Last week, when the identity of lower Manhattan’s Sad Panda was revealed in documentarian Michelle Tay’s video, it reminded us of hungry pandas and our local panda food supply. Most of you may know that the black-and-white bears like to eat the shoots, leaves, and crunchy stalks of bamboo plants and in Sheepshead Bay, we appear to have our very own supply.
It’s not the first time that we’ve been reminded of pandas and bamboo. This January, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington. D.C. said that their resident pandas’ food supply of fresh bamboo was dangerously low, and they issued a request for bamboo from private supplies. At the time, we almost called the zoo to alert them to all the bamboo at the intersection of Avenue X and East 16th Street. Continue Reading »
While the Brooklyn Eagle writes about Southern Brooklyn’s roots as a farming society, in their recent article, Historically Speaking: Raising the (Wyckoff Barn) Roof, Sheepshead Bay residents are busy recreating the Hanging Gardens of Babylon or growing their own vegetables — depending on your perspective.
This front-to-side yard garden, located at Avenue V and East 17th Street, is ready for harvest and from the looks of the number of squash(?) growing under the leaf canopy, we’re thinking that there must be enough for quite a few families. These squash are so large that they need support in the form of large containers stacked one on top of the other.
A visitor from Queens who noticed the garden said,
Wow. I don’t think we have anything like that over there in Queens. I thought there were regulations about corner houses and the type of landscaping that can be erected. I remember when we tried to grow sunflowers and the city made us cut ‘em down. But, I’m not sure if droopy vegetables fall under landscaping.
Readers, we’d like to hear from you. First, help us identify this vegetable and let us know if you heard anything about the city regulating corner house plant ornamentation. Finally, if anyone knows the owner of the vegetable garden and can hook us up with some of that hanging gourd…by all means write in.
Over in Bedford-Stuyvesant, when wildflowers are spotted, it’s internet news. Here in Sheepshead Bay, news is made when we spot an interesting front lawn or backyard vegetable garden.
This time, though, it’s not really a vegetable garden. The growth catching our attention is more like a beanstalk — a giant beanstalk of the the fairy tale variety, that is.
We’re wondering if the kid who threw those special beans into his mother’s front yard on East 19 Street (near Avenue Z) is Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk or of Jack and the Giant-Killer Project. Whichever tale it is, we sure hope that it ends in the traditional way. The headline for that followup story is already written: “Sheepshead Bay Beanstalk Trails To A Golden-Egged Goose!” — or, on second thought, we just might not share that story with you.
[Disclaimer: No horticultural knowledge was applied to this story, because as in the case of the eerily similar, but still unidentified subway track trailer -- the variety of this plant is, also, unknown.]
(Photo of WALL-E by Chris Glass and courtesy of Gentle Pure Space)
If you saw the animated film, WALL-E, and felt moved to do something to try and forestall the fate of the planet, you can get started right here in Sheepshead Bay.
The New York City Parks Department is having a class in Marine Park this coming Sunday where you can learn how to start composting. Start saving those scraps and head on out to the Salt Marsh Nature Center.
Check out the Virginia Cooperative Extension’ article, Compost: What Is It and What’s It To You and the Environmental Protection Agency’s website to learn more about the differences between soil and compost, as well as how it can be used.
Composting 101 at the Salt Marsh
Sunday, January 25, 2009
11:00 a.m.
Brooklyn
Come to the Salt Marsh Nature Center and learn the basics of composting. The benefits will blow you away. Your garden or
potted plants will never need store-bought fertilizer again!
Location: Marine Park: Salt Marsh Nature Center, Marine Park
(East 33rd Street and Avenue U)
More Information:
(718) 421-2021
(Photo by Ray Johnson)
Just after Tropical Storm Hanna, we reported on the growing situation with the possibly predatorial plant that is taking over certain parts of Sheepshead Bay. A few weeks later, I interviewed a vigilante property owner, known as Kam, who was single-handedly taking on the culprit.
Without any help from anyone else, Kam cut down and bagged at least 20 feet of this stuff. He said that he does this at least twice a year in a futile attempt to inhibit its growth. Kam didn’t know much about the plant, but what he did know is that it drops its leaves, flowers, stems, and fuzz profusely onto the ground, clogging up the drain. He said that he has had to call plumbers and spend his own money to help with the flooding problem caused when the drain gets clogged.
He’s probably had to incur extra expenses replacing the blades on that chainsaw he uses, because according to the Vegetation Management Guideline written for the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, “the wood of bush honeysuckles is very tough and easily dulls powertool blades”.
Find out about our vigilante after the jump.
Continue Reading »
The Bay Improvement Group (B.I.G.) had its annual Fall Planting & Garden Clean-up this past Sunday, October 26. According to Steven Barrison, who heads up the B.I.G., the event, though productive, was not as well-attended by volunteers as was expected. The small team of volunteers worked hard all day from 9 to 3, as originally planned and by 3:15 p.m., they called it a day. Unfortunately, all of the work had not been finished, even with the help of dedicated volunteers like Richie Arneman, who tirelessly serves as a one-man landscaping team.
Barrison says that there has been a poor showing of volunteers for the past two years and the community effort to keep Sheepshead Bay beautiful is suffering. He is keeping up hope that local residents are interested in this effort and is keeping this Sunday, November 2 free for everyone to get involved. The team will work on sections of Sheepshead Bay near Voorhies Avenue behind the train station, as well as a portion of Ocean Avenue.
According to the Gothamist Labs, there was a report of a slashing that occurred near Emmons Avenue and Shore Parkway this past Sunday. I asked Mr. Barrison if the situation had affected the B.I.G. planting. He said that he wasn’t aware of any emergencies around where they working and even if there was something major going on, they were so busy bent on their hands and knees planting bulbs, that they wouldn’t have noticed anything going on.
If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, you can come on out and help out with the effort. If all goes well, weather-wise, the team will be finishing up planting in the areas that were missed the first time around.
Who: Volunteer Gardeners & Bay Enthusiasts
What: B.I.G. Fall Planting & Garden Clean-up Encore
When: Sunday, November 2, 2008
Time: 9 a.m. SHARP!
Where: Sheepshead Bay Road & Shore Parkway Intersection
Contact: The Bay Improvement Group (B.I.G.) 718-646-9206
(Photo by Ray Johnson)
This display of flora had been growing all summer, but flourished fully immediately after the heavy rains of Tropical Storm Hanna. The flowers’ fragrance, which was previously delicate and vaguely reminiscent of jasmine, became noticeably nose-irritating during its peak. I wasn’t aware of any fragrant vines that could trail so fast and so prodigiously in the Northeast and was interested in knowing if this was an allergen-producing plant or just a pretty one. When I say that this plant was growing fast and full, I mean that this picturesque vine stretched to over 200 feet wide and about 20 feet high, at its highest point.
It’s not every day that we see (or smell) flowers growing in our Bay’s backyards, so I wanted to get to the bottom of this. Not wanting to delay my botanical sleuthing by consulting with the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, I turned to the authority on every subject, the Internet, to help me solve the little mystery – of “The Flourishing Flowers”.
See what I found about this invasive and potentially destructive plant after the jump.
Continue Reading »
Last week, when the identity of lower Manhattan’s Sad Panda was revealed in documentarian Michelle Tay’s video, it reminded us of hungry pandas and our local panda food supply. Most of you may know that the black-and-white bears like to eat the shoots, leaves, and crunchy stalks of bamboo plants and in Sheepshead Bay, we appear to have our very own supply.
