Five Smooth Stones – An Interactive Art Project

July 25, 2013
by garden
1 min read

Five Smooth Stones

  1. First, consider the frame and the space in contains.
  2. Arrange the five stones any way you like.

    Savor your design.

  3. Take a picture of the arrangement with you cell phone other digital device/camera.
  4. Send the image to:west104gardenart@gmail.com
  5. Leave the stones where they will remain until the next participant rearranges them.

All the images taken for this project will be gathered and presented together on a digital quilt on August 2013. Look for it at:

www.west104garden.org

What can you do with five smooth stones?
What can you create?

1 Samuel 17:40

Saturday July 13: Green Thumb Garden Festival

July 10, 2013
by garden
2 min read

The team from GreenThumb invites you to join them this Saturday, July 13, 2013 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the plaza of the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building in Harlem for the 2013 GreenThumb Summer Festival!

This festival serves to recognize and celebrate GreenThumb community gardeners throughout New York City. Co-sponsored by New York State Assembly Member Keith L.T. Wright and NYC Council Member Inez Dickens, our greening partners for this event include: Circle of Brothers, Project Harmony, Green Guerillas, GrowNYC, New York Restoration Project, NYC Community Garden Coalition, Black Urban Growers, Boswyck Farms, Citizens Committee for NY, Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, Community Environmental Center, Food Bank for New York City, Hip Hop Public Health, Manhattanville Houses Resident Green Committee, NYC Compost Project in Manhattan, Corbin Hill Farms, Heritage Rose Foundation, and Casa De Frela.

We will have live music and dance, radio station WBLS on site as well as raffle prizes.  Additionally, there will be face painting, arts and crafts, food demonstrations as well as a full size garden on display courtesy of the Urban Garden Center. Come meet GreenThumb’s many partner organizations and learn about the resources we offer to help New Yorkers grow successful urban gardens.  

Should you have any questions, please feel free to email Roland Chouloute of GreenThumb at Roland.Chouloute@parks.nyc.gov. We hope to see you there!

Deputy Commissioner Larry Scott Blackmon

Happy Fourth of July!

July 4, 2013
by garden
1 min read
As a reminder of upcoming events:
July 4th  – 4th of July Potluck at the garden (If it doesn’t rain) starting at 1pm. Bring something and share with your fellow gardeners.
July 11th (Next Wednesday) Working day 6pm to 8pm.
July 14th  Join us! 2nd Flea Market of the Season. Please find attached the promo in two versions. Feel free to help us spread the word by printing a copy and post it in a visible area of your building. Thank you!
Have a Happy and Safe Holiday!
Dinorah
(Membership Coordinator)

Workday Meeting Minutes for June 8, 2013

July 4, 2013
by garden
2 min read

June 8, 2013 Workday Minutes
[Craig led the meeting/workday for Katy in the garden]

SC members in attendance (2) – Craig, Ann

–Beekeeper Elaine Mathews gave a report on our bees. The hive is thriving, which signals that the bees like their queen. Bees are busy making honey (most of which they will need for winter their first year)–and babies. Elaine checks the hive once a week and will send a message before she will be there, via Ann or Sumana, so that interested gardeners can observe her work.

–Noreen has resigned from the Steering Committee, due to an overload of work and grad school commitments. Craig invited gardeners to volunteer for her position. SC will follow up with email to members.

–NWCPMBA meeting 7:00 pm Monday June 10 at Schneider Apts, with focus on city parks. Garden member Victor Calise will be a featured speaker. Parks Department has tentatively offered to hold Shape Up classes in the Garden.

–All individual beds have been assigned. (Some may appear bare because seeds have not sprouted.)

–Flea Market was a success, despite low attendance: $441 profit.

–West Garden Art Installation–Five Smooth Rocks–proposed. Artist will construct frame filled with wood chips, provide 5 smooth stones, and invite Garden members and visitors to arrange the stones as they like, then take and submit a photograph. Photos will be arranged as a collage. Vote: a large majority of members approved the project.

–Weeding: Due to recent rains, the Garden is overgrown with weeds. Members asked to take some time to weed whenever they come to the garden and to weed around their individual beds.

