Sustenance Gardening

While I don't actually plan on growing vegetables and fruits to feed my family year around, I am going to grow a few and I am going to try out some canning and/or pickling.  I just love the way the jars look all neatly lined up on a shelf.

Tonight we have a great opportunity to learn how to do this.  Two neighbors, one a great full yard vegetable & fruit & flower gardener and preserver and the other a professional consultant on eco garden planning are going to share their expertise and ideas at a workshop on sustainable gardening.  It's free and it's open to anyone who is interested, so join me tonight at the St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ from 6 - 8PM.  Here are the details:

SAP Sustainable Food and Land Group
(part of the neighborhood Energy Resilience Group, a subcommittee of the District12 Community  Council)
is pleased to announce an evening of discussing all things regarding Sustenance Gardening!

The evening will be highlighted by having

Dina Koutoupes  owner/ framer from Harvest Moon Edible Landscapes and Mieteka Glowka, a well-seasoned SAPgardener leading our discussions!

Topics for the evening will include…

vplanning our gardens so their harvest can sustain us throughout the year,

vhow to integrate our vegetable / ornamental spaces for a pleasing and productive urban landscape,

vhow to harvest and preserve our produce,

vwhat to plant v what to buy,

vcooperative gardening,

and whatever else comes to mind!

 

When: Wednesday, May 14 6-8 p.m.

Where: St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ  •  2129 Commonwealth Avenue  •  St. Paul, MN  55108  •  (651) 646-7173     

 

Plant Sales That Save Bees

It's planting time!!!!
It's also plant sale time and this weekend there are three that I want to share with you.  Each is an opportunity to:

1. Get those plants you are looking for
2. Support a good cause
3. Be assured you will be buying products that have not been treated with chemicals that are harmful to bees.

Here they are:

University of Minnesota Horticultural Club plant sale
Thursday and Friday, May 8 & 9
9 - 5:  Larpenteur Ave. W and Gortner Ave - look for the white tent.

Here's a link to their web site:  HortClub Plant sale
You will find:
"Herbaceous perennials, small trees, shrubs, edible annuals, house plants, Mycology Club products (grow-your-own mushroom kits), and more!
-Limited availability of unique plants such as Gingko bushes, Daphnes, Magnolias, Hellebores, Trilliums, Acer (Maples), and more! "

They use two suppliers for their plants and tell me that they do not use neononics and are very involved in land stewardship.

 St. Anthony Park Elementary School plant sale
Thursday and  Friday May 8 & 9th : 9- 4
On the school grounds, Como Ave. between Scudder and Knapp.
Here's a map:  SAP Elementary

They will be selling hanging baskets, flowers, vegetables and herbs.  All plants are from Glacial Ridge Growers, a company committed to organic and sustainable practices.


Friends School Plant Sale
Friday, May 9th,  9AM - 8PM, Saturday, May 10th:  10 - 6, Sunday, May 11th 10 - 2
State Fair Grandstand

This sale is huge!  It is the biggest plant sale I have ever attended by far and if you've not been there, go just for the experience.  They fill the entire grandstand to overflowing with plants and outside there are venders for all sorts of green gardening products and art works, and educational sources.  There are even seminars.

At this sale the selection is huge and the plants are small and inexpensive.

If you go, plan ahead, the catalogue is 60 pages. If you arrive early in the day, plan on getting a wrist band to determine when you get to actually go in to the plant sale - you can shop at the vendor's booths while you wait.

Here's their website where you can learn about the sale, search for plants and make your own plant shopping list.  Friends School Plant Sale.

The Friends are also committed to providing plants that are free of neonicotinoids, the component in many pesticides that is harmful to our bees.  They will also be providing a workshop on encouraging bumblebees, among other topics.

I just love that a humble school fund raiser has grown to such immense proportions.

Bring your own wagon to carry all of those plants you will buy.

Food and Gardening Resources

Tonight was the last of the Prospect Park United Methodist Church's "Timely Topics" series on climate change.  The focus was Local Sustainable Food.  As one of the presenters, I shared the speakers list for my garden club this year because I am so excited about what a great percentage of the speakers will be talking about sustainability and care of the earth.  The meetings are open to the public, so come if you can.  Here's the list:

February 11 “Putting Down Roots: The Clean Water Potential of Rain Gardens”

Presented by Elizabeth Beckman, Education Outreach Coordinator for Capital Region Watershed District

March 4 “Dream of Wild Health: Native American Indigenous Seeds”

Presented by Dian Wilson, Master gardener and Executive Director of “To Dream of Wild Things” Hugo Farms

