Urban Gardening

Urban Gardening
Photography by Karen Schuld - Instagram #sproutsinthehood

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Gardening with Bronx Green-Up: Making Compost through Collaboration

Gardening with Bronx Green-Up: Making Compost through Colaboration: With the help of Thomas McQuillan of Baldor Specialty Foods and Sung and Paul from the Bronx Green-Up's Grow Greens class, I was able to...

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Making Compost through Collaboration

With the help of Thomas McQuillan of Baldor Specialty Foods and Sung and Paul from the Bronx Green-Up's Grow Greens class, I was able to fill up a compost bin with 3 huge pails of Baldor's watermelon and cantaloupe rind at the Hunts Point Park and Recreation Center.  Sung and Paul mixed in leave and dead branches to give us an ideal ratio of carbon and nitrogen materials. Now it is up to the microorganisms to break the mixture down into a rich humus material for the plants.  Great team effort!

Baldor's Specialty Food Delivering Buckets of Compost Material
Thomas McQuillan of SparCs - Division of Baldor Specialty Foods
Close-up of Rinds for Compost Bin
Adding Green Nitrogen Rich Material to Bin
Rinds with Leaves
 Empty Buckets
Watermelon Rinds on Top of Leaves
Paul is mixing  leaves, branches, and rinds together
Sung is cutting down the rind into little pieces

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Late Winter Planting and Tree Pruning in Drew Gardens


Bronx River View at Drew Gardens
Cutting Tool for Branches
Cutting Branch
Trimming Branch
Cutting Branch with Tool
Pruning Tree
View of Drew Gardens
Planting Bulbs

Planting Seeds in Starter Trays at Bissel Gardens

Bissel Garden Mural
Students Starting Seeds in Trays

Mixing the ORGANIC Potting Soil to Perfect Consistency
Waster the Soil, So It Can Be Shaped into a Loose Ball
Filling the Starter Trays with Prepared Dirt


Organic Soil with Perlite Being Placed in Tray
Heirloom Seeds to Place in Starter Trays
Placing Seeds Into Tray
Watering Seeds To Germinate

Preparing Beds for Planting and Cover Crops

New Roots Garden in Mid March
Hairy Vetch a Cover Crop that Releases Nitrogen Into Soil

Close-up of Roots with the Bacteria Rhizobium
Cover Crop Close-Up

Turning Over the Hairy Vetch, which Promote Nitrogen Rich Soil from the Rhizobium
Ursula Uprooting Hairy Vecht
After Cover Crop is Removed, Soil will be Ready for Planting

Cover Crop, Buckwheat
Buckwheat, Cover Crop, Decomposing for Compost
Pulling The Buckwheat Out of the Bed
Raking Out the Green Buckwheat from Roots
Little Worm from Garden Bed
Volunteer Turning Over the Buckwheat to Expose Roots and Bury the Green
Ursula and Khadeesha Turning Over Buckwheat, Cover Crop


Prepping Raised Beds For Spring Planting
Volunteer Picking up Straw that was Protecting Soil From Winter's Elements

Friday, March 11, 2016

NYBG's Green-Up Teaching How To Start a Garden


Green-Up's Kadeesha Planting Seeds for Demo

How to Start Seeds for Garden Instruction
Close-up of Planting Seeds

Green Thumb Organization Distributing Soil to Urban Gardeners

Green-ups Gardening Class

Instructor, Kadeesha, Combining Soils For Seed Starters

Students Planning Their Planting Strategy

Student Filling Their Seed Tray with Dirt

NYBG's Kadeesha Instructing Class
Planting Seeds in Starter Tray

Students Planning Seeding Cycle