–Paul and Craig led rock project to repair and extend the cat terrace with good results.

–Decrepit bulletin board on the West garden fence was removed.

–Ann managed a productive crew on the west side weeding and working the soil around the rose garden.

–Guy rebuilt a broken plot frame in the East garden.

–East garden big gate was checked to confirm opening direction for truck deliveries; East gate swings out, West gate swings in. No corrections needed.

–Mary Kelly managed a crew to clear loose stones from the newly laid path on the far east border to the space between the sheds. Adjustments were made to insure they were safely stacked, but there is still some concern re: safety for children. To be reviewed and reassessed.

Thanks all who participated.

Composting Suspended Until Further Notice

June 29, 2013
by garden
1 min read

Important! Starting on July 1st, 2013.

The Compost Committee has decided to suspend all compost collection until further notice.
Dear Friends of Compost:

You have been too kind! And our compost program is a successful one.

Because WE have more compostable materials now than we can currently handle, please consider offering your beautiful, nitrogen-rich scraps to a green market compost collection site.  This will give us time to “cook” what we already have.

 

Greenmarkets @ Manhattan

We hope to begin receiving your kitchen scraps again later in the season. Please find attached a list of green markets that receive compost, encircled are our closest one.

Yours in Decay,

The West 104th Street Compost Committee Chair

Tonight: NW Central Park Multi-Block Association

June 10, 2013
by garden
1 min read

North West Central Park Multiblock Association presents:

Topic:  Our Parks…Access, What’s New and How to Get the Most From Them

 
Meeting:  6-10-2013, Monday
Location:  Schneider Apartments,  11 West 102nd Street
                      Btw. Central Park West and Manhattan Ave.
Time:  7:00 PM
Special Guest Speaker:  Victor Calise
Current Position:  Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities
Previous Position:  Accessibility Coordinator for Department of Parks and Recreation
 
Mr. Calise has worked in the service of the disabled community for over 15 years.
While working at for the City’s Parks Department he worked on Title II compliance for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and provided technical assistance in the design of parks and developed a training curriculum to familiarize Parks employees with accessibility issues.
 
He has been a resident of our community for many years.  He and his family are active members of the West 104th Street Community Garden.
 
So come out and join us.  With summer coming up, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn about the recreation options in your own neighborhood.
 
And yes, there will be snacks and tea.  Did you even have to wonder?
 
Bring a neighbor.  See you there.

May 18 Workday Meeting Minutes

June 2, 2013
by garden
2 min read

Ann Levine presiding

 

Stage grant

  • $1000 from Citizens Committee for NYC.

  • Melissa wrote the grant to rebuild the stage.

  • Design committee will draw two designs for member vote.

 

Beehive

  • Beekeeper, Elaine NYC beekeepers association will help with PR and problems.

  • Assembled in gazebo due to storm.

  • Fence 5ft height will be installed next week to keep kids away and draw bees upward for morning flight.

  • We will invite Elaine to next meeting to explain.

  • Jean noted we need to have room to open the gate. Hive will need to move to the east.

  • A sign was installed to explain hive to garden users.

 

Flea market is Saturday May 25, 11-6pm

  • Ann distributed flyers.

  • Donations can be dropped off Thurs or Friday in Gazebo or west shed if the is rain.

  • Christine noted that the books are gone. They were donated to housing works as part of shed cleanup. DInorah said that Julia was there when the books were donate.

  • Need volunteers, contact Julia 646-363-4513.

 

Nikki offered a spare ticket to Yankees Toronto game at 1pm today.

 

Rocks from 425 CPW available to use in garden

  • Task proposed to cart the rocks to the garden via wheelbarrow.

  • Use for projects around the garden, rock walls, cat area, herb garden, front gate along fences.

  • Peter marked areas to store rocks on east and west garden.

  • Ann called for a member vote to accept the rocks, citing a concern that it would be too much work, too many rocks, not enough use for them.

  • Vote: 24:2 in favor of bringing rocks over.

 

CP conservancy garden bulb toss

  • Noreen, Sherman, Anat, and Suzanne brought over bulbs.

