Vegetable Gardening

Seed sales offer hope for future grow your own growth

2010-11-04T18:54:00.001-07:00

Businesses defied the coldest winter for 31 years and the driest year for 46 years to sell more vegetable seeds than last year — when the vegetable seed market reached an historic high.

The £60m-a-year vegetable seed market is a bellwether of the health of the grow your own market but there were fears new gardeners had been put off by inclement conditions this season.

But Suttons sales and marketing director David Arnold says: "The first part of the year was incredibly slow because the weather was dreadful, but sales have caught up with a vengeance. The grow your own bubble has not yet burst."

He adds that increases in volume sales have been lower than 2009 but he will not know precise figures until returns are completed in a couple of months.

He expects a six to seven per cent rise in vegetable seed sales in 2010, after a 14 per cent rise in 2009 and a five per cent rise in 2008. For 2011, Arnold predicts "continuing consumer interest".

Suttons launched "For Your Space", a campaign to grow vegetables in small spaces, at Glee this September. Arnold says the business has "bullish" targets of five per cent sales growth in vegetable sales in 2011. Before the start of the 2010 season, he predicted a 15 to 20 per cent increase in sales for 2010, "which may even be conservative".

He adds that vegetable seed sales should reach 71 per cent of total seed sales by the end of the year, up from 70 per cent last year, with flower seeds at 29 per cent.

Mr Fothergill’s joint managing director John Fothergill says: "Vegetable seeds continue to dominate sales, particularly from a retail perspective. If the market is therefore beginning to plateau — and I’d suggest it’s perhaps too early to conclude that —sales of vegetable seeds remain at historically high levels.

"This would indicate that a good many of those new vegetable gardeners have seen grow your own as more than just a passing interest and have become converts. Anecdotally, growth in our mail order business over the past season has come almost exclusively from vegetable plants, potatoes, onion sets, shallots and soft and top fruit."

He reports that like-for-like retail vegetable sales (excluding new business) are showing a year-on-year increase of five per cent. Fothergill believes "there is at least one season of growth left". He points out that Mr Fothergill’s has added Homebase to its distribution and has therefore increased sales.

So, while the grow your own boom peaked last year, it is too early to say the bubble has burst. Seed companies predicted another 20 per cent increase this year in the £60m-a-year vegetable seeds market, on top of a 14 per cent rise in 2009, but their hopes were foiled by the weather.

Thompson & Morgan head of retail Neil Sharpe says: "The weather had a big impact early on. Some early sowing varieties missed sales. A lot people missed out on seeds and went straight to plants.

"Vegetable sales have held up very well considering. Compared to the past two years, this year had a much slower start, though latter sales were good. The seed market has been static as a whole. Last year was a record year for seed companies and we can’t expect to top that. There has been a slight increase in flowers, but only very slight. Veg sales are holding almost level or just below."

T&M sales across the board are up seven per cent through distribution gains (particularly Dobbies garden centres) and new ranges, "rather than real growth in the market," adds Sharpe.

An Unwins representative says: "Overall we have seen an increase in sales of our veg and flower seeds. The market as a whole has seen a decline but this could be due to the bad weather at the beginning of the year." Unwins is launching its
Nature’s Haven wildlife-friendly seed range for 2011 and the Mediterranean Kitchen Garden for window sill growing.

Garden Centre Association figures show seeds and bulbs sales up three per cent by the end of August. At Focus, fruit and vegetable grow your own sales grew from £900,000 to £1.2m in the past year. Sales were just £300,000 in 2005, says horticulture head Gerrard Smith. Italian aromatic herbs, 7.5-litre fruit trees and strawberries did best. Pack vegetables were slightly down. Onions made the top 10 best-selling bulbs.

Growth plans include better targeting of bank holidays, replacing poor performers and trying more grow your own products such as mini vineyards, trained apples, nuts and olives. The Edible Garden Show (Stoneleigh, 18-20 March 2011) is one event that will give grow your own a boost next year.

Meanwhile, the HTA has found that penetration of grow your own has increased since 2007, with tomatoes, herbs, potatoes, strawberries and raspberries all being grown in more gardens.

Ipsos MORI/HTA research in the "Living the Good Life in Tough Times" Garden Industry Monitor Consumer Insight report shows rises of around five per cent for each of the past three years. UK adults with access to gardens where they can grow their own has risen four per cent to 29 per cent since 2007.

The HTA says garden centres can cash in by positioning grow your own ranges around "feel-good occasions" such as dinner parties inspired by TV’s Come Dine With Me. The association suggests mail drop recipe cards using home-grown vegetables.

HTA market information manager Dave Denny says: "Grow your own will remain strong. There is little sign of it petering out." He adds that Future Foundation research suggests 64 per cent of consumers are looking for bargains.

Plant sales have remained flat for four years, according to HTA data collected by TGI. For each year since 2006, plant sales have remained at between £2.1bn and £2.2bn, with bedding holding steady at between £0.73bn and £0.78bn.

Denny predicts that "despite the gloomy news headlines and wavering consumer confidence, the interest in growing your own fruit and vegetables will continue to benefit the garden industry".

The HTA says spend on in-home leisure continues to rise as consumers seek out feel-good occasions in tough times. Driven by the success of Come Dine With Me and similar television shows, there is a trend to host dinner parties, which is "a great opportunity for retailers to position their GYO ranges with this in mind", according to Denny.

HTA marketing director Andrew Maxted adds: "With more people growing and eating their own fruit and vegetables, grow your own is becoming more embedded within household routines rather than being just a passing fad.

"By inspiring customers to create their own feel-good occasions using grow your own products and flowers from the garden to decorate their homes, growth in the sector is likely to be sustained."

Ventero tomato among the fresh discussions at Fruit Attraction

2010-11-04T18:53:00.001-07:00

MADRID, SPAIN (27 October 2010) Lively discussions, interactions and clear market opportunities for vegetables; that is the conclusion drawn by Monsanto’s Vegetable Seeds team after Fruit Attraction 2010.

De Ruiter Seeds’ Ventero tomato’s potential for Spanish producers and northern European retailers was often topic of discussion at the trade show, as well as market opportunities for Seminis’ products like the Cyro line melon range. At the event, Monsanto hosted a special conference dedicated to discussing how the industry can work together to create value.

