Composting at Brunswick Garden
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Brunswick Community Garden is proud to offer a comprehensive composting program for its members. Members have 24/7 access to drop off their food scraps whenever most convenient for them. We accept fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, as well as seasonal items like pumpkins and corn stalks. Collected material is mixed, formed into a pile and managed by the Brunswick compost team throughout the decomposition process. After 3 - 6 months the pile is screened and the resulting compost is made available for use in the garden. Creating this rich, organic material closes the circle on food recycling, removing organic matter from the waste stream, to be used locally for the benefit of the community.
Composting harnesses the natural process of decomposition by utilizing microorganisms that are already present in the environment. At Brunswick, we leverage an aerobic form of composting, were microbes consume oxygen as they undergo their biological processes, breaking down the organic matter. The compost team manages the levels of moisture, oxygen and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio to keep the compost pile in balance. By creating optimal conditions for the microbes to flourish, we are able to turn food waste into healthy soil.
Last year Brunswick Community Garden took in over 800 pounds of compostable material and we want to see that number grow!
Become a member this season and help us curb greenhouse gas emissions, reduce our solid waste, and start rebuilding the soil in Jersey City.
BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ
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Our resident Bee Keeper is Mufti Ahmed, a Hamilton Park resident and a happy honey bee beekeeper.
2018 is the first year his hives have been living in the Brunswick Community Garden, a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Mufti started everything from scratch while consulting with a professional beekeeper along the way.
The honey bees seem to bee happy creating fresh honeycomb, foraging and pollinating. Each hive contains a colony of bees which consists of one queen, workers and drones. Beekeeping in this urban environment requires dedicated special attention to ensure the honey bees have adequate resources and space to grow their colony.
Mufti's interests are expanding to learning more about the sustainable impact of honey bees, blossom fields, pollination, education, research, honey bee conservation and much more.
"So far it's been an interesting journey and I'm looking forward to continuing this adventure for many years to come".
EDUCATION at Brunswick Garden
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The Scandinavian School of Jersey City has had a plot for several years. Teachers come with a class of children to plant and work on their plot. Parents help also. The Health and Food Club at McNair Academic High School is growing a variety of plants in containers. An informal group of children with an adult (member) comes often to the Garden in the afternoons, even during the off-season.
Within the Garden community we occasionally have short presentations at the beginning of a monthly work party. More regularly, there is a lot of informal education and information transfer that takes place during those work parties, when people work together on a project. People learn what is a weed, what is not, what various plants are and what is happening with the compost and the bees.
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We encourage group visits to the space -
to schedule a time for a field trip with your group please send us a note at BrunswickCommunityGarden@gmail.com
BUTTERFLY GARDEN
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The butterfly garden is planted with plants that attract and support butterflies.
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We have a Butterfly Bush, Buddleia, and a great many native wild milkweed plants.
The Milkweed Plants are very important for the life cycle of Monarch Butterflies.
Feral Cat Colony
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The colony of seven or more Cats at the space pre dates the garden itself.
For years, aside from an elderly woman who used to feed them by pushing food under the gate,
they were primarily ignored.
Adam Ginsburg and his wife Daniella began looking after them around 2007. In addition to their daily feedings they also take care of their medical needs.
All the cats are part of the local TNR program. TNR is TrapNeuterRelease - a program where feral cats are trapped then either spayed or neutered, given a rabies shot and ear tipped which is a universal symbol to indicate they have been TNRd.
The colony cats are Midnight, Oreo, Little P, KitKat, Mini P, China Girl and Spice.
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Under No Circumstance should anybody
donate or dump a cat in the garden.
This is an intact bonded colony
and it needs to remain so.
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If interested in donating, please contact Adam
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SUNFLOWERS at Brunswick Garden
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The sunflowers have been around longer than many people can remember and have become an informal icon of the space. In the Summer of 2017 one stalk reached higher than 12 feet.
They seed themselves so prolifically that the seedlings have to be weeded each Spring.
When the flowers are finished we keep the seed heads for birds. Goldfinches are particularly noticeable during that time in the Garden.
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Sunflowers are among the best plants for phytoremediation of lead and other toxins.
The common sunflower has been the subject of numerous studies and is used to extract heavy metals and toxins including Lead, Uranium, Strontium, Cesium, Chromium, Cadmium, Copper, Magnesium, Nickel, and Zinc.
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If you’re looking to clean up your soil, or just want to enjoy the beauty of these flowers in your garden, here are some great varieties to try:
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Soraya — a nice bright orange sunflower that grows to about 6 feet with a single stem.
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Ring of Fire — a multicolored starbust sunflower that’s around 3 to 4 feet tall.
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Russian Mammoth — a beautiful yellow flower that can grow to be 8 feet tall!
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Velvet Queen — red and orange with burgundy undertones and grows to an average of 5 feet.