July 15, 2007
Koi ponds of the LES, NYC
This Saturday I had the extreme pleasure of going on the Green Thumb Koi Extravaganza!
It was a walking tour of some of the Community Gardens on the Lower East Side of Manhattan that have Koi Ponds. They were beautiful!
We started our tour at the 6BC garden. I just Love this Garden!
It is such a jewel tucked away on 6th street between Aves B & C.
You really forget you are in the city when you step into this garden.
The 2 floor freestanding building is such a charmer, with vines reaching for the roof, which has solar collector panels on it that power the waterfall in the Koi Pond.
A big thank you goes out to Cary who spoke for his garden, you guys do amazing work!
Our next stop was 6th and Ave B Garden, this garden was made famous with its large towering sculpture.
This was on the opening shots of NYPD Blues TV series.
This garden also boasts a large performance stage.
William gave us the lowdown on their Koi pond, thank you for all the great info.
Our last garden was on 8th St between Aves C & D.
This garden had the largest of all the Koi ponds we saw that day as well as the oldest it is 20yrs old!
They also have some lovely structures’.
Thank you to Jan, Jim & Asami for their wealth of info on Koi & pond care.
I had such a great morning, hope you enjoy the photos!
July 11, 2007
garden in the dark…..
Well I don’t know what the weather has been like where you are, but here in NYC it has been brutal! So HOT and so HUMID that the heat index is around 105*!!!! YIKES!!! The kind of weather that makes you sweat while you stand still.
Due to this present climate change, I have been saving my garden chores till later in the day.
My grape tomato plant is out of control! Small clusters of baby tomatoes are erupting all over this plant. They needed to be staked better with some support for all this bounty.
Here are some photos of the garden in twilight
July 1, 2007
Oh Baby!
This is what it is all about, growing your own food!You know what this baby has seen it’s whole life. All the good things I have put in its life, the food, water, sunlight, and TLC. I am thrilled at the lack of bad things like pesticides, and any other chemicals that were not in its life. Now to start getting my tomato recipes in order…..as well as some new things this year, Any ideas?
June 24, 2007
Some of my friends in the Garden….
Pansies
Their faces always make me smile
Caladium
I am just in awe of the colors these leaves have
Begonias
There are so many varieties in this glorious family
Hydrangea
How can anyone resist this flower with a thousand flowers in it?
I so love to start my day tending to my friends, watching them grow.
June 17, 2007
still more happy faces…..
I just keep coming back to these happy faces, and boy do they make my day!
How can you have any problems when you see this every am??
Watch how we grow…..
June 16, 2007
Garden Faces
Here are just a few of the smiling faces that greet me in the garden. You can see why I need to come every day! They are my ever changing friends, and boy can they grow! I just cannot wait to see what has changed from the day before; yes……I do indeed take pictures every day! Doesn’t every parent take wayyyyy too many pictures of their new babies? I just can’t help myself……but who can blame me? Please enjoy my babies pictures and come back to watch them grow, I thank you for all your comments; they really mean so much to me!
June 14, 2007
Marrakech Majorelle Gardens
Marrakech Majorelle Gardens
Inspired by a comment about Marrakech, I decided to let my fingers take me around the world to see what grows there. It is just so beautiful!
See so yourself.
My Favorite…..so far…..
I know I know…your not suppose to have favorites…but, of my 7 gardens this one is my favorite. It is a courtyard garden on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The buildings are @ 100 yrs old. There were the two trees, the headless lady and the stained glass, so I kept them. Everything else is new this season (the last few weeks). I will just keep filling in all season, can’t wait! I wanted it to seem kinda fairy like and tranquil….what do you think?
June 11, 2007
To toil in the soil….
How lucky am I? I went from no gardens to 7! One is our Community Garden of course. It was established when we came upon it. The old members were slow to release any space to the newbie’s. They had been through a lot, with the new construction and loss of some old plots. Getting the old members together to discuss the new plot assignment seemed like a lifetime to a gardener…my tomato was waiting for a plot… sitting in a small plastic container. The end of May we got word what was ours to share, between 10 new gardeners (well it is Manhattan). After discussing it with the majority of the new gardeners, I did some landscaping (with what we have).
We had decided that terraced or stepped bed would serve us best. So far we have a tomato, basil, jalapeno pepper, Echinacea, assorted flowers, a bleeding heart, and I am hoping a yellow rose & hydrangea.
It is the journey you know…
June 10, 2007
Ah, Nature the greatest of all Seductresses!
I so love Mother Nature and all her glorious colors! I cannot believe that it has been a month since I have blogged! I have been busy as you will see. I have been gardening, 7 separate ones to be exact. I have started then all from scratch this year. Turning the soil and fortifying it with some nice rich compost, top soil, food and mulch. As many gardeners know, now it is off to the races! I must confess, when it comes to plants and flowers…I am a total shop-aholic! I just cannot control myself.
I will spend my last dollar on some plant that I simply must have, right then and there! The worst/best part of this is that it happens all season long! I will buy till the frost….mums are great then, such a burst of color! So here I am in the beginning of my favorite dance. Off to the various nurseries and farmers markets looking for that special plant, you know the one that is calling you by name.
‘pssst carol, hey look over here….here I am….wouldn’t I look great in that empty corner…or over by that lattice?’ next thing ya know you are carrying it off with a lighter pocket and a smile on your face… But wait there’s more… the joy of actually working the soil, if can remember I do put my gloves on but sometimes…I just cannot wait even that long and I dig right in to the soil bare handed! 
Ahhh gardening, it is a great way to lose yourself and find yourself at the same time.
keep up with carol 