April 1 “Full Frontal Vegetable Gardening”

Presented by Eric Johnson, garden speaker, designer, photographer and frequent contributor to MSHS Northern Gardener magazine

May 6 “Trees in a Changing World”

Presented by Andy Holland, Falcon Heights arborist and owner of Birch and Bough

September 2  “Prairie Restoration - Large and Small”

Presented by Marcie O’Connor, Naturalist

October 7 “Update on Bees and What We Can Do To Help Them”

Presented by Dr. Marla Spivak, Distinguished McKnight University Professor and researcher at the U of M, Director of the Bee Colonies at Larpenteur and Cleveland Avenues.

November 4 “Northern Adapted Garden Lilies”

Presented by Dr. David Zlesak, Professor of Horticulture a the University of Wisconsin

December 2 “North Carolina Wild Flowers”

Presented by Sara Evans, retired historian and Chuck Dayton, photographer and retired environmental lawyer

The St. Anthony Park Garden Club meets at St. Matthew's Episcoopal Church fellowship hall, 2130 Carter Ave., St. Paul.  Business meeting is 6:30, social time and refreshments from 7 - 7:25 and the programs begin at 7:30PM.

I'd also like to share with you some links to resources that Cathy Eberhart recommends on the subject of local sustainable food.  Since the subject tonight was local food, these resources, for the most part (except the first one) are most helpful if you live in Minnesota:

Diet for a Hot Planet - Take a bite out of Climate Change (Anna Lappe)
http://www.takeabite.cc/

Land Stewardship Project:  http://landstewardshipproject.org/

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) directory:  http://landstewardshipproject.org/stewardshipfood/csa

Stewardship Farm Directory and other tools for eaters: http://landstewardshipproject.org/stewardshipfood/tools/foreaters

Star Tribune - Taste 50: Year of the Farm (Examples of our transforming food system)
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/210094971.html

Make Dirt Not Waste - Eureka Recycling
http://www.makedirtnotwaste.org/at-home/prevent-wasted-food

Gardening Matters/Community Food Forms/Local Food Hubs:  http://www.gardeningmatters.org/

If you've made it to the bottom of the post, here is a tip that Kit Canright shared tonight:

Throw the big green ends of your leeks (the part that the recipe tells you not to use) into a pot of soup.  They will add a wonderful flavor of leek to the soup. (You may want to throw the green part into the compost pile after it has cooked and lent its flavor to the soup if you find it too woody.)

Sharing Seeds

Seed Order

I'm getting ready to put in an order for vegetable, flower and herb seeds for this year's garden.  This is the first year that I've ordered seeds and I don't really know if I'll get them all planted and successfully grown, but I'm going to try.

The advantage to starting vegetables and flowers from scratch is that I have a much larger variety of plants to choose from.  I can actually plant varieties that I wouldn't see at the market.  Even more importantly, I can choose to order from a grower that doesn't use pesticides on the plants so that I don't have to worry about harming the bees and other pollinators.

What I notice, though, is that each seed packet contains from 25 to 100 or more seeds and even though I only buy one packet per variety of plant, I'll end up with way more seeds than I will need this year.  I've sent out a notice on our neighborhood list serve that I would like to share this seed order with someone else.  I expect there is someone out there who would like some of the same seeds I'm buying.  Are you one?  Let me know.

Here is my seed order:

Mayflower pole bean
Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale
Apollo Arugula
Forellenschluss Romaine
Mantilla Bibb Lettuce
Charentais Melon
Bull's Blood Beet
Romaneso Brocolli
Five Color  Silverbeet Chard
Green Tomatillo
Waltham Butternut Squash
Basil Emily
Cilantro
Marigold Brocade Mix
Mexican Sunflower
Bright Lights Cosmos

Saving Our Bees and Other Pollinators

 

Busy Bee At Work

I'd like to talk about bees and how we can save them. We need bees to pollinate our crops, but they are in trouble due to many factors.  There are steps that we can take to help them out.  One of the easiest is to plant lots of flowers, so there is something blooming in your yards at all times.(see: Minnesota Plants for Bees) Natives are preferred, but any flower helps - as long as they haven't been treated with pesticides.  Unfortunately, most plants and seeds that we buy in nurseries have been treated with these chemicals that threaten, in particularly, our bees.  My neighbor, Margot Monson, sent out an informative letter recently that I would like to share with you.  She knows her bugs and explains the issue well.  She knows her gardening too.  I've been in her back yard.  The tomatoes in particular were amazing! I'll follow up in the next post with her list of nurseries and seed houses that sell untreated plants and seeds. Here is her letter:

