The Garden’s History
1983
2022
Early History
When the Brooklyn Queens Expressway was built in the 1960s, a small wedge of earthen land was left over next to its offramp at the north end of Brooklyn Heights. For the next twenty years, this land was used as dumpsite, piled high with construction debris and household trash. In the 1980s, concerned neighbors had the stuff hauled away and put a fence around the site to prevent further dumping. They seeded a lawn, planted a few ornamentals, and brought in lawn chairs. NYC DOT contributed two Siberian Elms, a thorny Honey Locust, a native Pagoda Dogwood, a pair of Heritage Roses, and a Yew. When, for unknown reasons, the site was abandoned, Ailanthus trees, mugwort, and other weeds took over.
The Poplar St. Community Garden was born in 1994 when Pete and Sue Eikenberry, who lived a few doors up the street, jumped the fence and started digging up weeds, planting a vegetable garden, and putting in a few herbaceous perennials. Gardeners joining them over the next decade continued bit by bit to shape the terrain, make pathways, and create a variety of planting areas. Traditional garden plants, roses, perennial herbs, fruiting trees and shrubs, and many plants native to the region were spotted around in accordance with the growing conditions they required. Raised beds for personal plots were set up along the Garden's sunny east-west spine. A White Pine was planted in the late 1990s, an apricot tree in 2007. One of the large Heritage Roses was transplanted in 2005, the other in 2009.
The Land Restoration Crew of the NYC Parks Department helped with major challenges like bringing the overgrown but half-dead apple trees down to manageable size, and hoisting 7'-long curbing stones over the Garden's fence to make a stone sidewalk along the street.
All the while, attention was given to healing the soil, nurturing the plants, encouraging nutrient cycling, addressing water needs, and serving birds and insects. A beehive was brought to the Garden in 2011.
The Garden has been licensed by NYC DPR GreenThumb from its earliest days.
Building the Little House
Northeast Corner
Building the Garden
2008-2012
We shaped the Garden's “top” corner using curbing stones for steps and cobble stones for a retaining wall, and we built a 'squash trellis' for vining annual vegetables.
2011-2013
We reshaped the Garden’s narrow apex, leveling the ground to put in a beekeeping workspace, an insectary-herb garden, and a new path for easy access. We built a new 'Little House', modeling it on the home-made child's playhouse that had been the Garden's charming centerpiece from its earliest days, but making it half again as large and lining it with shelves for storing tools and supplies.
2014
We took out the flimsy three-bin compost system made of recycled pallets and built a large and sturdy one of long-lasting materials.
2014
We built a retaining wall of large stones next to the entrance.
2016
We accepted the donation of a 'charming bench' and repainted it, and we took advantage of Green Guerilla's vertical gardening program to replace the 'squash trellis' in the southeast corner with a much sturdier one.