I concocted this out of 2 plastic baskets 10″ x 14″ x 5″ deep (from Closeout Connection on Court St. – $1.50 each) and 2 large binder clips. I made it contra los gatos who think planting is the best thing I’ve done since decorating packages with raffia, but I expect it to be very useful in transporting the seedlings outside to harden off prior to transplanting in the garden.
It will accommodate seedlings 6″ – 7″ tall.
Thanks to Erin’s wisdom, organization, and excellent teaching skills, we have self-watering seedling planters made out of repurposed plastic bottles. Ours are below . . . sitting in our kitchen window overlooking our garden-and-play-area-in-progress:
And thanks to free repurposed lumber from BIG!NYC and Dennis’ labor (Jason helped out, too, I think . . . Anyone else?), we have two new raised beds:
Quite a repurposeful Saturday . . .
Thanks to Ellis and the company he works for, Build It Green! NYC, we have lumber for building more raised beds. 
After Ansley followed up and applied for their educational support programs, we rented an SUV from Zipcar.
Then drove out to Astoria, filled it up with free custom cut boards, and hauled it back to the play area. Get ready for more raised beds–and more room to grow! –Denise
I can’t believe these guys came up so quickly. When I watered yesterday, I didn’t notice a thing!
Who else has seen something sprout?
I went to water this morning and saw the lettuce seedlings (click on the pic on the right for a close up — they’re not THAT big yet) were coming up . . . and I realized that I (or someone else? my kids perhaps?) had put more seeds in there than I had thought. When I went to show the kids this afternoon after school, we saw a broccoli seedling pushing its way up through the dirt. By nighttime, there were were four broccoli seedlings (three are barely visible if you click on the pic on the left for a bigger version). And I think the dill is close . . . This is exciting!
Yesterday’s event had a good turnout. And all my cups made it from the play area to my apartment without toppling over, so lets call it a success.
I planted basil, spinach, cucumbers and parsley and positioned them near my living room window. I’ll try to document any progress with my camera. Any gardeners who want to post just let me know and I’ll send you an invitation to contribute.
And check out my CvEarthLab Pinterest board! I must have posted a dozen visual ideas today, including some vertical garden organizers that Deb spotted.
On Friday Ansley, Alison, Deb and Denise hit the road to shop for garden materials. First stop, Hicks Street, where Ansley had spotted a healthy tree being removed by SavATree. The nice worker gave us some stumps for the play area. Then we drove to Build It Green, a salvage surplus store in Astoria to buy compost, lumber and some poles for vertical gardening. Exciting stuff!
Welcome to the blog for the Children’s Play Area & Children’s Garden at Concord Village. Like our space, this site is UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
If you’d like to get a sense of what we’re about, please visit these posts on other publications:
Whole Living Magazine:
Our Children’s Urban Veggie Garden, Avoid Volunteer Burnout, Harvest Party
Change By Us- CVEarthLab
Concord Village EarthLab 