“Fruit Attraction was the perfect platform to present Monsanto’s Vegetable Seeds Division and its brands, Seminis and De Ruiter Seeds, to the international public that came to Madrid,” said Iberica Chain Manager, David Fernández. “Our team is shifting gears to meet customers’ needs.” Sales representative Manuela Cordeiro was very pleased about the international profile of the visitors of the show: “I have welcomed many Portuguese customers and contacts at our stand and the interaction was very pleasant.”

Create Value Conference
Key topic of the conference organized by Monsanto during Fruit Attraction was how to find opportunities in commoditized markets and create value for the customer. Florent Rezeau of Monsanto’s Consumer Benefits team said: “In order to know the value we can bring to all involved in the produce chain, we need to understand our industry partners and their customers’ needs and challenges. We can only do that by teaming up and sharing our knowledge.”

However, understanding the industry is definitely not enough, it is crucial to understand consumer needs. Maren Schoormans of Monsanto’s Consumer Benefits team: “Monsanto has hosted various consumer panels in the EU to help understand consumers’ perception of the taste and quality of our existing products and product innovations. Together with our industry partners, we can use this information to identify areas for improvement which can help contribute to success across the chain. It will also help us define marketing strategies for new, improved products, like our Ventero tomato and Cyro line melon varieties.” Ventero is a cluster tomato that covers all the needs and creates value for all chain partners, from grower to consumer. Its taste, deep red color, shelf life and fruit quality make it a distinctive and very attractive tomato.

Dutch trials Improving quality in the vegetable market

2010-11-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

Now firmly established as a regular fixture in many growers' diaries, the annual September Dutch open days held in north-west Holland by leading vegetable breeders once again attracted visitors from around the world - including a strong UK presence.

A key element of the week is the sheer diversity of material on display, with breeders showcasing everything from leafy salads and brassicas to root crops, onions and even sweetcorn.

Brassica ranges continue to dominate the events, something that is unsurprising given the local area's strength in production. This is underlined by Rijk Zwaan, which had a specific brassica field near Medemblik that mirrored the company's approach to catering for specific sectors.

One of the highlights of this display was the new red cabbage Resima RZ, the first of a new series building on Rijk Zwaan's strength with this particular vegetable. With a more intense internal colour than other varieties, the new variety is performing well and particularly excels at high densities (such as 60,000 plants/ha), producing a 1.2kg head weight. However, the company's Dick Van Pelt points out that it also works well at wider spacings in Germany.

Another development on display was a semi-savoy type designed as a cross between a white and savoy cabbage, but with a milder taste than typical savoy varieties - 29-409 RZ produces a 1kg head and is mild enough to be eaten as a salad. It is also ideal for stir-frying - a growing market in northern Europe, where white varieties can suffer from a longer cooking time.

Also at an experimental stage is a similar but larger trial variety that is claimed to have an even better taste and produces heads between 2.5kg and 3kg, although at the moment it is still unclear whether there is a real market demand for such a variety.

Tourima RZ is a pointed cabbage that is five to six days later than Sonsma RZ, itself an early variety, and has a wider base that makes it especially suitable for fresh sales rather than wrapping, where Sonsma is preferred. Tourima has proved particularly popular in France, but Rijk Zwaan continues to work on its range and further, more slender varieties are in the pipeline.

Rijk Zwaan's cauliflower breeder Cees Bregman says that autumn production appears to still be the main UK market, while the USA favours long-cycle types. He points out that the effects of climate change are already being seen with the later production window for cauliflower in northern Europe. "There is interest in long-cycle types to increase the harvesting window around the world," he explains. Consequently the company has established a new breeding programme to capitalise on these developments.

Broccoli breeding programme

Despite Rijk Zwaan's strength in cabbage, Bregman and Van Pelt are keen to point out that it continues to have an active broccoli breeding programme in Spain and Holland. There are also ongoing developments in minor crops including kohl rabbi (which enjoys strong sales in Germany and Eastern Europe), Romanesco and green cauliflower. While Romanesco continues to attract a significant following in the UK, it is proving a profitable line for Rijk Zwaan, which boasts a 60 per cent share of the European market.

Nickerson Zwaan showed a potential replacement for its Duchy Sweetheart pointed cabbage. Dutchman F1 is very similar but with improved taste and colour. At 70-75 days maturity, it is also more uniform than Duchy and suitable for higher-density planting for baby production. Alongside the Sweetheart types was Winterjewel F1 (formerly NiZ 15-824) - a new over-winter spring green type.

In its final year of UK trials is the new early cauliflower, NiZ 10-378 F1, designed for spring, summer and autumn production. It has performed well in summer screening trials in the Pfalz region of Germany, showing strong perforce for curd hairiness and giving a uniform cut. A compact base facilitates bagging and commercial seed is expected in 2012.

Also at an early stage of development - but showing promise - is broccoli NiZ 18-603 F1, which appears suitable for October sowing and displays good resistance to blindness. Nickerson Zwaan's Nick Bolton adds that it has good shelf life characteristics and is slow to yellow.

Nickerson Zwaan's carrot programme remains "very focused on the UK market", says vegetable seed sales specialist John De Soyza. An example of this is new variety Attillo F1 (formerly Vac 55 F1). "It has earlier maturity than previous Nickerson varieties," he adds.

"It also has enhanced cavity spot resistance, which has been confirmed in the last two years of Processors & Growers Research Organisation trials." Performing well on sandy soils, it displays some frost tolerance, something it shares with very late variety Eskimo F1.

"This year we harvested Eskimo from open fields after 15 degrees of frost," he adds. Having looked into the carbon emissions associated with producing strawed carrots over the whole growing season, de Soya remains hopeful that Eskimo has potential to be the UK's first low-carbon carrot.

In lettuce, Nickerson has high hopes for its Antarctica iceberg, says Bolton. "The objective was to breed a lettuce with long holding ability that could be cut over five to seven days. It's all about the harvest window and Antarctica is very reliable and slow growing. When everything else is dead you can still cut this." It boasts full Bremia resistance and strong tip-burn resistance.

Redsea F1 is a new second early red cabbage from Clause for the storage market. In the UK it has undergone trials with two large growers and produces an erect, well-protected head of 2.5kg to 4kg. "It's one of the first cabbages into store," points out Clause's John Ward, adding that the small core is ideal for maximising processing yield. "It's all good, useful leaf."

