The 104th Street Community Garden participated in a soil study performed by The Brooklyn College Environmental Sciences Analytic Center. The following is a preliminary release regarding soil samples throughout the city. The overall results do not necessarily reflect the health of our own garden, but do indicate alarming levels of heavy metals, including lead, in New York City soils. We eagerly await the results of the follow up study and will report any results specific to our garden, when the report becomes available.
Brooklyn College results:
“The Brooklyn College Soil Analysis lab received many soil samples from residents throughout New York City. The lab analyzed heavy metal content in the soil with some surprising results. Lead content in some soils were sometimes as high as 2000ppm. As a follow-up pilot study we would like to measure the air quality in and around some of these gardens. Looking at the air quality may show us whether particulates from the soil are getting into the air, and we would like to see if this is happening and to what degree people are breathing in heavy metals as they work/play around the soil. By performing this pilot study we would like to determine if we need to expand our research not into just soil analysis but into air quality surrounding community and private gardens throughout NYC.”
For more information about lead in NYC gardens, read the New York Times article:
For Urban Gardeners, Lead Is a Concern, May 13, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/garden/14lead.html
Lead Remediation tips recommended in this article include:
- The best approach to avoiding lead contamination in gardens is what we do at the West 104th Street Garden: Build raised or contained beds lined with landscape fabric and filled with uncontaminated soil. Plants that are grown in containers with soils from a garden center are unlikely to contain high amounts of lead.
- Replace the contaminated soil or alkalinize it by adding lime or organic matter such as compost. Higher alkalinity (pH level above 7) allows soil particles to bind with lead, making it less likely to be absorbed by plants and the human body if the dirt is inadvertently inhaled or ingested.
- Plant kitchen gardens with fruiting crops like tomatoes, squash, eggplant, corn and beans, which do not readily accumulate lead.
- Avoid lead-leaching crops, such as herbs, leafy greens and root vegetables such as potatoes, radishes and carrots.
- Planting greens, specifically Indian mustard and spinach, for a couple of seasons before growing crops intended for food. This phytoremediation, or plant-based mitigation, allows lead to be removed from the soil. These plants must not be eaten or composted, but disposed of as toxic waste.
- To avoid contamination from lead dust blowing in the wind or rain splashing off lead-painted structures, situate gardens away from buildings.
- Wash edible produce thoroughly with water containing 1 percent vinegar or 0.5 percent soap.
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- Cover soil with sod in areas where you are not planning a garden.
Here are 2 shots of a Hummingbird Hawk Moth, (along with a definition gleaned from wikipedia) some of us spotted on a butterfly bush in the west garden. Apparently they’re somewhat unusual, so a real coup for the garden.
Robin
From wikipedia:
“The Hummingbird Hawk-moth is distributed throughout the northern Old World from Portugal to Japan, but is resident only in warmer climates (southern Europe, North Africa, and points east). It is strongly migratory and can be found virtually anywhere in the hemisphere in the summer. However it rarely survives the winter in northern latitudes (e.g. north of the Alps in Europe, north of the Caucasus in Russia).
Moths in the Hemaris genus of the family Sphingidae are known as “hummingbird moths” in the US, and “bee moths” in Europe, which sometimes causes confusion between this species and the North American genus.
Robin
Daffodil Photo Contest
New Yorkers for Parks has launched a photo contest for the best photo of blooming daffodil flowers. The winner will receive a gift certificate to B&H Photo. Please click here to learn more about the contest.
Daffodil Project Benefit Breakfast
The Annual Daffodil Project Benefit Breakfast will take place on Wednesday, April 22nd, 8:00am-9:30am at the Bryant Park Grill. We hope you will be able to join us. Please RSVP and learn more about the Daffodil Project Benefit Breakfast.
Become a New Yorker for Parks
Donate to NY4P and get great gifts like a Time Out New York magazine subscription. Donate today.
We are now officially registered as a Parks/Recreation- Green Thumb community garden for the next two years. This is very important as the original Attorney General’s Agreement expires in 2009 and all registered gardens weigh in the decision to extend this Agreement another 3 years. One of the major selling points is that these gardens will be open to the public 20 hours a week, including free special events, workdays, neighborhood group uses, etc. Open Hours are to be posted from May through October — and we have 15 of those between Wed., Sat, Sun usual schedule already. Members can submit suggestions for events we can support to offer at our Garden’s Opening Meeting in the Spring.
