Prospect Farm

A small piece of land (about 5,000 square feet) in Brooklyn dedicated to contributing to local, healthy alternatives to the industrial food system.
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Stop by 1194 Prospect Avenue btw Seeley and Vanderbilt Sts to watch us grow or volunteer.

10/17/2022

Join us this Saturday for our Fall Open Garden event! There will be garden tours, live music & fun for everyone 🍁🌾🍂

06/01/2022

Join us this weekend!

04/15/2022

Join us 4/23!

01/14/2021

Found this little guy blooming in the "Prospect Heights" bed (behind the compost bins) yesterday!

06/14/2020

Great news! Our seed library is being restocked for the current growing season, mostly with heirloom varieties. Thank you to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for the generous donation!

Here is the list of some of the varieties to be stocked:

CORN (Bronze Orange and Atomic Orange)
CUCUMBER (Early Russian, China Jade, Sweet Garden, and F1 Burpless hybrid)
WHEAT (White Sonora)
WATERMELON (Blacktail Mountain, Moon & Stars, Jubilee, and Ledmon)
MELON (Mother Mary's Pie)

Please note that these are current-season crops and are meant to be planted now (by mid-June at the latest).

We ask that folks limit themselves to 3–5 packets at a time.

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Some general information on planting these crops:

CORN
Sow seeds in a sunny, wind-protected area. Plant in blocks rather than long rows for better pollination. Seeds should be planted 2-3 per hole, about 1-2 inches deep. Plantings should be approximately 12-15 inches apart, and rows should be 30-36 inches apart. If more than one seed sprouts from a single planting, they should be thinned to the strongest sprout. Because corn matures all at once, succession plant every other week for 6 weeks to ensure a steady supply. Mulch plants to retain moisture and suppress weeds.

CUCUMBER
Create one-foot mounds about 2.5 feet apart; plant 5 seeds in each mound. Once plants are 3-4 inches tall, thin to one in each mound, leaving the strongest plant. Trellis cukes to save space and make weeding, mulching and harvesting easier. It is best to succession plant cucumbers every 2 weeks until late summer. Radishes are a great companion plant for cucumbers. A layer of mulch will retain moisture and suppress weeds.

WHEAT
All grains need a sunny location. Till up the area to be planted to a depth of at least 6 inches. Broadcast seed into cultivated soil so that the seeds are about 3 inches (7 cm) apart and one-half inch (1 cm) deep. No thinning is required. Increase spacing to 8 inches (20cm) apart when growing wheat with other cover crops.

WATERMELON
Sow in full sun, preferably where no other melons, squashes or cucumbers have grown for at least three years, to reduce the likelihood of diseases. Sow one-half inch deep and 12 inches apart, in rows 6 feet apart. If the soil temperature is right, sprouts appear in just a few days. Thin if necessary to stand 2-3 feet apart in the row. The vines soon begin to “run” and easily travel 6 feet from the roots as they grow. During this time, control weeds, keep the patch well watered, and watch for watermelon pests.

MELON
Plant seeds on mounds or hills 12 to 24 inches (30-60 cm) high, space mounds 4 to 6 feet (1.2-1.8 m) apart; this will allow melon vines to run down the mounds allowing fruit to gain maximum exposure to the sun. Do not overwater melons; they do not like wet feet. Instead, just water when the soil becomes dry.

For lots more information and instructions, please visit the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds website at rareseeds.com

More detailed planting instructions for each crop can be found in the comments. Happy planting!

06/11/2020

Grateful for an amazing and bountiful donation from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds for our Seed Library!

05/18/2020

Spring goes on at Prospect Farm. 1.-2. Peas coming in nicely, climbing their twine and found-object trellises. 3. New babies: white eggplants just transplanted. 4. A favorite spot among the bluebells.

05/14/2020

NYC zero waste is sharing tips and classes of composting at home to help people cope with the shut down of city compost pickup, farmer's market dropoff, and temporary suspensions at most community gardens due to volume, including ours. Check it out! They are also hosting a webinar, May 21st "Zero Waste NYC Workshop: Creative Ways to Compost in NYC", register here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/zero-waste-nyc-workshop-creative-ways-to-compost-in-nyc-tickets-104687569338

05/13/2020

Hardening off some plant babies. Spring marches on! several different kinds of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash.

05/08/2020

Attention all composers: after tomorrow, 5/9, we will begin a temporary moratorium on food scrap collection at Prospect Farm. See statement below for details, and sign up to the mailing list (link on final image) to be alerted when collection resumes.