For all the gardeners and lovers of healthy ecosystems, please be aware that most nurseries and garden centers, especially the larger ones, are selling seeds and plants pretreated with systemic pesticides.  They are listed by many different names and sold by many companies.  Systemics affect the entire plant, so include the nectar and pollen, and will remain in the roots and soil for years; after perennials die back in the fall, they become a part of the entire plant again the next year.  Contact sprays may be shorter lasting, but if in contact with the flowers,  will affect the pollinating insects.  Even for self pollinating plants, if treated with systemics like our agricultural crops, the insects will still forage on the pollen.

Research is revealing that honey bees are bringing many different synthetic chemicals back to their hives and together with a lack of enough diverse plant resources that provide them adequate nutrition, the pesticides further weaken them, making them more susceptible to diseases. Just like humans, insects need a balanced diet to be well nourished, and they struggle to find diverse resources in our cities and in our rural landscapes devoted to genetically modified monocultures.

As an entomologist and beekeeper, I do not use any synthetic preparations in our gardens, and with a diverse assemblage of plants, I have few pests - occasionally there are large populations of a particular pest species, like the Japanese beetles of 2 years ago which were definitely a problem, but the numbers of predatory wasps, lacewings, beetles, flies, ants & spiders that I regularly see in our gardens take care of anything that does show up.  Honey bees and Monarchs are attracting a lot of attention now because we can recognize & identify them as special and responsible for pollinating at least 1/3 of our food crops, and we can count them, so to speak, so know their numbers are declining rapidly.  However, whatever impacts these insects will affect all our pollinators, and there are thousands of different species of native insect pollinators at risk as well.

Please ask the managers and growers of the nurseries and garden centers where you purchase your seeds and plants, and ask the catalog companies if they are using seeds pretreated with systemic pesticides and if they pretreat their plants as well - our laws do not require pesticide labeling, so you will not know unless you ask.  If they do not know or will not disclose, then go elsewhere.  We need all our native insects for us to have healthy environments to grow our gardens and for all our wild creatures, including the insectivorous birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, and so us.

I have been researching the local nurseries and garden centers about their methods by calling and asking questions and am compiling a list to share of those I feel who are answering my questions candidly, and several have.  This is by no means exhaustive, and I welcome any additions that you are aware of.  Please contact me off line if you have additional information and/or are interested in a copy.  I also have papers with more detailed explanations of what scientists are finding and can give you the references.  One good one is in the MN Conservation Volunteer:  A Sticky Situation for Pollinators by BrianDeVore  July-Aug 2009;  Yes, this is not new information, so we need to be responding now before it is too late.  I have included it below.

Happy spring planting and may your gardens be buzzing this summer!

Margot Monson

An Easy Way To Start Seeds Without Windows or Grow Lights

Plastic Containers To Become Seed Starters

I've been allowing used milk jugs and produce containers to pile up in the basement.  Even though I'm trying to avoid buying things in plastic containers, the family continues to buy milk in plastic jugs and we had plastic produce containers from before my ban.  But no worry, they all have a very good use.  I'm going to start this year's vegetables and flowers in these containers and set them outside to await the warmer days of spring.

I've always avoided starting plants from seeds because the few times I've tried it's just been too putzy.  However, last year at a garden club meeting the speakers shared this great method for sowing seeds in milk jugs and other plastic containers in the winter or early spring, putting them outside and pretty much forgetting about them.  I tried it with a few seeds last year and thought it worked pretty well.  I'm going to try again this year with many more seeds, so I hope it works this time too.

Check out the website mentioned at the bottom of the instructions.  Wintersown.org.  It has photos and links to more information that looks very helpful.  Also, I see a tab marked Free Seeds!

Here are the directions:

WINTER & SPRING SOWING INSTRUCTIONS

Michelle Mero Riedel

For milk, distilled water, and similar containers, gallon sized, rinsed, toss cap.

1. Cut four 1/2 - 1” holes in the bottom of the milk jug with a utility knife. Twist knife to make a hole.

2. Cut a horizontal line with utility knife from one side of handle to the other, about 3-5” from bottom of

milk jug, leaving a 1” hinge.