 

Monitoring

  • Yenna brought the monitoring calendar.

  • Some people still need to sign up for monitoring dates.

  • Yenna explained that members need to respond to the calendar date invitation in order to receive reminders.

 

Mowers

  • Both of our mowers area broken.

  • Sarah Hawkey offered to lend her building mower (104 by Grace church apts).

  • Buy new would be $120 or so.

  • Guy will try to fix the mower today.

 

Workday tasks:

  • Cart rocks to garden

  • Clean around west garden shed

  • Fix retaining boards or rocks in front of raspberry bushes behind herb garden

  • Invasive weeds move from eastern fence if west garden, volunteer trees

  • Tree stump removal, Jean lead

  • Bulbs can be planted, pansies can be planted in planter by west garden gate

Next meeting June 8

The Queen Gets to Work

May 29, 2013
by garden
2 min read

I was able to inspect the hive on Saturday. Because of the bad weather that day, all the bees were inside which made it a little difficult to see things due to crowding.

The bees were hived two weeks ago on 10 May. Despite a lot of cold and rainy weather since then, the hive is doing very well.

Elaine shows off our new bees
Elaine shows off our new bees.

— The bees have drawn out the wax foundation into comb on the 10 frames in the box installed on 10 May.

— I saw the queen – she is larger than the other bees but with shorter wings; she also has a blue dot on the back of her head to make it easier to find her.

— The queen is successfully and vigorously laying eggs.

Here is our Queen!
…and here is our Queen!

— Both sides of 3 frames are already capped with wax; most of these cells are developing larvae (capped with yellow wax) which should be emerging as bees in 10-14 days; the remaining cells (capped with white wax) hold honey and a few uncapped cells contain nectar which is concentrated to honey by the bees.

— Another 5 frames in the box are in process of being filled with eggs/larvae, honey and nectar, and the last 2 frames are about 1/3 filled with nectar.

— Because the bees are already working all 10 frames of the first box, I added a second 10-frame box on Saturday, and expect to add the third shortly.

All of this indicates a new hive off to an excellent start and happy with its queen.

Impatiens Downy Mildew: Please don’t plant!

May 23, 2013
by garden
1 min read
Hi all,
The information below is important to all of us, specially because impatiens are one of the most popular annuals that are planted this time of year. Please take 5 minutes to read it. Thanks Robing for sharing this with us. Greatly appreciated!
Dinorah
_  __ __ __ __ __ ____ _ ___ __ __ _ __
Email from Robin…
 
I’ve been hearing about this new blight that’s infecting impatiens. It’s called Impatiens Downey Mildew (IDM) , which sounds suspiciously like the powdery mildew we already struggle with. Attached is the text from an article from Mass Hort society. Also a link to their page.
It seems important – they’re recommending that gardeners not plant impatiens this year.
Can someone please make sure this information gets out to the garden members 

http://www.masshort.org/Features/What-You-Need-to-Know-About-Impatiens-Blight

 

Robin

Installing the Hive

May 13, 2013
by garden
2 min read

I hived the bees on Saturday – under somewhat challenging conditions. The downpour started just before it happened so we had to move the assembled hive into the gazebo where I continued the hiving. After the rain stopped, I moved the hive to its current location.

Some bees remained flying around the gazebo after the hive was placed in its corner. Since they did not know the hive and therefore how to get to it, I spent another 2.5 hrs slowly collecting, and taking to the hive, as many gazebo bees as I could. I finally left at 8:15pm. I was told the next day by a member that there were some bees near the gazebo and some dead bees on a picnic table on Sunday morning but none were in evidence when I came around 3pm.

All seems to be OK with the hive. After checking with a gardener, I placed currently-unused fencing in front of the hive. As promised, I will be putting in a sturdier but movable fence as soon as I retrieve it from the country (this weekend at latest).

Garden members who stopped by, including the woman with the plot closest to the hive, welcomed and were interested in the bees which was great. I will be checking the hive about weekly while the bees get settled. I will provide materials about bees for the website as you requested. At some point this summer, it should be possible to have a little bee presentation and show the hive to visitors if that seems appropriate.

I thank you again for welcoming the introduction of the hive.