Brassicas are not limited to those above the ground and a new turnip, Clovis F1 (CLX 3632), brings hybrid uniformity to this specialist market. With a globe shape and strong purple colouration at the shoulder, the smooth-skinned variety will be commercially available in the UK for the first time next year, where its shape and colour are expected to prove popular with buyers.

Pumpkins ready for Halloween

With Halloween approaching, two new pumpkins are performing well. In the 20-24cm size, Gomez F1 fits the UK market requirement and has a strong handle-forming stem, typically producing two fruits per plant. Ward says it stores well with few losses and bulks uniformly with early September cutting.

For culinary use, the smaller Spitfire F1 has proved popular with growers since its commercial launch two years ago. The single yellow fruit on each plant turns to orange from mid July onwards and, at 15-17cm across, it fits in perfectly with supermarket requirements. Another advantage for growers is its ability to reduce the need for thermo-curing in a late year, adds Ward.

Also in the squash range is Tosca F1, a late maincrop courgette for open field production. High yielding, it produces up to 16t/acre of 21cm-long fruit that has a small flower scar and is held high up in the plant, protecting it from wind damage and rubbing.

The fruit is easily seen in the open plant structure and presented at an ideal angle for picking. The straight, dark-green fruit has proved popular with growers and it has topped the tables for quality yield in this year's National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) trials. Ward is confident that when grown for larger specification European markets, yields could exceed 70 tonnes per acre.

With its large demonstration field next to their production facilities and laboratories at Warmenhuizen, Bejo Zaden continues to hold one of the largest open days of the week, showcasing dedicated fields of both conventional and organic crops.

This year Bejo also underscored its commitment to developing a full range of varieties supplied as organic seed by holding a seminar on the Tuesday morning exploring the latest European developments in organic markets and research and development.

According to Bejo Germany director Pieter Gabriels: "Our complete range of organic vegetable seeds is helping the organic sector to create an integrated organic chain from farm to fork. We have more than 120 varieties of organic seed available and we are seeing an increasing demand for it."

On the trial field, Bejo displayed a number of promising carrot varieties, including the multi-coloured Rainbow F1 that produces a range of shades from white through to orange. Of more interest to most UK producers will be Newcastle F1 (formerly known as Bejo 2799), a new mid-early Nantes type that produces a good yield of bulky cylindrical carrots for maincrop production after approximately 110 days. Whether or not Newcastle will finally become a challenger to industry standard Nairobi remains to be seen, but it is likely to find a place in many production programmes. For earlier production, Nominator F1 is a very smooth Nantes type that matures just 96 days after sowing.

Like many other breeders, Bejo has a wide-ranging portfolio including red beet, fennel and radicchio. Red beet Pablo is still doing well in the UK market, but Rhonda F1 has higher sugar levels and should be sweeter to taste. Rhonda also has good bolting tolerance and is well shaped with a good internal quality and dark colour. Maturing after 119 days, it is recommended for drier areas, while Bettollo F1 (Bejo 2731) should perform better in continental and sub tropical climates.

New radicchio lines include Lava and Rubro (Bejo 2710), which Elsom's Keely Watson says would be "a better bet for the UK market. Rubro can be harvested from mid January until late February. It produced excellent quality heads during the extremely cold conditions in the winter of 2009-10." Fennel varieties Rondo and Orion have been around for a while, but Keely describes new variety Solaris F1 as "an all rounder that does early and late production".

Harvesting experience

The theme of S&G and Syngenta Seeds was innovation and "harvesting the company's experience". Head of vegetable seeds Michael Kester says: "Syngenta's vision is to have growers and partners play a central role in innovation in breeding, mechanisation and protection."

In terms of alliums, new leek 1683 F1 will be trialled next year and, subject to performance, could be commercially available in the UK for the 2012 season. It has a similar maturity date to Antiope, but with a dark blue-green colour.

Meanwhile, the company is hoping that new onion ONL 353 can repeat the success of NIAB award-winner Vision. "Our varieties are all about long-term storage," says Syngenta's Nigel Kingston. This is a trait shared by ONL 353, which performed well in NIAB trails last year and will be commercially available for the first time in 2011.

Syngenta has also put considerable effort into crop security, with a particular emphasis on club root resistance. "There is big pressure from club root in the UK," explains James Gray.

Under its TopRes brand, the firm has developed club root resistant varieties of Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage. "We want to encompass club root resistance in the crop range for all brassicas," adds Gray. Crispus is a club root resistant sprout for harvesting in October and November. As a hybrid, the plants have more vigour and better root development while still producing a large quantity of smooth buttons.

One of the key traits that white cabbage growers look for is consistency of head size, something which Kilazol and Kilaton both deliver. Kilazol is a 1kg cabbage for the fresh market, which Gray describes as a club root resistant version of Unifor, while Kilaton produces 2-3kg heads ideal for processing.

For cauliflower, Clarfiy and Clapton both boast club root resistance, with the summer/autumn variety Clapton being most suitable for UK conditions.

Since its launch, Syngenta's range of multi-leaf BellaGio salad varieties has proved popular with growers and processors. LS9424 is a new green BellaGio baby leaf with a high yield and good leaf volume when cut. It has a range of Bl 1 and 3-26 Bremia resistance and Nasonovia resistance.

Also new is LS9498, a brilliant dark-green oak leaf type with a strong colour and robust leaves. It is complemented by red oak leaf LS7994, which will be named Rougini for commercial production. It has an excellent dark cherry-red colour and full Bremia and Nasonovia resistance.

Organic Market at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens on October 24

2010-11-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

If you are looking to buy fresh organic produce, then head to Lalbagh Botanical Gardens this coming Sunday, as a large variety of vegetables, fruits, pulses and millets will be on sale. Some 25 varieties of vegetables and fruits, 45 varieties of millets, rice and pulses will be available at wholesale prices, as the produce will be directly brought by individual farmers, farmers' organisations and women's self-help groups from across the State.

Organised by the Jaivik Krishik Society, the organic shandy provides a platform for both sellers and buyers to interact where discussions on health and environmental aspects will be held, according to Additional Director of Horticulture K. Ramakrishnappa. What you can look for at the shandy is 18 local varieties of rice, including that for diabetics, parboiled, scented and red rice; varieties of millets, cereals, pulses, coconut, spices and condiments. Among fruits, those for sale will be banana, sapota, guava, papaya, gooseberry and others. Beans, cabbage, cauliflower, okra, carrot, tomato, potato and other vegetables are being brought by the farmers along with local varieties of vegetable seeds and food products.