05/07/2020

Look at these plum babies! We have to thin them out so the trees don't do a "June Drop" to conserve energy, but there are some good recipes like and

05/04/2020

10 Years of Prospect Farm - Check out what's happening! https://mailchi.mp/6d3ab85ef8fc/10-years-of-prospect-farm. (not on our mailing list? sign up here https://bit.ly/3f7KxJX)

04/26/2020

We made a free with some surplus we had. Right now it's locked, but we're working on rigging something so that it can be opened/stay closed without the key, and making a little shelf inside for a two-story setup -- after this it will be ready to load up with seed packets! Stay tuned! @ Prospect Farm

04/22/2020

Happy Earth Day! ♥️🌎 We miss you and can't wait to have everyone to the garden again soon. @ Prospect Farm

04/19/2020

Happy Earth Day, again! We’re doing another leaving out some more freebies today: seeds, seedlings, and some garden pots and other gear. We’ll have the table out from 10-3. @ Prospect Farm

04/18/2020

Tomorrow was supposed to be our annual open house...we are celebrating instead with seed and seedling giveaways during our compost hours on Saturday 11-12! Come by (with a mask on) if you need anything for your home or container garden. We are going to leave a free seed box with some of our surplus on the fence after, too, since seed distributors are overwhelmed right now! @ Prospect Farm

04/16/2020

Spring is here! 1. New wider steps made with brick gabions. 2. Peas coming up for their second year. 3. Our lilac bush in bloom for the FIRST TIME after being planted years ago! Never give up. 🙌 4. Mark our words: it will be the Year of the Strawberry.

03/25/2020

We are closed to the public for the duration of the NY State PAUSE order. We are still accepting compost on Saturdays 11-12, drop off at the gate when garden member is present, no entry.

Members, please review our policies for working in the garden alone, posted here: https://prospectfarm.org/2020/03/24/covid-19-update/

In better news, nature is not on pause! Strawberries are coming in, field peas we put in as cover crops in the Fall are sprouting, garlic is up, perennial herbs are coming back, and plum trees are flowering. Some members of team infrastructure are putting in more gabions to reinforce pathways.

03/21/2020

We are still getting the garden ready...staying 6 ft away from each other. If you want to come by this weekend and help, we'll be there Saturday 10-1. We are working on policies to minimize number of people in the garden at the same time and to encourage "solo gardening".

02/26/2020

Look who's blooming! from our pruning session last weekend, bloomed after 5 days in a vase. Looking forward to seeing them do it outside soon!

02/24/2020

🤓 alert...seeds, snacks, maps, calendars...planting planning meeting for the @ Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn

02/22/2020

Pruned the fruit trees today with the help of Larry Lapensee, our friendly local arborist. Took home some of the small pieces with plum/apricot buds that will bloom in a vase. Crocuses daffodils and tulips are coming up! @ Prospect Farm

02/03/2020

First planning meeting of the season. Old & new friends and a pile of seed catalogs. 💚 @ Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn

12/07/2019

Tom H and Jo helped to load and unload compost generated by at community garden. The reusable coffee bags are cool, donated by @ BK ROT

11/05/2019

Late fall garden...found some rogue 2019 garlic cloves that were fall sprouting while putting in 2020 crops, trellised up the cold hardy Alaska peas from , put in "green manure" cover crops from @ Prospect Farm

10/19/2019

Highlights from the today's fall open house, we learned from last year. Holey Moley, we are drowning in marigold and sunflower seeds. Anyone ever do with marigolds? @ Prospect Farm

10/12/2019

Getting the farm ready for our open house next Saturday, Oct 19, 11-2. Picked up some woodchips from , pulled out some tomato plants that were done for the season and lots of other clean up chores. @ Prospect Farm

10/03/2019

Please join us for a community gathering to celebrate the end of the growing season. Activities for all ages: bulb planting, composting, music, scavenger hunt, tours, bake sale, and more!

09/28/2019

Tomatoes finishing up, fall peas coming in, moved the shed and traded some cherry tomatoes for Brooklyn figs @ The Adirondack

09/19/2019

Fall planting. Thanks Truelove Seeds , fingers crossed for these cold hardy crops.

Address

1194 Prospect Avenue
New York, NY
11218

Website

http://prospectfarm.org/

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These baby pluots (plum/apricots) from tree we pruned, hand pollinated, gazed at the pink blossoms, added compost to and love dearly. 💚 #prospectfarm #communitygarden #pluot

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Healthy Food, Soil, and Community

Since March 2010, Prospect Farm has been a community project development toward producing healthy local food as an alternative to industrial food. Our objective is diversity in food production and membership. We are slowly creating healthy soil through our community composting project and farm without chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides.

Prospect Farm is a community association with membership open to all. Members improve and farm the land and sustain ties with local residents, businesses and organizations. We support the Brooklyn Food Coalition and other initiatives for food sovereignty and food justice.