u/12stTales

Saw this painting in Amsterdam and immediately started salivating like I’m about to peel off the leaf

Started this project in Bushwick Brooklyn NYC in these dead hellstrips in 2023. Dug up all the compacted soil, installed fencing, started planting. Suffered all kinds of vandalism, theft, human and dog poop, $ down the drain, even got stuck with a drug needle. But by end of season 2 (2024) had a respectable patch of swamp rose, swamp milkweed and a few other (mostly) native plants making it in this hostile environment. In Feb 2025 nearly everything was massacred by the supermarket “cleaning up the dead plants.” Luckily the swamp rose was too tough to kill, and the milkweeds remained protected underneath. Some road work silted the whole garden over and things were at a low point.

I made peace (again) with the grocery store and went back at it. Determined not to lose more money I just planted from seeds I collected and very cheap plugs from a local grower. By last summer things were as lush as ever. I got my first monarch caterpillar and raised it to release. Everything made it safely through the winter due to sturdier fencing, heavy snow and peace with my neighbors.

This year I could focus on filling in blank patches, and watching the mature plants get super robust. I had a great day when I saw 3 monarchs on one plant.

My most successful plants so far are the swamp rose, swamp milkweed, evening primrose, flattop goldenrod, late boneset, blue vervain. Emerging plants hopefully for filling in are bee balm, seaside goldenrod, early goldenrod, false sunflower.

Big takeaways are — expect the worst, plan on a long time horizon, protect your plants, let the site select for hardiness, don’t spend too much money, make friends along the way!

Turn invasive species into fashion accessories! Seen in Burlington VT USA

Two crisscrossed bikes; both sets of handlebars completely draped in poison ivy

These evening primroses in their first year are flowering here in my guerilla garden. Nice surprise.

So I’ve been frustrated the last year or so working with my tumbler. It doesn’t get hot, and produces sticky compost that never quite finishes to the right texture. I took inspiration from a post a few months ago and decided to build a compost (finishing) tower out of bricks.

I spent 2-1/2 months scavenging mismatching bricks until I finally found a dumpster full and made 10 trips on my bike carrying them home. The ground wasn’t level so I needed to first lay down some gravel to even out the area. The build didn’t quite conform to a cylinder and seemed to naturally narrow to a slight cone as I built up. I read online that would make it more stable, so I went with it.

In there I dumped first a bunch of sticks and cedar cuttings. Then I dumped in the younger side of my tumbler (sticks and kitchen waste), then the aging side (composting mud). I topped it with mostly finished compost that I had sitting in buckets.

My plan here is to let it cook the rest of the summer and maybe start pulling off the top when I need soil again, maybe in March.

Wish me luck!!

Went to fill in my address for a waiver for this business. I put in my street, state and zip. Instead of “city”, they just assume you live in a suburb. In my case it was required to indicate which suburb my New York City address was in.

Tumbler finally crossed 80 degrees… would happy except it’s 90 degrees outside

This one plant looks pretty far into flowering. I thought it would reveg on its own but it seems not. I didn’t want to cut anything because the remaining leaves were so sparse to begin with. Any advice?

First timer

So my Brooklyn guerrilla garden has a sort of bald patch this spring. Maybe the road salt got to it, or the freeze, or the leaf matting. But I realized the concrete cracks are full of seedlings of evening primrose and late boneset. So I took advantage of the wet and transplanted them all back into the blank wet patch. Hoping this is all bushy and filled up again by July or August. There are still seedlings of swamp milkweed coming up so maybe I’m just being impatient.

These bad boys have been in my yard a couple months in partial sun (2-3 direct hours per day). I have clearance to move them up to my roof (full blast sun). Will the plants have any trouble adjusting? Do they need any extra water or care in the transition?

When should I move them up to 10g felt pots?