The shandy is being organised as part of Kisan Swaraj Yatra, an outreach effort, which started from Sabarmati on October 2 and will end at the Raj Ghat on December 11 to protect Indian farming and farmers. The pan-India yatra is highlighting issues such as seed sovereignty, land grab, climate change, genetically engineered seeds, pesticides, farm produce pricing, a press release said. Passing through different districts of Karnataka from October 21, the yatra will reach Bangalore on October 24 where the organic shandy and a public meeting has been organised. Sahaja Organics, Simply Organics, Era Organics, Pristine Organics, Save Our Rice Campaign and Samvada are taking part in the shandy, which will be organised at Mysore Horticulture Society premises in Lalbagh between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The Jaivik Krishik Society - a nodal agency between the Government of Karnataka and the organic food producers - is approaching national and international certification and accreditation agencies for marketing the organic food products under the `Jaivik' name. The Department of Horticulture in Karnataka, which has taken steps to popularize the concept of organic farming among farmers, is now making efforts to market organically grown items under a brand name. `Jaivik,' as the name suggests, is an initiative in that regard.

The activities of the society are not only limited for selling organic food products but also for popularizing the organic farming concept. The members of the society regularly interact to share their experiences in organic farming. To promote this society a retail outlet is present in the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens in Bangalore. Around 300 farmers are the members of this society. Of them, nearly 30 are actively into organic farming. Various vegetables and other crops grown by them have good demand in the domestic market. The `Jaivik' outlet at Lalbagh sells most of the vegetables and other farm items produced by them.

Monsanto forms partnership with AgraQuest

2010-09-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

Monsanto Co. said Monday it entered a three-year partnership with pesticide maker AgraQuest Inc. to develop new strains of pesticide-coated seeds.

Monsanto, the world's biggest seed company, said its partnership with AgraQuest could yield seeds coated in AgraQuest's microbes that fight off nematodes, disease and insects.

Monsanto develops and sells genetically engineered varieties of corn and soybeans that are planted on the vast majority of U.S. farm acreage. With AgraQuest, it will try to make coated versions of its staple crops like corn and soybeans, as well as its vegetable seeds.

Under the terms of the partnership, Monsanto will have exclusive rights to AgraQuest's seed-treatment technology for core crops and vegetables. AgraQuest will retain the rights to its technology for pesticides that are sprayed over the top of plants.

AgraQuest will also get an upfront payment and research funding, performance-based payments and royalties. The size of the payments was not disclosed.

Monsanto has entered a number of similar partnerships in recent years, teaming up with companies like Germany-based BASF AG to speed up Monsanto's research and development pipeline.

Innovative website offers cheap vegetable seeds

2010-09-26T19:29:00.002-07:00

Growing your own vegetables has become an important element of family life for many, providing nutritious food at affordable prices. One of the key elements for the growth in the growing your own vegetable sector has been the concern of additives and preservatives that are contained in supermarket vegetables. By growing your own, you are assured of both quality and the inherent lack of any additional chemicals. The difficulty many find is locating a viable source of vegetable seeds, thankfully that is no longer an issue due to the prominence of an impressive website that offers a wide range of seeds, that website is www.seedparade.co.uk.

As a nation we are becoming more health conscious, taking into account additional elements and features of our food, that previously were unknown or not considered. One of these elements is the continued utilisation of preservatives and additives, many of which are required to increase longevity and aesthetic appeal of vegetables, when being transported from distant locations. The only way to counter this effect is to grow your own, whether in your own garden or in an allotment. For this, quality cheap vegetable seeds are required, to ensure high quality vegetables are produced. That is where www.seedparade.co.uk comes in.

This engaging website offers a wide array of vegetable seeds , incorporating and encompassing all manner of varieties and types. From the common garden carrot, beetroot through to the aubergine or pumpkin, this ingenious website offers affordable veg seeds to its growing number of discerning clientele. Not only does this website provide an effective repository whereby the consumer can purchase an impressive range of seeds, it also offers a wealth of information regarding all aspects of growing vegetables. The available seeds are all displayed prominently with imagery of the anticipated outcome, including descriptive information regarding the length of time until full maturity as well as specific and relevant information regarding the best type of soil for effective growth.

For anyone looking for a comprehensive online resource that provides not only a wealth of information, but also provides an impressive range of seeds , this website provides all of this and more. Its growing number of visitors is testimony to the fact that it offers an outstanding range of products coupled with excellent levels of customer service.

Vegetable seed project to fight poverty

2010-09-26T19:29:00.001-07:00

Promotion of Vegetable Seed for Poverty Reduction is going to be extended from the existing 11 district to 17 from 2011.

The project aims to preserve local vegetable seeds, increase their production and market them effectively to meet the national demand.

The current demand of vegetable seeds in Nepal is 1,750 metric tonnes, which is estimated to increase by 30 metric tonnes annually.

The first phase of the project had begun in 2004 for three years with the objective of reducing poverty through quick income generation.

The second phase has been running since 2006 for five years. It ends this December.

The third phase will begin from January 2011 to 2014.

The project will provide options for income generation and sustainable economic growth to farmers of remote and conflict-hit areas so as to contribute to poverty reduction and local development, said Indra Raj Pandey, project coordinator, PVSPR.

Pandey made it clear that the third round of the project would also be based on quantity increment for export purpose.

“Currently, the second phase of the project is on in 11 districts — Ramachhap, Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Dolakha, Kavre, Surkhet, Dailekh, Salyan, Jajarkot, Dadeldhura and Baitadi.”

In the third phase, the project will be extended to six more districts, namely, Dolpa, Parbat, Myagdi, Achham, Rukum and Kalikot.

According to Pandey, the seed produced in Nepal can fulfil only 50 per cent of the demand, while the other 50 per cent is imported from neighbouring countries.

“A survey revealed that 680 metric tonnes of vegetable seeds were imported from India and China in the last fiscal year, where 50 metric tonnes were hybrid seeds,” informed Pandey.

During the first phase, the project had included 3,600 households of five districts where seed production was 240 metric tonnes, which earned Rs 36 million.

