While dropping off more stuff at our new apartment, my dad, the nerdy but friendly guy that he is, thought nothing of telling Sean-from-next-door how “cool” his front garden looked. We had been living in our apartment for a week already and we hadn’t given the 6 by 6 square of soil a second glance. “You know, you work with what you have here,” Sean told my dad. That conversation literally opened my eyes to the array of hydrangeas and marigolds that bloomed up and down our street. The Big Apple may not come with big plots of land but its people really do make the most of the space they have. We took a little field trip Sunday morning and Joe Merola, Jr., owner of Kings County Nurseries Inc. in Brooklyn, showed us around his urban jungle. Use his tips to take a concrete slab from drab to fab:

1. Most people in Brooklyn don’t have much more than a small enclosed front yard area that’s often paved over. If you’re planning to start a garden you’ll have to dig up that concrete, take out the subbase, and fill the area with new soil.

2. Take into account the amount of sunlight your garden will receive and choose plants accordingly. In the NYC area, rhododendrons, azaleas, and holly tend to do well in lots of sunlight while liriope, coral bells, and hosta thrive in shady spots.

3. Perennials are nice because they come back every year but they normally don’t bloom for the whole season. You can always throw in some annuals such as marigolds and petunias to give some color.

4. Before you arrange anything in your garden, think about the height of each plant. If you pick out plants with similar growth patterns it doesn’t matter where they’re placed; otherwise stagger plants with the shorter ones towards the front.
-Kait