3. Grab handle and pull back to open container. Again, don’t cut all the way so you have a hinge.

4. Add soil to 1” from cut line.

5. Water well so soil is muddy and you see water coming out bottom.

6. Take a break to make sure water will flow out the bottom.

7. Flatten soil so there isn’t any peaks or valleys.

8. Add seeds, as many as you wish.

9. Cover with enough soil, the diameter of the seed (example if seed is 1/8” in diameter, add 1/8 inch of

soil). Additional soil is not needed if seeds are very tiny.

10. Lightly add more water to moisten.

11. Add a plant label along inside container wall with name of plant, color, light requirements, and height.

This label will go into the garden.

12. Close cover and duct tape in place. Clear duct tape is best.

13. Label container lid with plant name and date.

14. Remember to toss the container cap.

15. Place outside on the east, south, or west side of your house. Allow snow to pile on top and collect rain.

Can put container on patio, in garden, on grass, on picnic table, on deck. Do not put under deck, awning,

or roofline.

For bakery, takeout, produce, or rotisserie chicken containers:

1. Follow same instructions as milk containers except add holes at top of the container.

2. Add as much soil as you can.

3. Place plant label inside on its side.

4. No need to tape unless the container won’t stay closed.

5. Label container top.

Hints

1. Plant perennials in February and March

2. Plant annuals, herbs, and vegetables April 1-20.

3. After late April, they can be direct sown in the ground

4. Most Aprils are wet, so you won’t have to water until early May.

5. Watch containers for drying and water if necessary with hose attachment on mist. Be gentle with

small seedlings.

6. If you wish, as weather warms up, open containers during the day, and close at night if temps are too

cool or below freezing.

7. Bring your tender plants (what you sowed in April) indoors or in your garage if temps are at or

below freezing. Perennials can remain outside. They can take the cold.

8. On hot spring days, you might want to move your containers to receive less sun (east side of home)

so they don’t completely dry out.

9. Can cut off lid when weather warms up, usually after May 15.

10. Wait for mature roots before dividing.

11. For additional information, go to wintersown.org.

Another Seed Exchange Resource

Vegetables by the Window

I have known for quite some time that community gardens exist here in the Twin Cities.  We have a very nice community garden in our own neighborhood and I always enjoy walking past the garden plots in the summer and looking at all of the vegetables, fruits and flowers and the sometimes fanciful garden layouts and structures in the garden plots.  Last summer, I even participated in a bike ride that went from one community garden to another in St. Paul.  There was a garden by the railroad tracks, a garden by a freeway overpass, a garden in a church yard, a garden on the grounds of the University of St. Thomas and a garden grown by children.

But I hadn't really thought about how these gardens came to be and it hadn't really occurred to me that there might be some overall coordination between community gardens in the Twin Cities.   This week, though, I have found out about an organization called Gardening Matters which is devoted to encouraging gardening and food preservation by individuals and which provides all kinds of resources - from web site space to canning instruction for community gardens, garden groups and individuals.

One exciting recent development is their Local Food Resource Hub program.  This is a networking group for gardeners to share garden resources, knowledge, tools and Seeds.   So in many ways it is like the Seed Savers Exchange I talked about in yesterday's post, except more local, not quite as glitzy and, perhaps, still a work in progress.   Last year the Hubs organized two seed and seedling distributions to their members, offered free and low cost gardening workshops and organized tool lending libraries.

The exciting thing about all this is it is, once again, an example of neighbors and community members creating a way to work together to help each other accomplish goals that are good for the earth, good for their communities and good for themselves.  The information about this year's membership and seed distributions isn't out yet, but you might want to bookmark the site for future reference:
Gardening Matters Local Food Resource Hubs

Seed Savers Exchange

"A vibrant, diverse plant world is necessary for our survival, but crop diversity is increasingly threatened by industrial agriculture, climate change, and habitat loss.  The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that since the 1900's an estimated 75% of the world's crop diversity has been lost." Seed Savers Exchange

This catalogue arrived in the mail today and now I just want to plant a bunch of beans!  Aren't they beautiful?  Growing your own vegetables is a great way to combat global warming.  You can be in charge of what chemicals are used - or, more importantly, not used - in your garden and your produce doesn't have to travel so far to get to your table. You can also help save our precious resources by growing heirloom varieties of fruits,vegetables, herbs and flowers like the ones in the above catalogue from Seed Savers Exchange.

This year vegetables are going to be added to my front lawn - the only place in the yard that gets much sun and I'm planning on starting them from seed thanks to a really nifty and easy winter sowing method I used last year (I'll share that on another post).  I'm pretty excited to look at all of the varieties that I would not find in the grocery store or the nursery and the tales behind many of the plants are so fun to read - like these, for instance:

Hidatsa Shield Figure beans from the Hidatsa tribe who farmed in the Missouri River Valley of North Dakota.  These beans were described in Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden (one of my all time favorite books).