Likewise, the second phase included 7,200 households in 11 districts, which produced 462 metric tonnes of seeds and has earned Rs 70 million till date.

Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Policy Research, Extension and Development is implementing the project with financial support from Swiss Development Cooperation.

Market report - retail seeds

2010-09-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

In 2009, people went mad for vegetable seeds. Sales of vegetable seed had grown for the previous two or three years and the boom last year saw records broken and the long-time ratio of vegetable and flower seeds sales was reversed as grow-your-own greens found unprecedented popularity.

Seed suppliers described orders as "stonking", "manic" and "massively up". But as the 2010 season began, everyone wanted to know whether the success could be sustained. Would people find vegetable growing hard work, difficult or simply not worth the effort? Or would these new gardeners be back for more?

"It has been a busy year and, although we are still processing the returns, indications are that we have held the sales from last year," says Mr Fothergill's and Johnsons marketing director Ian Cross. "There has been nothing like the growth in 2009 but there's been no drop back, which is positive when you consider the leap experienced last year. It looks like people are sticking with it - they are in the mood for sowing and growing and they are enjoying it."

Pleased with the 2010 season

Kings Seeds marketing director Tony Ward is also pleased with the 2010 season. "It was a bit up and down with the weather, but we've ended up about six or seven per cent up on last year in terms of volume," he says. "The vegetable bubble is still going, with people choosing traditional varieties that they know will perform and something they are going to eat."

So what are the predictions for 2011? "In terms of holding level, we are fairly positive for next year," says Cross. "The cuts and everything haven't really hit this year and, because seed is reasonably inexpensive, growing your own vegetables is something people turn to when money is tight."

Holding on to sales after such a massive boom as experienced in 2009 does not mean seed suppliers can be complacent. A wide choice of product, new packets - if not new varieties - and bright, clear displays are seen as playing an important role in attracting the public's attention and maintaining an interest in vegetable growing. It is not surprising then to find that the major suppliers have all been busy developing their offering.

New packet seed range launched

At the Four Oaks Trade Show, staged in Cheshire last week, Kings Seeds launched its new packet seed range. Growers of seed and supplier to commercial growers, seed wholesalers, hobby seed companies, mail order and retailers, both as Kings and own label, the company has also, since 1971, held the national contract to supply seeds direct to allotment growers via the National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners.

Its industry position and marketplace data mean Kings can authoritatively gauge sector sales trends, drawing on information from the company's sales to young plant growers for retailers, wholesale sales to hobby seed packers, Kings' own retail and mail order sales, own label packet sales and most importantly sales to allotment growers nationally, of whom there are nearly 350,000.

But the company knows that "retail is detail" and for 2011 has fully reviewed all packet seed ranges and analysed seed counts, retail price points and packet design. All packets in the new range have been fully varnished, giving a high-gloss finish to packet pictures.

The favour Suttons' Speedy Veg range found with Which? Gardening magazine has spurred it to add more. For 2011, additions include Beetroot 'Action', Basil 'Dark Opal', Rocket 'Victoria' and Broccoli Green - all selected for their speedy results and appeal to novice gardeners and those in a hurry.

After a successful 2010 season of sales with its eye-catching point-of-sale (POS) material and promotional ranges, Suttons is again aiming to help gardeners with one easy glance.

All four promotional displays feature on Suttons' new 680mm silver stands, designed to provide stock density on a small footprint.

New to the range for 2011 are 'Colourful Bloomers' colour-themed flower display to create planting ideas and 'Top Twenty Vegetables' to reflect the explosive growth in vegetable seed sales, featuring the company's top 20 selling varieties. These are intended to appeal to the beginner market.

'For Your Space' also focuses on new gardeners by enabling the production of tasty vegetables dependent on the space they have available. A vegetable range is offered to suit every available space, with a choice of easy-to-grow varieties, including newly-bred compact types to stimulate interest.

There are 'For Your Space Windowsill' varieties such as Sweet Pepper 'Redskin' and Tomato 'Little Sun Yellow'; 'For Your Space Window Box' varieties such as Chilli Pepper 'Cheyenne'; 'For Your Space Patio' varieties including Aubergine 'Pinstripe' and Spinach 'Reddy'; and 'For Your Space Square Metre Gardening' varieties Squash 'Balmoral' and Lettuce 'Match'.

New beginning for organic range

There is also a fresh new beginning for Suttons' organic range. The completely redesigned Organic Vegetable Seed range now features new packets and POS to appeal to the younger consumer, easy-to-understand, at-a-glance information, growing tips to ensure success and the new EU Organic Leaf logo. New products in the organic range include Carrot 'Flyaway', Basil Bush 'Fino Verde', Spinach 'Palco' and Tomatoes 'Beefsteak' and 'Red Cherry'.

Following on from what it calls a "fantastic" 2010 season, Unwins has developed a more comprehensive seed and seed potato range with new varieties and new offering 'Nature's Haven'.

New seed potato packaging is intended to provide clear and concise information to the consumer of when to sow and harvest. Unwins has taken a new approach in segmenting its seed potatoes by "harvest time", which simplifies the distinction between the more common but confusing terms of "first earlies" and "main crop".

Unwins is also changing the way in which seeds are marketed to consumers with a new campaign called the Gro-sure Challenge. It will focus on encouraging consumer trials and driving participation. The effort to encourage more gardeners to grow their own has never been more prominent and Unwins believes that the Gro-sure range and campaign will provide consumers with the perfect motivation.

Unwins product manager Julie Stigwood says: "We are thrilled with the success of Unwins Gro-sure since launch, having seen an impressive sales performance and extremely positive feedback from consumers and retailers alike. The range goes from strength to strength for 2011, with new varieties Pea 'Ruthless' and French Bean 'Poweron' making the Gro-sure range a real must-have offering for every retailer."

FUTURE GARDENERS

Suttons' Fun To Grow range, designed to link closely with key stage 1 of the national curriculum for 4-7-year-olds, sees the addition of strawberry and runner bean "How To" pots.

Johnsons has revamped its range, aiming it at pre-school age children and providing eight easy-to-grow varieties including pumpkins and sunflowers.

Unwins' Little Growers range is designed to attract the younger generation into growing interesting vegetables and flowers. It also encourages families to spend time together.

