About Hollenback

Dear Visitors,

Due to the COVID-19 virus and PAUSE orders in New York State and City, Hollenback will not be allowing any non-members to apply or apprentice for the 2020 season. We are also not allowing visitors into the garden at this time, unfortunately, until we can ensure all members and visitors are safe, with ample space.

In Solidarity,

The members of the Hollenback Community Garden

Join us on Saturday, September 28 between 11am and 3pm for our annual Harvest Festival!

Click here for more information on our awesome fundraiser.

Updated Schedule for 2019:

Wed., March 20: Garden Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m. at Library
Sat, April 27: Garden Meeting & Workday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garden
Wed., May 15: Garden Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m. at Garden (weather permitting)
Sat., May 25: Garden Workday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garden
Sat., June 15: Garden Meeting & Workday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garden
Wed., July 10: Garden Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m. at Garden (weather permitting)
Sat., July 20: Garden Workday + OPEN GARDEN DAY, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garden
Sat, Aug 10 2019 : Saturday Storytime from 11:00 am – 12:00 pm at the Clinton Hill Library.
Sat., Aug. 17: Garden Meeting & Workday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garden
Sat., Sept. 14: BQLT Community Garden Tour
Wed. Sept. 18: Garden Meeting, 6:30-8 p.m. at Garden
Sat., Sept. 21: Garden Workday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garden
Sat., Sept. 28: HARVEST FEST 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garden
Sat., Oct. 19: Garden Meeting & Workday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garden
Sat, Nov. 16: Closing Workday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garden

Planting the Seeds of Our Garden…

The Hollenback Community Garden began in 1980, through the hard work and dedication of community members who saw possibility in a lot rendered empty by the fire that destroyed the Hollenback Mansion. Brick by brick, and wheel barrow by wheel barrow they cleaned up the site and then seed by seed, they created beauty from destruction. During the Guiliani Administration in the late 1990s, Hollenback was one of the gardens saved by the Trust for Public Land (TPL). In 2011, TPL turned the deed for Hollenback over to the local Brooklyn Queens Land Trust.

Views of the garden from above!

Who are we?

We are currently about 65 gardeners, each working in individual plots as well as sharing responsibility for communal areas used by the garden membership and the larger community. Our garden is part of the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust, a coalition of 34 community gardens. To read more, check out our By Laws and Membership Commitment

What do we do?

☼ The garden is a place for garden members from the community to produce locally grown food

☼ The gardeners preserve a flourishing green oasis for the community (everyone from neighbors to the butterflies, bees and birds) to visit and enjoy, contributing to overall neighborhood beautification. Just outside of our gates, we also have two Welcome Gardens that were selected by Brooklyn Botanical Garden as the best Community Garden Streetscape in their 2009 Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest. Check out our ever growing list of plant diversity at Hollenback. When we can we also try to plant flowers in the tree pits on our block of Washington Avenue.

☼ We make all garden decisions democratically at monthly meetings

☼ Hollenback offers several community events every season, including live music, movies, BBQs, garden workshops, and tours

☼ Gardeners strive to deepen and share their gardening knowledge and experience

Sustainablility in the Garden

☼ Our garden harvests rainwater from a neighboring rooftop, and stores it in a 700 gallon tank. This reduces both our use of potable water and the amount of rainwater that goes into the city’s overworked sewer system. You can find more information on rainwater harvesting in the city from the Water Resources Group. To read an informative article from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden on rainwater harvesting, check out “Rainwater Harvesting”

☼ Composting at Hollenback: Our perspective is that we can provide an alternate system of organic waste management to our community. Organic materials that go to waste in landfills, produce methane gas and other pollutants that can leech into the soil. At Hollenback we seek to enable the natural decomposition process, which is safer for the environment – we seek to harness a valuable resource instead of wasting one.

The Hollenback Community Garden was proud to have been part of the Fort Greene Compost Project, a network of gardens that promoted solid waste reduction by collecting approximately 500 pounds of household food waste each Saturday from the Fort Greene Park Greenmarket. We combined that collected material with garden plant waste, local brewery waste, local landscaping waste and cafe coffee grounds, to produce valuable soil amendment.

The compost we produce is used in our garden and neighborhood tree pits, and by community members. We believe strongly in our composting system, not only for its production of rich, organic fertilizer but for enabling us to do our part in making our community more environmentally viable.

Our compost system has been used as a working educational model by the Master Composting Class from The Lower Eastside Ecology Center, as well as by GreenThumb, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Queens Botanical Garden and several workshops, other community gardens & public school classes. Our compost has even been featured on Japanese television. For more information about composting in NY, check out The New York City Composting Project

Read a NY Times article about food waste, from May 18, 2008 – “One Country’s Table Scraps, Another Country’s Meal

☼ In 2007, we installed a composting toilet in our garden. This unit allows us to provide restroom facilities for visitors and gardeners, without having to depend on the non-sustainable, chemical, and costly involvement of a rented port-o-potty. Our composting toilet processes human waste and converts it into organic compost and fertile soil. Click here for more details on how it works. We hope that the presence of the composting toilet will serve as a further platform for our garden, and our community, to learn more ways to harness every resource we can when it comes to supporting our planet from the strain we place upon it. Our deepest gratitude to the Battery Park City Conservancy and the Park Avenue Building Supply for their time and efforts in helping us succeed in this project. To read a brief history of all the people who came together to bring this toilet to the garden, click here. We unveiled the toilet on May 10, 2008.

To learn more about composting humanure…

Read author Catherine Price‘s series on the current “humanure” movement
Watch videos about Humanure, created by Joseph Jenkins

Highlights of the Summer

In Memory

In 2007, we lost a dear friend and a founding member of the garden, Ms. Gertrude Jefferson. We miss you, Gertrude.

Visitors are Welcome!

☼ Any time the front gate is open, please come in for a visit. Stop in, smell and admire the flowers, talk to gardeners, sit and read or just relax in the shade. Bring your family and your sketchbook. Share your knowledge and your questions.

☼ Respect the hard work of all the gardeners by not picking any fruits, vegetables or flowers. Also make sure to let them know that their hard work is noticed and appreciated.

Contact Us

☼ To get more information,offer input, inquire about membership, see about holding an event, join our mailing list, find out how you can help, learn about community events, ask a question, or make a request, you can reach the garden steering committee at hollenbackcommunitygarden@gmail.com