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Here’s a cool event that we recently got wind of: A one-night sustainable landscaping forum, organized by the NY Urban Green Council. Eco Brooklyn builds green homes–literally. In addition to energy-efficient, eco-friendly building, Eco Brooklyn installs green roofs and sustainable landscaping. We adapt greenery to the urban landscape by incorporating native plants, vertical gardens, [...] Eco Brooklyn’s show house is now home to a beautiful new landscape which has been certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Nestled among many homes in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, NY this garden provides a home for a wide variety of shrubs and perennials that have invited in a number [...] Here is a cool video prepared by our media intern Stavros about the eco garden design we are doing in the Brooklyn Show House. The book “Complete Guide to Water Gardens Ponds and Fountains” gives you everything you need to know to build and run a small to medium sized water feature in your yard. The book lays out every detail in clearly worded and well organized sections with plenty of supportive photographs and images. It is focused [...] Eco Brooklyn is expanding into natural landscape design and ecological pools. In this process I have been reading a lot and hiring new employees knowledgeable in this field. One book I have found very helpful is Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy. It is a must [...] We are building an ecological garden at the Brooklyn green show house. The idea is to harmoniously combine various elements – xeriscape, native plants, edible plants, natural pool, animal friendly plants, permaculture, to name a few – so that the garden is both bountiful and natural to the environment. The garden will be a [...] You have to check this picture out. It is of a strawberry on the green roof of the Brooklyn Green Show House. Notice the pine cone, sedum, flowers in the background. It is a world as seen from a field mouse or bee. We can see things like this too. [...] Phytoextraction is the act of using plants to remove toxins from soil. Instead of using chemicals or removing the dirt you plant certain kinds of plants or mushrooms that either absorb the toxins or neutralize them. The process can take longer since you may have to wait out several growing seasons. But if you [...] Because of the high lead levels found in the garden of the Brooklyn Show House, we have become by default a Soil Remediation Contractor. The research and remediation of soil with such extreme levels of lead is quite an experience. Here is one article that puts soil remediation in perspective and gives great insight [...] We just tested the garden soil of the Brooklyn Green Show house and the results were a staggering 2000ppm of lead. Considering anything above 400ppm is rated as unhealthy we have a bad situation. High levels of lead in Brooklyn is a pretty common problem. The back walls and fire escapes were commonly painted [...] Stephen Anderton’s book “Urban Sanctuaries, Creating Peaceful Havens for the City Gardener” is a great visual resource for how to turn small spaces into big places of rejuvenation. Drawing from eastern aesthetics with a hint of European design, the book is full of images of really lovingly built gardens. They are not hyper manicured [...] Here is a pretty scary list of health effects documented by BeyondPesticides.org, a Washington based non-profit. Pesticides are anything that kills a pest: Herbicides, Insecticides and Fungicides primarily. You’ll notice from the list below that the health effects run the gamut from Cancer to Birth Defects. Of course if you use these chemicals [...] One of the largest issues in a house is indoor air quality. Up until recently most people usually don’t pay any attention to it and subsequently the amount of headaches, foggy headedness, breathing problems and body aches are much higher than need be. Not coincidentally the above body symptoms are also what happens to [...] Here is a cool window shade made out of a box and semi wild plants. It shows how we can put plants in a lot more places that the hyper manicured garden. Window sills, ledges, above doors, on walls, as fences….plants can be part of our building structure just as we use other materials [...] What I love about Brooklyn gardens is that they lend themselves so perfectly to permaculture and edible gardens. Brooklyn gets plenty or rain and temperate weather so it is so easy to create an edible and visual bounty in a Brownstone back yard. And a Brooklyn garden is like a canvas by its [...] You are allowed to keep chickens and any sort of hoofed animal in Brooklyn or New York City. Hoofed, as in donkey, goat, sheep….and chickens. Not roosters, but if you want fresh eggs from your back yard or roof top chickens that is totally legal. BUT you are not allowed to legally keep bees. [...] Gardening Green Magazine is a special issue by Taunton’s publishing which puts out all sorts of gardening, woodworking and house related DYI things. I subscribe to some of their magazines. They are ok, very practical “how to” things (how to install a door etc). But the Gardening Green Issue was great. It was [...] Here is my take on green building in Brooklyn over the next 5-10 years. It is actually a lot wider than Brooklyn, but that is my focus. Rising fuel costs will drive people back into the city, this means there will be an influx of people into Brooklyn. This will keep housing prices more [...] Things are looking good for green roofs in Brooklyn! As this article states there is a growing interest amongst local politicians in supporting green roofs. The surge is really gaining momentum. We have so many thousands of wonderful, flat, sun filled roofs in Brooklyn – prime real estate for a verdant canopy of [...] Our green show house in Brooklyn had a concrete back yard. It was three inches of solid impervious, heat making concrete. The death valley of back yards. Without the space. So we tore up the concrete and sent it on it’s heavy way. Now we have rich dark soil ready for life. We have [...] |
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