IN DEFENCE OF FLOWER SEEDS

Flower seeds should not be overlooked, as Mr Fothergill's and Johnsons marketing director Ian Cross explains: "The perception was, because of the huge jump in vegetable seed sales, that flower seed sales were going down.

"That is not the case at all and there is a danger that if people become over-focused on vegetables, they lose sight of the additional sales they can get through flowers."

The extent of consumers now growing their own vegetables has been highlighted extensively. For instance, Suttons Seeds now sells more than 70 per cent vegetable seeds to 30 per cent flower seeds.

However, this has not meant that flower seed sales have receded. Gardeners are still enjoying producing beautiful blooms in their gardens, as Cross explains.

Putting the spotlight back on flowers, for 2011 Johnsons is introducing easy-to-grow combinations such as hardy annual mixtures that can be simply sprinkled onto cultivated earth and watered in to give a stunning display.

Suttons has seen its new Fastflowers range of easy-to-grow, sow-where-you-want-them-to-grow varieties become more popular, especially with beginner gardeners. For 2011, it is launching Summer Long Flower Mix, a low-growing annual mixture designed to flower in succession and produce a host of colours, and Fragrance Flowering Mix, which as the name suggests is formulated for scent. This brings the total in the range to 22.

New for 2011 is Unwins' Nature's Haven seed range with 15 flower varieties to attract bees, butterflies, birds and insects to the garden, benefiting the environment and creating a beautiful setting. The Natural Companions range has been extended to feature 10 packs providing carefully selected varieties that work in harmony together, acting as a decoy for insect pests.

Unwins has also introduced three new sweet peas. 'Aphrodite', a white variety with lovely fragrance, is described as a super multi-flora producing up to nine flowers per stem. 'Tranquillity' has large, gently waved blooms of deep almost cherry red carried on long stems.

'Moonlight' is a lavender sweet pea with slightly undulating petals. The flowers are presented well on long, strong stems that should suit arrangers and have a good perfume. They do not fade with age.

Task Force to study to produce seeds locally

2010-09-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Ministry of Agriculture has appointed a Task Force (TF) to study the possibilities of producing potato, onion and vegetable seeds locally.

The government spends over Rs, one billion annually to import these seeds.

Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, following the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed the TF to promote local agri-products.

The TF is expected to recommend means to produce seeds 100 percent locally.

The TF is headed by Additional Secretary G.A.M.S. Amitiyagoda and comprises of Director General Agriculture Department K.N. Mankotte and some private sector experts.

The TF is tasked to probe the reasons to close the seeds producing centres, storage facilities and selling centres and to re-establish these centres.

John and Patty Fitzurka's vegetable garden earns special award

2010-09-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

For at least 50 years, someone in Patty Fitzurka's family has grown fruit and vegetables behind this house in Robinson.

Her father and uncle worked a bigger garden than the one she and her husband, John, now tend. But they couldn't have worked it any better. One year, when the garden was still 100 by 60 feet, the Fitzurkas put up 700 jars of tomato sauce, sauerkraut, dried beans, pickles, hot cauliflower and zucchini, "cherry bombs" -- and the list goes on.

Though the PG's Great Gardens Contest mainly honors well-designed flower gardens, each year, a few vegetable gardens are entered. Usually laid out in neat rows, they don't show much design and there's rarely much thought given to color or scale. But when judges from the Post-Gazette and the contest's co-sponsor, the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, saw the Fitzurkas' photos and read their essay, they agreed it was a garden worthy of an award, and a second look.

So the Fitzurkas were given an honorable mention in the eighth annual contest. And the couple, who have more time to garden now that they've retired as custodians at Montour High School, were pleased to be honored for something they both love to do.

"We're a little crazy," she says, laughing.

"I just love this garden," he says. "And I love to eat good."

The yields are so great from the now 60- by 50-foot garden that their friends and family eat pretty well, too.

"It's too much for the two of us. Everybody wants some," he says.

Each season, they grow lettuce, onions, garlic, carrots, yellow, green and Italian beans, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, corn, zucchini, bell and hot peppers, and more.

Red peppers are the basis of the snack the Fitzurkas call cherry bombs and zucchinis cut lengthwise are the hulls of their zucchini boats. (For these recipes and others, see Thursday's Food section.) They believe these treats have long been popular in the western suburbs and aren't connected to a particular ethnic group (He's Russian and Slovak and she's Polish.). But there is something special about the delight these people take in homegrown produce. One friend used to impress by casually eating very hot peppers raw.

"Mr. Miller used to eat hot peppers straight from the jar or fry 'em in olive oil and put 'em on Mancini's bread. He didn't show any pain," Mr. Fitzurka marvels. "I couldn't do that."

The couple also end up feeding four-legged neighbors -- the local deer and other critters. In hopes of saving their crop of cherries, apples and yellow pears, the couple make piles of hard green pears along the deer's favorite path. Sometimes it works; other times, the deer nibble at the pile, then move on to the good stuff. And birds often get most of the cherries.

"They still trim the trees for us," Mr. Fitzurka says.

The birds seem to appreciate the birdhouses he makes and hangs on the side of a shed; they're rarely vacant. But the occupants apparently forget their hosts' hospitality when the sunflowers set seed. The couple has begun netting the 10-foot-tall flowers to keep cardinals and others from ripping them apart.

When the couple started working the land 20 years ago, they tried various seed catalogs. Now everything is grown from Gurney's Seed, chosen over the winter. Some seeds are started in the small greenhouse Mr. Fitzurka built 20 years ago; others are direct-sowed. Each spring, he brings home at least eight trailer loads of compost from Robinson's maintenance garage, where residents can get as much as they want. Too hot to go directly on the beds at first, it's piled upon an open lot next to the fenced field for two or three weeks. Then, once the seedlings are planted out, it's banked high -- as much as 8 inches deep -- around them. When there is little rain, the couple runs sprinklers in their garden, sometimes for a total of five hours, every few days.

Their devotion to their garden means they never take summer vacations, just a weekend here or there at their camp in Tionesta in Forest County. About eight years ago, they decided to downsize the garden to its current size because they were getting older and because they wanted time for other activities, like playing with grandchildren.

"I run the tiller and we're both 65," Mr. Fitzurka explains.

But neither can imagine giving up the garden altogether.

"We like working in it," Mrs. Fitzurka says. "Just to sit and watch it grow, it's a miracle. It's wonderful."

