We are planting our front and back gardens at the Eco Brooklyn show house and welcome anyone who wants to be involved.
The gardens are edible gardens as well as aesthetically beautiful. Drawing from horticulture, permaculture, feng shui, xeriscape, gray water and Biodynamic gardening we seek to redefine the definition of a Brooklyn brownstone garden.
It is a low maintenance, low impact, bounty of beauty, nurturing space and food.
The front and back gardens are currently what some dismissively call “Italian gardens.” They are concrete slabs.
In many ways they represent the worst of current Brooklyn gardens, which is great because we can show the transformation from a barren dead zone to a living organism.
There are hurdles to get over, like testing the soil and probably getting positive tests for heavy metals and chemicals. Our neighbor has used toxic pesticide on his yard for 30 years. Engineers have found that the Gowanus canal toxic sludge has traveled uphill via an underground stream that passes right under the back garden.
But “Bring it on!” we say. The nastier the better since it will just make the results look even more splendid.
Feel free to contact us if you are interested in being involved. You can do it for the exercise, the learning or the just kinship. We welcome everyone.