Story and Photo By Joe Zlomek

A different kind of curb appeal was on display Sunday (July 13, 2008) in the Park Slope neighborhood surrounding New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn.

Fresh fruits and vegetables were growing outside a brownstone near 5th Street at 8th Avenue, seemingly springing up from the concrete, to enthrall passers-by.

Curb appeal is the term given to the exterior appearance of a home as perceived by a potential buyer, usually from inside a car parked at the curb of a street. A building's design, the extent of its maintenance, the owner's choice of paint colors and finishes, the home's location and its landscaping all combine to form either a positive or negative impression in a prospect's mind.

Curb appeal judgments are formed within the first 10 seconds of seeing a property. They often influence the marketability of any real estate, which is why strong curb appeal is a high-priority item on the checklist of all sellers' agents.

In this middle-income section of Brooklyn, leafy shade trees lined the streets. Early morning traffic was light. A subway train ran silently underground, its public entrance three short blocks away. And adding to the location's tranquility were strawberries.

Only two medium-sized pieces of fruit could be seen hanging from the stem of a plant carefully potted in a five-gallon white plastic pail, which sat outside the apartment building's entrance stairs in the 500 block of 5th Street. But there they were, bright red at the top and an unripe yellow-green at the bottom ... a rural incongruence in a decidedly urban setting.

The gardener, the occupant of a front-facing apartment on the second floor, was cultivating other treasures too. Flowering zucchini, green peppers and cherry tomatoes all flourished in individual buckets, watered from above by a hose attached to a large barrel that acted as a cistern to collect rainfall for the purpose.

The layout was both efficient and pretty, especially when compared to similar buildings nearby. Most of their external enhancements were covered trash cans. One or two added flowers.

"Marvelous, isn't it?," an older woman commented as she walked past. She was in her mid-60s, with dyed blonde hair, wearing a black sleeveless top and cream-colored slacks. She lived just down 5th Street, and was out for her morning exercise.

"See the zucchini flowers there," she said to another walker, and pointed to a bucket. "People fry up the zucchini and eat it, you know," she added somewhat wistfully, perhaps remembering recipes long since consumed. "Marvelous," the woman repeated.

Which demonstrates that curb appeal is both subjective and relative. Not all locations, not all landscaping touches, not all house colors appeal to everyone. But people generally agree on what suits them. This place was artful in its contrasts, presenting a country touch in the city vastness of surrounding cement, stone and wrought iron. Other properties looked drab and uncared-for by comparison.