Project Living Proof providing an example of sustainable residential gardens Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/09/04/2191003/project-living-p

2010-09-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

Smart gardening practices take sustainability into the great outdoors.

A garden is a perfect place to put these concepts to work, and a model for sustainable landscape design is taking root around a 99-year-old house in the Rockhill neighborhood, owned by the Metropolitan Energy Center. The front, back and side yards on the 50-by-130-foot lot have been designed to demonstrate smart, ecologically sustainable landscaping practices that make sense for homeowners in the 21st century.

“Whatever stage you are in your greenness and seeking — whether you are thinking about it or are in the midst of it, you want to see what’s available to you,” says Jim van Eman, architect for the project, known as Project Living Proof. “In this project, it’s almost all there.”

Matt Schoell-Schaffer, a landscape architect at Patti Banks Associates who worked on the project, recalls, “when we were coming up with the design, we could daydream to the max.”

Rain gardens and rain barrels are integral parts, but the garden also includes native shrubs and flowers, raised beds for vegetables, a patio for backyard picnics, a low-maintenance lawn and permeable paving in the parking area. The garden uses reused and recycled materials wherever possible.

The garden is Kansas City’s pilot project in the Sustainable Sites Initiative (also known as SITES), a partnership between the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the United States Botanic Garden. The groups are working to develop a rating system for sustainable landscape design, comparable to LEED certification for buildings.

Of 174 pilot projects across the country, only about 22 of them are residential. The garden around Project Living Proof promises to be one of program’s little gems, with its small size, stylish design and ambitious goals.

“We wanted the landscape to express the same diversity of options for the exterior as the interior of the house does,” says Dustin Jensen, director of the energy center. Energy efficiency is the guiding principle of the project, and one goal of the landscaping is to make people aware that the supply of municipal water and the treatment of waste water are energy-intensive.

Gardeners can freely make use of the soil around their houses, of course, and sunlight and air are free, but water is an expensive ecological resource. The project’s garden, with a cistern, a rain barrel and rain gardens, is designed to catch, hold, and recycle 95 percent of the rain that falls on the property in a typical year, says Laura Adams, a water resources engineer at Black & Veatch who helped launch the project.

Beyond water conservation

The design starts out front, where rocks found on site have been reused to patch the low wall around three sides of the property. Just inside the wall are raised beds for eggplant, chard, beets, herbs and other crops. The frames of the beds are made of walnut harvested from local trees cut by one of the project’s collaborators, Joe Hendrickson of Hendrickson Tree Care.

Pea-gravel paths around the beds allow gardeners to harvest crops without getting muddy feet, but they also help filter water in downpours. The gravel helps hold the rainwater long enough for it to sink into the clay soil, Adams says, so it helps limit runoff.

A hedge of Virginia sweetspire, a small native shrub, puts a tidy frame around the front garden. It’s “visually friendly,” says Lisa Treese, a landscape designer at Patti Banks who worked on the project. “We were trying to strike a balance. It was our way of formalizing the edge, not shoving the vegetable gardens right up to the property line. We wanted to be good neighbors, too.”

Food crops were incorporated into the design because crops are edible and beautiful — plus they have social value, Schoell-Schaffer says. Harvesting parsley or parsnips from a home garden contributes to a gardener’s health and well-being, and growing your own food provides opportunities for exercise and social interaction.

Natural collaboration

Sustainability isn’t only a matter of conserving resources. “It covers a lot of ground — social, economical and ecological,” says Steve Windhager, director of landscape restoration at the Wildflower Center, who has been working on the SITES certification system since 2005. “If you don’t have all three, a project may be good, but it’s not sustainable.”

Students participating in Green Works, which introduces Kansas City kids to environmental and sustainable ideas and programs, helped plant the garden this spring.

“It made sense for us to reach out to Green Works,” Adams says. “Project Living Proof is part of their community, and we had time to talk about it, and about what they want to do when they grow up. It’s … especially important to get youth involved — kids who may not know what careers are out there.”

SITES-certified landscapes (they may be campuses, parks, subdivisions, commercial or industrial areas, home landscapes or mixed-use sites) will be given up to four stars. The rating reflects how successfully they sustain “essential ecosystem services” such as soil and water, and how well they manage invasive plants, work with native plants and use and conserve resources.

It’s not a contest, however, but collaboration. The landscape projects in the two-year program, ending in June 2012, also receive credits for contributing to the health and well-being of people and communities and for fostering a sense of stewardship of the environment.

“We are working on having the built world and the natural world work together,” says Jim Lapides, spokesman for the American Society of Landscape Architects in Washington, D.C. “The pilot projects are really putting this into action.”

The big reveal

Project Living Proof — both the house and the garden — is scheduled to have its grand opening on Oct. 3. By then, the backyard also should be completed, with espaliered fruit trees or berries, a compost bin and a patio of recycled concrete.

Downspouts will be connected to rain barrels and to an above-ground cistern. Permeable pavement will be laid in a parking area. A shade garden is being planted under an oak tree, and a turf-demonstration area will show off a mixture of buffalo grass and blue grama grass. The grama grass “is bullet proof in terms of hardiness and likes very little water,” Schoell-Schaffer says. “It’s a wonderful little plant.”

No one expects homeowners to be able to incorporate every idea in the Project Living Proof garden into their own home landscapes, but the ideas are portable and adaptable.

“The most influential element within our sphere is our home,” van Eman says, “and if we can help people understand that sustainability goes out to the property line — that it’s not just recycled glass countertops — that’s a step in the right direction.”

Master gardener volunteer opportunities

2010-09-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

Master gardener help desk: The Master gardener Help desk, located at the Extension office, is open weekdays, February to November, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Master gardeners research answers to home gardeners’ horticulture questions.

Master gardener library committee: An essential tool used at the Master gardener help desk is the Master gardener library. Master gardeners organize and file new horticulture information including pamphlets and books.

Master gardener demonstration gardens: The Sangamon-Menard Extension Unit Master gardener demonstration garden is located in front of the University of Illinois Extension building on the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The garden is divided into four garden committees: The Lorraine DeSouza Perennial Garden and Prairie area; State Fair Identification Garden; Herb Garden & Grape Arbor; and Compost Demonstration. Master gardeners design, plant and maintain the gardens. Committee members also provide public education of the gardens by labeling plants, creating handouts and public presentations.

