The Brooklyn Barge is a great on-going project where we get to design on an industrial water front. Besides being on of the hotspots in NYC, The Barge is involved in restoring the eco-system and the oysters in the harbor. Want a great place to kick back at night The Brooklyn Barge is the place.

In four, whirlwind days we transformed a property that was in excavation mode for quite a while.

Two young professionals with children wanted beautiful gardens easy to care for and deer resistant. And, they wanted instant privacy. Our client happened to be a contractor so he knew the business and knew what we had to do to transform the landscape within his timeframe. We only had four days until the lawn was installed. 

The recently purchased brownstone in Brooklyn needed revitalization - the gardens were outdated and neglected in both the front and back. The client is a busy professional and an avid gardener and wanted to participate from start to finish. She wanted to create unique spaces for her and her daughter. 

It began with a beautiful selection of certified organic herbs used to design the containers for the back patio and an assortment of annuals to create decorative containers for the front steps.

In the front garden, we had to remove yards of landscape fabric and old red mulch. After amending the soil, we cleaned up and relocated salvageable plants and shrubs to reclaim space,  planted native perennials, pollinators, a beautiful crepe myrtle and rose. And finally, we used an organic dark mulch to create a more natural environment. 

The back garden was cleaned and the soil was amended with organic soil, compost, and fertilizer.  Existing shrubs were also pruned. We left the client with a garden that fit the old brownstone - with character, beauty and interest.

ROOMS with a VIEW, at Southport Congregational Church in Connecticut is a gathering of top interior designers for charity. Each year 12 incredible designers are invited to create vignettes that are staged in the library and great hall of this historic Gothic Revival church. 

We designed the exterior containers for the event to showcase the Home for the Holidays theme. We also created several containers for the indoor tables. Our approach was to use elements from the area, searching the woods and shores to accent the bamboo trees we found nearby with dried flowers, shells and native fruits.  For the massive Gothic facade we needed the design to make a statement - not overdone, but very natural. We accented the greens with a sprinkle of white lights.

The owner of the farm-to-table restaurant wanted organic herbs their chefs could use, as well as their patrons to see from the dining area and outside patio. The owner also wanted flowers - hot colors - mixed with the vegetables and herbs. Throughout the patio, we mixed both vegetables, herbs, and flowers, creating an oasis from a busy intersection in Norwalk, CT. 

We were hired by the realtor who sold the house to our client to give this once-gorgeous English garden some TLC. The property's extensive gardens needed some serious definition, as well as tree and bush pruning. We literally cleared the way for the new owner to see what she had in her English gardens. We left the client with gardens to begin re-designs using the plants she already had in her gardens.

Don't let anyone tell you New Yorkers don't know a plant from a man-hole. We're working with some New York transplants who want an ambitious organic vegetable garden. Our clients are hands-on and want to learn. Here are designs for a Spring to Fall garden. 

We were hired to create a completely organic berry bed and vegetable garden using companion planting and hatching praying mantids as our only means of pest control. We planted strawberries, blueberries and raspberries along the existing fence and used netting and bamboo which was gifted by a local resident trying to tame their bamboo forest. The existing vegetable bed turned out to be pressure treated wood (not good) which gave us the opportunity to redesign the space. We called in a good friend who did an amazing job working with us to create the fencing.

We managed these gardens as well as perennial plantings from spring until late fall.

Another lovely vegetable garden that just needed a bit of TLC. After cleaning it up, we planted organic fruit bushes, culinary herbs, lots of seasonal vegetables, and created a wildflower bed for beauty and for our pollinators. 

Another year going and growing wild and organic at Oak + Almond.

This year we transplanted the herbs from one of the raised beds into containers and planted a flower bed instead, providing a food source for our local pollinators and a cutting garden for the restaurant.

Planting with containers are great because it’s such an accent to a patio, front of the house, around the pool or in the garden. Decorative tropicals, annuals, hardy perennials, organic vegetables and herbs packed with vitamins and minerals, can be planted in containers. With our clients’ aesthetics, lifestyles and environments in mind, we love designing with all these plants and more throughout the seasons and maintaining them to perfection. If you are the DIY type, think of empty containers around your home you aren’t using - such as wine boxes - that can be used for planting.

We built an organic vegetable garden in the front yard. More sun. The Manhattan transplant was accustomed to using all available land in the city to grow - regardless if the planting was in the front or back of the house. It’s rare that we see a client building one in their front yard. We were excited to break the trend.

Picking plants for The Brooklyn Barge has been a learning experience. Some that we thought would be hardy to withstand the wind, sun and drought-like conditions, didn’t make it, including the Pampas grass, which is pretty tough and equally tough to get rid of in your landscape. We planted in deep long boxes along a fence, figuring it would be a great privacy-screen: the grass grows between 10 to 13 feet tall and has a six-foot wide spread. (Note: if you plant in the landscape they can really take over a garden and the self-sowing seeds can sprout in almost any kind of soil.)
 
So we were surprised they didn’t make it. We had a lot of wet weather on the East Coast and their roots looked damp and unhappy when we pulled them up. The other beds with Karl Foersters looked great and they survived a tough winter and wet season. They had more direct sun beating down on them. They were planted in tall containers made out of recycled wood. The grasses, which grow 5 to 6 feet tall and 2 to 3 feet wide, work great against the high-industrial walls. We wanted a linear architectural growth pattern. They also make a dramatic statement in a garden or meadow.
 
Rising up to about six feet, Feather Reed Grass with its tall elegant feathery blooms is famous for waving in the wind, adding motion to the landscape, even with the slightest breeze.

We also planted lots of perennial salvias (sages) that can take hot and dry conditions and that would bloom all summer long. 
 
As an underpinning of plants to add color we planted Coral Bells (Heuchera). They tend not to like dry, hot soil, but using them as ground cover, along with Hostas, The grasses and salvias provided protection against the sun. 

We also planted grapes last year which are bearing fruit now. Next season, we will use a trellis to support the vines. We will probably have to do the same with the hops as they are so much stronger than last year.

We let the plants do their thing and be wild to fit into the gritty and graphite landscape of The Brooklyn Barge. 

This is us and our 1st year Victory Garden - our grand experiment!

We’ve been thinking for a long time about food insecurity and social justice and how to make good food accessible, affordable and healthy. Between Covid-19 and food shortages and before then, lettuces driven 1000’s of miles only to cause e-coli outbreaks, we decided this was the time to see what we can grow!

Our 3 plots are ruled by organic growing methods, succession plantings and companion planting for happy and healthy yields. We will be posting our progress along the way.

So far, we have planted organic seeds and starts. We have all sorts of lettuces and kale and onions. We have beets, spinach, swiss chard, zucchini, radishes, potatoes, leeks, carrots and parsnips and some volunteer tomatoes (meaning seeds that fell last fall that started growing in the spring). Next, we will plant more tomatoes and peppers.

If this experiment is successful, we hope to find some land and dream of a greenhouse so we can feed those in need year round.

We are also available to design, install and maintain organic vegetable, fruit and pollinator gardens and we can teach you and your kids about growing, harvesting and the importance of our pollinators. And of course you will have luscious homegrown organic food to put on your table!