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GreenBridge Community Horticulture

Community

GreenBridge, the community environmental horticulture program of Brooklyn Botanic Garden, promotes urban greening through education, conservation, and creative partnerships. GreenBridge is building a vibrant network of people, places, and projects dedicated to making Brooklyn a greener place. Twice yearly, the GreenBridge Gardener newsletter provides details on workshops, events, and information about community gardening. To request a free copy, call 718-623-7250. GreenBridge projects include the following:

Fall GreenBridge Workshops

GreenBridge workshops are free, but space is limited. Preregistration is required; call 718-623-7220. Registration begins on Monday, August 3, 2009, at 9 a.m.

Building Cold Frames to Extend the Season

Lis Thomas

Learn the basic skills needed to construct a cold frame out of low-cost or found materials. In addition to a hands-on building demonstration, this workshop will cover other season-extension techniques like row covers and cloches. Cover crops and crops that can be harvested through fall and winter will be discussed. This class will spend time outdoors, so please dress appropriately.

Thursday, September 10 | 6–8 p.m.
No charge, but registration is required.

Street Tree Care

Karla Osorio-Pérez

Street trees do much to improve our environment, but they often receive little care. In this class, learn the benefits of street trees and how to improve the health of a street tree by caring for its bed. Get tips on amending soil, mulching, watering, pruning, and tree-bed gardening. Bring your street-tree care questions and find out more about the city's efforts to increase and protect the urban forest canopy.

Thursday, September 17 | 6–8 p.m.
Thursday, November 5 | 6–8 p.m.
No charge, but registration is required.

Starting a Children's Garden

Lis Thomas and Sara Scott

Would you like to develop a children's garden at your school, block association, or neighborhood organization? This workshop will provide tips for adult leaders who want to organize a children's gardening program. Learn how to plan your program and what tools and plant materials are needed to get growing. You will receive a free activity booklet and visit our children's education greenhouse for hands-on activities.

Thursday, October 15 | 6–8 p.m.
No charge, but registration is required.

Rainwater Harvesting

Lenny Librizzi

Learn the benefits of reducing your dependence on NYC water and minimizing storm water flows into our sewers by collecting rainwater for use in your garden. It's easy to use roofs from nearby buildings and garden sheds to harvest rainwater. Come learn about the different types of rainwater harvesting systems being used throughout NYC community gardens from simple pickle barrels to large tanks, and get tips on how to build your own.

SECTION FULL.
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Thursday, October 22 | 6–8 p.m.
No charge, but registration is required.

Getting to Know Your Soil

Karla Osorio-Pérez and Uli Lorimer

Interested in knowing more about your soil? Concerned about safely growing food in urban soils? This class will demonstrate several easy diagnostic activities for learning about your soil. How to take a soil sample for testing will be demonstrated as well as interpreting lab results. You'll also receive tips on improving urban soils.

SECTION A AND B ARE FULL.
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Section A: Wednesday, October 28 | 6–8 p.m.
Session B: Tuesday, November 17 | 6–8 p.m.
No charge, but registration is required.

Introduction to Permaculture

Claudia Joseph

Permaculture is a design approach based on interpreting natural patterns for human benefit. Learning how to read the land and planning for long-term development are two objectives of this workshop. Permaculture works on all scales and levels. Discussion will cover topics ranging from choosing and using plants in groupings to observing and utilizing the elemental forces of wind, water, and sun.

SECTION FULL.
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Tuesday, November 10 | 6–8 p.m.
No charge, but registration is required.