Aunt Mae's Bibb Lettuce:  From seed donor Kelly Yeaton who acquired the variety from Nestor Keene, who in turn acquired it in 1937 from his aunt, Mae Smith.

Bear Paw popcorn, grown and distributed in New England from the 1930's until the 1960's, served in movie theaters and featured at the World's Fair.

Charentais melon: A true French cantaloupe that originated in the Poitou-Charentes region circa 1920.  "Considered by many to be the most divine and flavorful melon in the world." (I'm going to try that one.)

... and so on.  Doesn't that sound like fun?

I see that I can order from the catalogue or I can become a member of Seed Savers Exchange and have access to their  "yearbook" of seeds that are exchanged between members - 13,000 varieties.  This is a great people driven effort to keep our world sustainable.  Check it out: Seed Savers Exchange

Regrowing Vegetables I've Bought at the Store - In My Windowsill

Rooting Celery, Scallions and Romaine Lettuce

Here is a dandy way to reduce food waste, save a little money and garden in the middle of winter all at once - use the ends of your lettuce and other vegetables to grow new ones on your windowsill.

I didn't grow up on a farm and sometimes I miss the most obvious things.  One is that those vegetables I buy at the supermarket can often be used to grow a whole crop of new vegetables.  Peppers, onions and garlic are an example.  Then just a few weeks ago Elizabeth Andrew (who by the way is about to publish a great new novel) circulated this great blog post
 "10 Vegetables & Herbs You Can Eat Once and Grow Forever".  Now that is an idea that appeals to me.  Does growing garlic sprouts, carrot greens basil, scallions, Romaine lettuce, bok choy, onions, cilantro, ginger and mushrooms in the middle of winter appeal to you?  Me too.  Read that post for details.

The onions & ginger will require some soil right away, but all of the other vegetables can be grown or at least started in water right by a bright window.  I've started the Romaine, scallions and celery so far.  It seems amazing to me that I can grow a new head of Romain from the stump of an old head that's been sitting in the fridge a week, but, by gum, there is a nice little head of greens forming.  It's about an inch and a half tall after a week - no roots.  The greens are just popping up from the middle of the stump.  I have no idea how big they will grow, but I'm hoping for something harvestable.  Here's a close up:

Romaine Growing in Water

I've only started the scallions, from some slimy ones in the bottom of the crisper drawer.  The celery stump has been at it just under a week.  There is a root growing and a tiny bit of green coming up from the center.  It's going to be fun to see how they grow.

Gardening to Reduce Climate Change

Roberta's garden (from DigginFood blog post)

It's the middle of winter.  It's cold outside.  There is snow everywhere.  Of course, I'm thinking about gardening.  The thought of green things growing, the smell of soil and flowers - it is like dreaming of going to a vacation paradise.  It's pretty good for the earth too.  Growing your own vegetables is certainly a way to avoid buying plastic enclosed vegies at the store.  Picking vegetables and fruits in your own yard takes less carbon than buying ones that have been trucked to your city and composting your fruits and vegetables will reduce the amount of produce that is thrown into landfills where methane - a heat trapping gas 23 times more potent CO2 - is formed.  I'll probably be sharing lots of posts on my efforts to grow vegetables this year, starting with this one that has some ideas for how to reduce the carbon impact of our gardens.  Here are a few ideas gleaned from The Union of Concerned Scientists website.  I know nothing about the organization, but the points in this linked article "The Climate Friendly Gardener" certainly make sense.  Here is a summary of their climate friendly gardening tips:

1. Choose low emission garden products and practices (use push lawn mowers, and avoid fossil fuel based fertilizers and pesticides, and peat based potting mixes).

2. Grow cover crops at the end of the season to keep the soil covered and replenish nutrients

3. Plant trees and shrubs.  They suck up CO2

4. Compost your food and garden waste

5. If you have a lawn, avoid those fossil fuel based fertilizers, mow high and water during the cool times of the day to reduce the negative impact of watering.

Here's a nice graphic on the flow of CO2 in our atmosphere:

And here is another plus to gardening - it is a way to reuse containers that are lying around!  Here is a link to a blog post from DigginFood of the garden that grows behind Roberta's pizzeria in Bushwick, Brooklyn (pictured at top).  This garden is planted on top of storage containers.  I love that she has used old cans for planting  and great big plastic containers for her raised beds.

What fun reused items have you used in your garden?