Also, those of you who signed the GT sheet at our Closing Meeting with your e-mail address will be receiving the GT Program Guide via e-mail this season, all else will continue to receive them and postcards from GT via regular mail.
KUDOS to:
Frank Grech for keeping our sidewalks clear! He’s been BUSY this season!
Jean Jaworek for a fulfilled 2nd Winter Solstice and Can-Do Collection! And to those who bundled up to bring food bundles!
OTHER:
Happy Chinese New Year to all.
This month Edible Landscaping closes the year with thoughts on sunlight, pawpaws and mushrooms. Lucille mentioned that Mary Wakino is a great mushroomer!
Edible Landscaping is on sabbatical until the Spring. If you’d like to continue receiving good gardening information on a regular basis, subscribe to the National Gardening Association’s Regional Reports e-newsletter. In each biweekly report, experts share gardening advice, techniques, news, and events specific to 12 regions across the country.
FYI — I don’tthink any of us grow potatoes, but perhaps leeks? Buy the potatoes for recipe?
And there are some composting tips, too. LM
This month in Edible Landscaping:
Composting 101
It’s fall and at this time of year my mind automatically turns to compost. Okay, it’s not the most glamorous gardening topic in the world, but it’s an ess
ential one. Adding compost to garden soil improves soil health by providing … more »
Edible of the Month: Potato
The common, white-fleshed, “Irish” potato has a reputation for being inexpensive, plain, and boring, so why bother growing potatoes? Well, there’s more to potatoes than meets the eye … more »
Mr. President, Eat the View:
An interview with Roger Doiron
It’s an election year and there are many hot topics on people’s minds. With the economy tanking, fuel prices high, food prices soaring, and concerns about global warming, health care, social security, and education ever present, many people feel … more »
Leek, Celeriac, and Potato Soup
Leeks are easy to grow, but they do require a long growing season. Fortunately, you can harvest them into late fall and some varieties actually taste better once they’ve been nipped by frost. Most leek and potato soups look bland, but my version … more »
October Q & A
Question: Recently, I was wandering through a large garden center and discovered rubber mulch. Can it be used like regular mulch? Is it any good? more >>
October Gardening Tips
- As a family activity, paint some of your pumpkins instead of carving them all. Use nontoxic paints to create colorful, scary faces, or whatever you can imagine. After Halloween, use the pumpkins to make bread, muffins, or pies with the kids.
- Pot up amaryllis, gloxinias, freesias, and other winter-blooming bulbs now for blooms by Christmas.
- Spend some time outside under the Hunter’s Moon. The full moon in mid-October is one of the brightest of the year. Enjoy brisk evening walks before the cold months arrive.
For those with weekend getaways, Lucille’s Deer repellant tip might help. She uses Deer Scram with almost 99% success. Also, deer don’t like/avoid yellow flowers: marigolds, daffodils (only the yellow ones), etc.
This month in the National Gardening Association’s “Celebrating the Seasons” newsletter, Rebecca Kolls writes on Wrapping Up the Season, Boo-wiches or using fall produce to create fanciful sandwiches for the kids, Decorating for Halloween and a tip on caring for a 9-foot-tall arborvitae hedge.
http://www.garden.org/celebratingtheseasons/?page=200810newsSeasons
Hi Garden Members,
Here is the official information.
Please help us make this a fun and community event by:
* Donating decorations / candy
* Donating baked goods to sell at the garden table
* Finding musicians and entertainers for kids to perform
* Coming to our workday on Saturday, October 18th at 10am to clean and decorate the garden
* Spread the word – pick up flyers on the workday to post in your building and on your block
West 104th Street Community Garden Fall Festival
Saturday, October 25th
11am – 4pm
Rain date:
Sunday, October 26th
11am – 4pm
Kids Halloween games and parade – costumes encouraged
1pm – 3pm
There will be:
* entertainment / music
* flea market along the sidewalk in front of the garden gates
* apples, cider and pumpkins for sale
* kids halloween treats, games, face painting
Vendors please call Julia at 212-316-2964
tables spaces are $15 – you must provide your own table
Community events help keep us in good standing with Green Thumb, please help us make this a successful event and get to know your fellow garden members and neighbors.
Thank you.
P.S. See you at the workday!
Saturday, October 18th
10am – we meet near the stage / gazebo
If you have not yet checked out our garden website,
please do and read the great article The Tale of Three Tails
to learn about our hardworking feline friends that keep our garden rat-free!
There are photos too, so you can see what the kitties look like.
Just click this link:
http://www.west104garden.org/cats.php
