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The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is just out with its listing of this year's spring and summer adult education courses, including instruction in city gardening, composting and horticulture.
You can take classes to certify as a citizen pruner, qualified to care for the city's street trees, and even sign on for the BBG's well-regarded certificate program in horticulture.
Photo: Lotus in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Japanese garden, 2004
...proof that spring has arrived. Check out our photo gallery-ette titled "Early Spring Flowers 2008" here, or in our albums section in the right-hand column.
Our first Garden Day of 2008 is just weeks away, on Sunday, April 6th. We'll start with a meeting at 10am, then get down to gardening at 11am. New members can sign up at the meeting, and members who want individual plots for the year can request them.
We'll learn about plans for the garden's layout, get caught up with old friends (and make some new ones), and work together as we whip the garden into shape for the growing season. Don't miss out on this chance to get your neighborhood garden off to a great start for the year.
Mical stands poised to feed our new Food Coop composter
Starting this year, the garden will be operating as a compost source for the Park Slope Food Coop. We'll gather and break down uncooked fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and other materials in a new composter donated by the Coop for just this purpose. At the same time, we'll carry on with our existing composting system for our own plots.
The new composter (current nickname: Roland Turner) arrived back in January inside a couple of large, flat boxes. Tim handled most of the assembly, and a team of gardeners helped lift it onto its legs and make some adjustments to the door and vents.
Garden members who also happen to be Coop members will be sorting and transporting Roland's contents to fulfill their PSFC workslot requirements. We've started out with four Coop composting slots, but some new ones may open up in the future.
And Roland's already cooking; a check of the compost the other day showed it steaming away in the chilly March air. That heat is a sign that the scraps are breaking down exactly as they should.
Please note: Only certain kinds of food and materials are suitable for composting. Adding the wrong thing to the mix can render an entire batch useless. If you're unfamiliar with composting, check with a supervisor at one of the upcoming Garden Days for the details on what's acceptible to put in, and watch this space. We hope to have a list of compost-friendly items online shortly.
