Craig den Hartog, of Emerald Magic Lawn Care and Planter of Old Town Blooms, a local community beautification project, had great success Saturday, May 4 with an early Great Brookhaven Clean Up event. This community right-of-way and sidewalk clearing on Old Town Road between Pagnotta Drive and Old Town Road connects residents of Comsewogue and Middle Country School districts.

Thanks go to the many volunteers who pre-registered and those who saw the street side set up arriving with rakes, cases of water and financial donations. T-shirts, cotton gloves and leaf bags were provided by Brookhaven Town with the assistance of Christine Hoffmann, Associate Administrator of their Department of Recycling and Sustainable Materials.

The sidewalk overgrowth was cleared. Eight full garbage bags of litter were removed from the site by Craig and his team. He used his ride-on lawn mower to mulch dozens of wheelbarrows of leaves in order to clear the sidewalk. They even managed to plant native creepers in the to help mitigate the invasive poison ivy. In Autumn, daffodil and tulip bulbs will be planted in the right-of-way.

“There are projects everywhere you look. We can take it upon ourselves to be the change to have a more beautiful community,” says Craig. 

If you would like to “Be a Bloomer” and participate in community beautification near you send a DM to Old Town Blooms on Facebook or contact [email protected].