The newly formed PS 8 Garden Committee will host its kick-off event for this year on Saturday, November 10, from 10 a.m. to noon: A street tree care workshop run by Brooklyn Botanic Garden volunteers helping out with garden-related efforts.

Ansley Samson tells BHB, “We’ll be mulching, composting, and planting bulbs in the 12 tree pits that surround our school, and also making sub-irrigated planters out of 2-liter soda bottles and other kid-friendly activities. More info on its website here. Poster below.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/51723

Once again, Brooklyn Bridge Park is hosting a Free Fall Tree giveaway. On Saturday, October 13 at Pier 6 from 10 a.m. to noon—in partnership with the New York Restoration Project and MillionTreesNYC—young trees will be distributed in compact 2-gallon containers, making them easy to transport. The BBP webbie notes: “Autumn is an ideal time of year to introduce a new tree to your home garden. Your tree will have time to acclimate, root out and prepare for the cold winter that lies ahead. Once warmer weather arrives, your new planting will be ready to flourish.”

Volunteers will be on hand to provide a tutorial on how to plant and care for your tree. To reserve a tree (they went like lightning last Spring), click here. (Photo: New York Restoration Project)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49144

Seen on State Street between Clinton and Sidney Place: autumn blooming flowers, along with corn, pumpkins, and, yes, I think I see some ornamental kale. Click on photo to enlarge.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/48531

The Brooklyn Heights Playground Committee invites all to help refill the sandbox at the Harry Chapin Playground, on Columbia Heights north of Cranberry Street. The sandy extravaganza will take place this Saturday, July 28, at 8:30 a.m. More information here. (Photo: Claude Scales)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/44595

New York City may be offering its neighborhoods an olive branch—or at least snippers to prune it—with a substantial budget increase for care of street and park trees. Over the past decade, NYC’s declining bottom line has given responsibility for beautification and maintenance in the Heights to the Brooklyn Heights Association, which has overseen a cyclical block pruning program. Since 2001, it has dedicated more than $75,000 to pruning, planting and tree care from member donations. A major BHA effort took place in February and March.

For the fiscal year that begins this week, NY’s City Council added $2 million for tree pruning to the $1.45 million in Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed budget. The extra money is part of $30 million in restorations to the Parks Department’s budget, including money for public pools.

Of course, the move equates to more than a green thumb from the city. According to The New York Times, falling trees and limbs have led to a marked increase in injuries, deaths and lawsuits. “Tree pruning is something where you don’t see the impact of deferring until there’s a tragedy,” Park Slope-based Councilman Brad Lander told the Times. “Hopefully, getting pruning back on a better schedule will mean New Yorkers will be safer.”

Money added for tree care would put street trees on a more timely pruning cycle. Because of budget cuts, the pruning rotation had been elongated to every 15 years from once every 7 years in 2008. During that time, the budget for street-tree pruning contracts fell to $1.4 million from $4.7 million.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43743

Residents of Brooklyn Heights have likely ventured down Grace Court and seen the curiosity that must be the smallest named “park” in the neighborhood. At the end of the street, where it dead ends before the BQE below, is a tiny little green space tagged Greenstreets.

It’s not a particularly pretty destination, considering that it’s marked with a bright yellow “End” sign and striped black and white metal markers to insure that motorists don’t roar down the street to what would likely be death’s door.

Its 12×8-foot (approx) interior comprises scrubby green bushes and a cobble-stoned walkway that leads to nowhere… A chicken-wire fence that surrounds the back end of the space forces spectators to walk around the “park” to the sidewalk facing the BQE. Its origin: This little patch of heaven is courtesy of the NYC Parks Department’s Greenstreets initiative.

(Photos: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/43092

Last weekend, your BHB scribe at last took in the curiosity that is the Dekalb Market in Downtown Brooklyn. Situated over an entire square block, the emporium of boutique shops and foodies is constructed from salvaged shipping containers converted into 60+ venues that frame a space for outdoor events and programs.

Within easy walking distance of Brooklyn Heights, at 138 Willoughby Street and the Flatbush Avenue Extension, sure enough, there was a cornucopia of art, music and food, “The Dekalb Farm” and dozens of outdoor weekend vendors, all “set against the gritty-cool urban backdrop of downtown Brooklyn.” (See pics below.)

Not to be missed: Waffle n’ Go, offering authentic liege waffles and a variety of delish toppings; Gourmet Sorbet, with all fresh ingredients; Open Oyster, featuring raw & steamed Fisher’s Island Oysters; and Mighty Balls, a tiny tucked-away food shop with delicacies lightly fried.

The regular Dekalb Market Hours are seven days a week, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. This weekend, June 9-10, the special feature is underground busk artists playing from 12-6 p.m., with a “Busk-Off” at 5 p.m. Saturday. The space was voted Best New York Architecture in 2011 by the New York Observer.

(Photos: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41974

Downtown Brooklyn had one honey of a sting operation last week. Some 20,000 honeybees swarmed a tree on the southwest corner of Hoyt and Schermerhorn streets at the entrance to the A/C/F subway line—a mere three blocks from Brooklyn Heights.

Officer Anthony Planakis, the NYPD’s special beekeeper—known as “Tony Bees”—says that the horde, which gathered around 3 p.m. last Friday, is among the largest he has ever seen. There were so many bees that he couldn’t hold them in one pail, and had to call for backup. The phenomenon was first reported by DNAInfo.com here.

New York City’s board of health lifted a ban on beekeeping in March 2010, legalizing the avocation for many who had flouted the law and tended bees for years, according to the WSJ. That move, however, requires local beekeepers to register with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and follow practices of controlling bee swarms and making sure hives don’t bother neighbors.

Remarkably, no one was injured during the Downtown sting operation.

(Photo: Fox News)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41927

It’s getting to be a Brooklyn Heights tradition, undoubtedly because our Promenade Gardeners are such good bakers. They’ll be having another of their bake sales on the Promenade near the Montague Street entrance this Saturday, June 9, from 9:30 a.m. “until the last crumb is sold.” All proceeds go to buying seeds and other supplies needed to keep the gardens blooming.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41795