across the back of the property provides total privacy screening (it’s planted in a concrete trough, so there’s no danger of it getting out of control).
The owners, a couple with grown children, wanted space for seating, dining, and a grill. They now have all that, as well as low-voltage Mission-style lighting and a drip irrigation system that feeds the bamboo and the planting boxes.
Dineen Construction was the builder.
See more after the jump.
This week’s Outsider is brought to you by The Artist Garden: James Stephenson’s Artist Garden brings 20 years of experience in high level hardscape design, as well as all aspects of garden installation from planting to irrigation and lighting.
04/29/2012 8:00 AM
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If You Missed the Debut of The Outsider Yesterday…
…just click here to check it out.
04/23/2012 10:27 AM
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The Outsider: Gardening on Concrete in Williamsburg
Welcome to the first installment of The Outsider, Brownstoner’s new Sunday garden column. We’ll cover backyards, front yards, terraces, decks, patios, rooftops…wherever a Brooklyn homeowner or renter can stake out a garden. Like The Insider on Thursdays, The Outsider is written and produced by Cara Greenberg, who blogs at casaCARA: Old Houses for Fun & Profit. Find it here every Sunday at 8AM.
THERE’S NO DIRT in Tyler Horsley’s Brooklyn backyard, except in pots. Yet Horsley, a professional garden designer whose urban practice involves many terraces and roof gardens, has elevated the use of containers to a high art. What he calls a “mismatched hodgepodge of dumb plastic pots” follows time-honored principles of garden design. (He prefers grayish pots to terracotta, which flakes in cold weather and whose color, he says, is “shriekingly bad with magenta and pink.”)
Horsley’s Williamsburg backyard — south-facing and open, with 6 hours of full sun a day — is a 13′x30′ concrete rectangle behind a former rosary factory converted in 2000 to one-story rental apartments. The photos in this post show it over the past decade and in all seasons. There are certain ‘backbone’ perennials, trees, and shrubs, but the garden is never quite the same from one year to the next.
How does he do it? “The first principle in a small space is layering,” Horsley says. “Get something tall that arches over people’s heads, so it feels like you’re really in a garden environment,” as well as some “things that tumble down, to get a lush dimension.”
Bold moves are the ticket, says Horsley. “Plant things simply and repetitively. If you have a plant that grows well and your conditions are perfect for it, plant more of it. Repeating stuff makes for a much more restful garden.” Planters look better if each is planted solidly with one thing, he says. “Don’t mix things up too much. If you clump together five pots with hakonechloa (Japanese forest grass) for a big sweep, it looks great.”
More after the jump.
- Horsley’s favorite local source: Crest Hardware & Urban Garden Center on Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg. “They opened a garden shop a couple of years ago and it’s terrific: interesting plants, unusual and thoughtful choices. They’re making a first-rate effort.”
Photos: Tyler Horsley
04/22/2012 8:00 AM
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The Insider Goes Outside: New Gardening Column to Launch on Sunday
Backyard, front yard, terrace, rooftop. Whatever outdoor space a Brooklyn homeowner or renter can rightfully claim is fair game for a garden, and for Brownstoner’s newest column, The Outsider, which will cover garden design and plantings in a variety of neighborhoods, situations, and price ranges.
Written by Cara Greenberg, who’s been penning The Insider on Brownstoner for the last several month, The Outsider goes up at 8 a.m. this Sunday, April 22, and will run every Sunday thereafter through gardening season. That should give you enough time to finish your coffee, put on your old jeans and grab your gardening gloves before heading out back, flush with inspiration.
First up: the concrete patio of Tyler Horsley in Williamsburg, above, with an array of containers so profuse they mimic a classic garden border. Check in on Sunday to see more photos of Tyler’s garden in all seasons and find out how he does it.
The Outsider is looking for leads. If you know of a Brooklyn garden worthy of coverage, please email caramia447@gmail.com.
04/20/2012 11:15 AM
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Closing Bell: Learn Your Urban Farming
Here’s some information for any budding urban farmers who want to start working this spring: Brooklyn’s Kingsborough Community College has listed classes associated with its urban farm. Anyone can register for the affordable classes, which range from urban gardening, flower production, to small local food business. (You can browse your options here.) And if you’re interested in lending a hand at the farm, the open volunteer days are Wednesdays from 3:30-5:30pm. Email kccurbanfarm@gmail.com for more information.
04/12/2012 4:00 PM
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Halsey Street Community Garden Opens This Month
In six months, Bed-Stuy residents took a lot on Halsey Street, abandoned for 20 years, and transformed it into a community garden. The Halsey Street Community Garden, located at 462 Halsey Street between Marcus Garvey Blvd. and Lewis Ave., officially opens on Earth Day, April 22nd, from 12pm to 4pm. The garden was also recently selected as one of New York Restoration Project’s 2012 Gardens for the City! There are now more than two dozen vegetable plots for members as well as communal planting beds. The garden also serves as a composting center. Check out the transformation from Day One over at the group’s Flickr page.
Halsey Street Community Garden Makes Progress [Brownstoner]
Halsey St. Community Garden in the Works [Brownstoner] GMAP
Photo by gezellig-girl.com
04/09/2012 12:00 PM
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Gigantic Rooftop Farm Announced for Sunset Park
Yesterday afternoon Borough President Marty Markowitz, Mario Batali, and the CEO of Brightfarms, Paul Lightfoot, held a press conference announcing the world’s largest rooftop farm coming to the city-owned Liberty View Industrial Plaza building on Third Avenue in Sunset Park. Brightfarms will open the eight-story, 100,000-square-foot commercial greenhouse in early 2013. “Brooklyn deserves a better tomato,” Lightfood told the crowd, after stressing what an important food destination the borough has become. Yesterday the Post published more details about the garden, saying “the soil-free, hydroponic farm will operate eight stories high — overlooking the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway — and grow a whopping 1 million pounds of organic produce annually.” It will supply city restaurants, and Brightfarms is also looking for a grocery store partner. Click through for a rendering of the rooftop garden, via the Post. Also click through to see a picture of Marty Markowitz wearing Crocs, in an act of solidarity with Mario Batali.
Maize the Roof [NY Post] (more…)
04/06/2012 9:30 AM
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adam_dahill
May 21, 2012 | 02:16 PM