Planting season kicks off with North Brooklyn Parks Alliance at Bushwick Inlet Park
Volunteers work in the dirt and love it
The volunteers at work at Bushwick Inlet Park. Photo by John McCarten
By Mandie-Beth Chau
May 14, 2024
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BUSHWICK INLET PARK — North Brooklyn Parks Alliance began the first of a series of spring garden initiatives in the key open spaces of Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick last weekend. The Garden Club initiative at Bushwick Inlet Park gathered volunteers and horticulturists from the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance to revive the diverse waterfront space on May 11. The young park has faced many battles, most recently with overgrown weeds that threaten the indigenous wildlife.
“The main issue with this park is that it was installed as a native plant meadow and intended to support the wildlife here like our native insects, bees and birds,” said Director of Strategy and Communications at NBK Parks Karrie Witkin. “Unfortunately, it became overrun almost immediately with invasive species. Those plants that are intended to grow here get choked out by plants that don’t actually serve biodiversity and don’t serve the creatures that live here at all.”
The Garden Club addressed the weeds and overgrowth by digging out invasive species like mugwort. As they worked, horticulturist Jeff Hewitt defined each plant and explained the park’s ecosystem.
“As an environmentalist and horticulturist, there’s always been an emphasis on creating gardens where gardens are difficult to be made,” said Jeff Hewitt, the first Horticultural Stewardship Manager at Bushwick Inlet Park. “It has a lot of challenges, but we’re meeting those challenges by mustering the community and getting people to jump in and bring about a vision that was started in the community 20 or 30 years before when there was a clamoring for green spaces.”
“We’ve been doing Garden Club for the last several years. It’s a program that we developed during the pandemic, but originally, it was primarily focused at Under the K Bridge Park,” said Katie Denny Horowitz, Executive Director of the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance. “We had some one-offs here in Bushwick Inlet Park last year. As we started this season, we wanted more regular, dedicated stewardship programming that was in every space where we had dedicated gardeners.”
SUNSET PARK — “As a resident of Marine Park, one of the great surprises I found biking around Industry City and visiting Japan Village was to discover Bush Terminal Park. I continue to be amazed at the serene hideaways that the city offers in some of the busiest places — and, still, with an iconic view.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — ‘A miracle that no one was killed …’ That’s what neighbors are saying about the collapse of the Hotel St. George marquee. Shown in this photograph are workmen beginning the removal and repair of the historic, old neon sign at the corner, referencing a relic of Brooklyn Heights’ past: the St. George Hotel.
ATLANTIC AVENUE — Exhausted shopper with cluster of bags and goods from mall at Boerum Place stops to look at huge construction site across the street. “Is that REALLY going to be a jail??” Her male companion is reassuring, “Nothing like Rikers … this is 21st Century.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Overheard in line at one of most popular pastry outlets on Montague Street: “Hope I can get them into a camp …” A mother with two pre-schoolers in tow was showing a friend the Dodge Y flyer for Healthy Kids Day on Saturday, April 18.
