Hadrian Miguel, Lifestyle & Beauty Director
Target Brooklyn Community Garden
The second and next stop on our scenic tour of Brooklyn takes us to the super-sleek and stunning Target Brooklyn Community Garden.
The Target Community Garden is a very beautifully-maintained, sculpted, modern garden in the heart of Brooklyn. This garden was the first New York Restoration Project (NYRP) garden revitalization initiative that Target (yes, the giant retailer) has supported and funded.
It opened in October 2007 with much brouhaha in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn and it has sustained its splendor and beauty ever since its launch.
The New York Restoration Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to reclaiming and restoring New York City parks, community gardens and open space. The NYRP was founded by the Divine Miss M, singer and actress Bette Midler in 1995 to invest in the greening and beautification of underserved communities throughout New York City.
Target also has an ongoing commitment to underserved communities in New York City and like the NYRP, they recognize that each time they help to create a stunning & peaceful retreat in a neighborhood, they are helping to invest in the future of the whole city.
designer Sean Conway
The Target Brooklyn Community Garden was aesthetically created and conceived by acclaimed garden & furniture designer and horticulturist Sean Conway. Sean Conway partnered with the NYRP, local community groups and local residents to create the garden’s stylish and innovative design. Using cutting-edge sustainable technology, Conway’s design provides the Brooklyn community a truly green space in which to relax, garden and enjoy time outdoors.
The garden is located between two row houses in a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood, this versatile, approximately 5, 000 square-foot space is more than a garden, it’s a park – where neighbors can relax, have barbeques and hold community events, as well as a lawn that’s great to picnic, lay out on, and where children can play. The garden is also ideal as a gathering place to host environmental education, community programs, cooking demonstrations, gardener workshops, summer concerts and community movie nights.
For 15 years, this space was used by an active group of neighborhood gardeners to raise vegetables and herbs, such as heirloom tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil and oregano. However, the site eventually became largely untended and fell into a state of disrepair. Then, in 2007, the garden was magnificently restored with generous support from Target. During the excavation process, large pieces of solid brownstone were found and used to construct one of eight benches that are currently placed throughout the garden. Brownstone stucco was also incorporated throughout the garden’s design to reflect the history and the architecture of the neighborhood.
Target Brooklyn Community Garden
As a result of these combined efforts, the Target Community Garden in Brooklyn once again bursts with flowering bulbs and fruit trees each spring and features vegetable and ornamental planting beds. The garden’s most prominent feature – a paved patio with comfortable seating, protective awning and steel arbor, all located at the back of the garden – is designed to function both as a gathering and performance space and is reached by bleacher-style steps constructed from stucco. Other garden highlights include crushed-gravel paths and a rainwater collection system with a wooden water tower. In the front, four gates and two flowering pagoda trees provide a beautiful and open welcome to neighborhood residents and intrigued visitors.
Target Brooklyn Community Garden
During the Summer, the NYRP offers yoga three times a week in the Target Brooklyn Community Garden. On Tuesday and Friday evenings and on Sunday mornings in July and August. Other community events during the summer and fall include music and mrt in the garden.
The NYRP in collaboration with Target and designer Sean Conway also celebrated the opening of the Target East Harlem Community Garden in October 2008, and the Target Bronx Community Garden in October 2009.
Target also sponsors Target First Saturdays at the Brooklyn Museum where thousands of visitors enjoy free programs of art and entertainment each month from 5 to 11 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month.
The Target Brooklyn Community Garden is located at 931-933 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, New York (between DeKalb and Willoughby avenues). Open daily from 8:30 am -7:00 pm
Other fresh, cool, and natural community gardens in Brooklyn to check out are a hop, skip, and jump from the Target Brooklyn Community Garden <—so if you are here, then also go and see the Greene Garden, and the Classon FulGate Block Association Garden. Both gardens are adjacent to Bed-Stuy in the Fort Greene and Clinton Hill neighborhoods.
