Posts Tagged ‘Garden’

In the beginning of the gardening season Greenthumb NYC donated seedlings to the Beach 91st Street Community Garden vegetables and other plants. I grabbed a cucumber and okra plant. Two foods I’ve never grown before. I almost forgot I planted the okra. And then a few weeks ago it became recognizable. It produced three pods. I was pretty excited about that. After all, I didn’t do much too care for it besides watering. While this plant may look like a legume, it’s not. Okra is related to the hibiscus plant […]

I had the exciting opportunity to collaborate on a design project for The Beach 91st Street Community Garden. For over a year, I’ve been eager to redesign our garden site map but haven’t had the time. I put an email out to my fellow community garden members to see if any creatives were interested in volunteering. Member Walter Meyer responded and introduced me to Diana Erazo, who he taught at Parsons New School and subsequently hired as an intern at his company, Local Office Landscape & Urban Design (LOLA). Some […]

I made a 4,000 pound mistake. As a member of The Beach 91st St. Community Garden’s leadership team, was tasked with purchasing gravel for a special project. I called Glenwood Mason Supply as suggested by one of our members. I told them I needed two square yards of pea gravel. The delivery came earlier than expected, this was last Saturday. The driver was concerned about dropping the 2 ton load. His machine only worked on solid ground and the garden is soil and grass. But I couldn’t leave two tons […]

If  you’ve been reading along, you know that I harvested my first batch of garlic two weeks ago but was a little unsure if it was the right time. This is the case with many root crops and it’s a trial and error learning process. I decided I’d harvest a few at a time for the next several weeks. This would allow me to gauge and record sizing and ripeness based on timing. Over the 4th of July weekend, I collected two more bulbs, carefully from under the soil. They […]

Besides humans, what else takes nine months to grow? The answer – garlic. In late October I planted garlic for the first time with guidance from my neighbor Diane. We’re both members of the Beach 91st Street Community Garden and that’s where I planted my first crop. In April, I saw sprouts and I’ve been anticipating and monitoring ever since. I planted the hardneck variety. Unlike most vegetables, garlic’s season is the opposite – plant in the fall, harvest in the summer. Garlic needs a long period of cold winter […]

With the help of Matt’s cousin Lesley Conroy, who is a landscape architect, we designed our front garden in 2016. Lesley and I both agreed on choosing plants that would be fitting for a coastal landscape. Since then, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about coastal gardens and the effect of salt on plants. I’ve found that there’s a vast difference that salt has on plants and trees on the beach block, versus inner blocks on the peninsula. I see my neighbors between Holland Ave. and the boulevard growing apple trees, […]

April is holding up its end of the bargain – rain, rain, and more rain. It’s needed to jump-start our gardens and the growing season. I’ve been outside whenever the weather permits, weeding, cleaning up leaves, and dividing/moving plants to new locations. Normally I start my veggie seedlings in the Beach 91st Street Community Garden greenhouse. I’ve been a member for several years now. A greenhouse is typically 20 degrees warmer than the outside temperature. The average temperature this month in Rockaway has been about 55 degrees. So the greenhouse […]

I really start to miss gardening in January. The holiday distraction is over; I’m indoors more than half the day; and I realize there are three long, cold months before the start of the gardening season begins in April. This will not stand! So for my birthday last week, my husband took me to Hicks Nursery (100 Jericho Turnpike, Westbury, NY 11590) to check out the sales on their large selection of indoor plants, which are timed to coincide with the mid-winter horticultural doldrums. I’ve been visiting the Long Island […]

My vegetable garden is flourishing. I planted tomatoes (no-brainer), basil, dill, cilantro, peppers, chives, eggplant and kale. The kale has exploded, thriving with minimal care! Kale is a hearty green containing high amounts of vitamin A and C. It’s rich with antioxidants including beta carotene. Kale is high fiber and a great source of calcium, potassium and magnesium. Researchers have also discovered chemicals in kale that may inhibit cancer cell growth. So yeah, this veggie is a superfood that everyone is still obsessed with. For the past few weeks, I’ve […]

I first learned of sedum sarmentosum last year. It crept into my garden from my neighbor’s yard. It didn’t seem like a weed, so I looked it up and learned it’s a perennial flowering succulent that is used as a ground cover. It reaches six inches in height and tiny yellow flowers emerge in July, changing the color to a lime hue. It’s drought tolerant, can handle full sun, and will grow just about anywhere, from a crack in the sidewalk to a a bit of sand. Because it spreads […]