Vegetable demonstration garden committee: Master Gardener volunteers will have a 12-foot-by-12-foot demonstration vegetable garden plot in the Illinois Department of Agriculture community garden. Volunteers assist with designing, caring for and providing programs in the garden.

Plant a Row for the Hungry committee: Plant a Row for the Hungry is a national campaign by HGTV and Garden Writers Association of America. PAR is a people-helping-people program to assist in feeding the homeless and hungry in their own community. PAR encourages gardeners to share their harvest by donating extra produce. In Sangamon and Menard counties, volunteers promote the PAR program and host produce collection sites throughout the summer.

Garden Therapy committee: Master gardeners lead gardening activities at local nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. Committee members meet twice a year to plan activities and sign up for dates to volunteer at the facilities. Volunteers work in groups and lead weekly activities. Volunteers secure needed supplies for the activities.

Heirloom Garden, Lincoln Home Historic Site: Lincoln Home Living History Heirloom Garden is a project organized by University of Illinois Extension Master gardeners from Sangamon-Menard Unit and Christian counties and the Springfield Civic Garden Club. Committee members plan, plant and care for the garden. Volunteers also greet visitors to the heirloom garden.

Gardeners Day committee: Master gardeners plan “Gardeners Day” held on the third Saturday in February. Committee members secure speakers, promote the event and volunteer the day of the event. Master gardeners serve as room hosts and manage registration.

Master Gardener Booth at Illinois Products Farmers’ Market: Illinois Department of Agriculture sponsors a Thursday evening Farmers Market on the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The Farmers Market is scheduled for May to October. Hours are from 4 to 7 p.m. Master Gardener volunteers have an educational booth at the Farmers Market. Volunteers will host an “Ask the Master Gardener” booth/ plant clinic, collect produce for Plant a Row for the Hungry and possibly provide demonstrations.

Woman seeks support for community garden

2010-06-21T22:43:00.000-07:00

When Lynne Leithleiter moved into her historic apartment building along the lakefront in downtown Racine, she found the third-floor rooftop garden had gone to weeds.

Four years later, she has a thriving garden of flowers, herbs and vegetables.

Last year, her garden grew into a community project developed near the Riverbend Lofts condominium development in downtown Racine.

Leithleiter, 71, hopes a similar project could take root in Kenosha.

She’s hosting a public meeting Tuesday to discuss the possibility. Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting, which starts at 6 p.m. at Northside Library, 1500 27th Ave.

“I just hope as many as the room will hold will show up, and it will hold 75,” Leithleiter said.

Love of gardening

Leithleiter’s love of gardening goes back to her childhood.

Her grandfather became a landscaper when he moved to Racine from Denmark, and her parents cultivated the tradition in their backyard.

“My mother gardened all the time,” Leithleiter said. “My father had the vegetable garden. My mother did the flowers around the house. And we kids helped with the vegetable garden. We were the ones who watered the strawberry plants and the tomato plants.”

Leithleiter and her three sisters all have gardens.

“If we visit each other’s houses, we have to tour the garden,” she said.

These days, Leithleiter’s sisters are likely to see bursts of periwinkle blue flax, towers of lavender delphiniums and delicate pink pincushion dianthus when they visit her rooftop garden.

The garden, a 2-foot-wide raised bed that spans the 250-foot perimeter of the roof, also includes herbs, vegetables and two evergreens donated by a sister’s neighbor.

“Getting those things from friends and sources is one of the most fun things about having a garden,” Leithleiter said.

They also can be the foundation for a community garden or the basis for giving back to the community, by supplying area food pantries with fresh produce, as Leithleiter and others learned while developing their project in Racine, which started in May 2009.

Community garden

What role donations might play in a Kenosha garden will have to be decided, along with choices about the garden’s location and name.

In Racine, city officials worked with volunteers to find a location. A year into gardening, the community plot still doesn’t have an official name.

“(It’s known as) as the plots at Racine Urban Garden Network. Some people call it the Marquette Garden. Some people call it the Racine Community Garden. They haven’t reached the point where they’ve got an official name,” said Leithleiter, who is no longer involved with the project.

Guided by master gardeners, who are required to donate a certain amount of time to maintain their status, the path for Kenosha’s community garden should largely depend on the people who support it.

“There needs to be some passion involved,” Leithleiter said. “I have the passion to get the people together and get it going. And I will certainly follow up on it, but I want people from Kenosha to take care of this one.”

Volunteers needed

Some of those people could come from the local community artisans and food vendors who participate in the Kenosha Harbor Market, said Curzio Caravati, the market’s vice president.

Caravati said they support Leithleiter’s efforts to start a garden in Kenosha and hope to appoint a market board member to lead the garden initiative. That board member could help find a garden location, but also could recruit gardeners to begin planting as early as next year.

At least 20 people signed up to learn more about the project when Leithleiter presented the idea in April during an Earth Day event at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha.

She hopes more people get involved. The effort, she said, is well worth it.

“A community garden creates community,” Leithleiter said. “And at this point in time with our country, when people are having problems even putting food on the table, planting a garden is one way to not only alleviate the stress of having enough food, but also make friends and create a community around a garden.”

Sustainability is key at Qns. County Farm

2009-10-17T05:23:00.001-07:00

Farm-fresh eggs, goat cheese, fresh pork, organic produce, honey and wine sound like a bucolic dream for food lovers, one only found upstate or in other rural areas. But all those goodies are being sold already or will be within the next 10 years at the Queens County Farm Museum in Floral Park.
The 47-acre site — the only working historic farm in the city — is growing produce year-round and becoming sustainable. Sustainable agriculture is growing food in a way that balances environmental stewardship, community development and economic viability, according to the museum’s website.

In addition, Amy Fischetti-Boncardo, the farm director, says they are integrating grazing and browsing rotations as part of their livestock management to improve soil quality and animal health.
Farm officials have also purchased some Cotswold sheep, known for the quality of their wool. Shearing is done twice a year and will be sold for fleece. Some wool may be kept for making yarn.
The farm raises 12 pigs a year, with one slaughtered off premises each month. It is then butchered at the museum. The farm sells 150 pounds of pork a month in the form of chops, shoulder roast, pork belly for bacon, ham steak and hocks.
“The taste is amazing,” Fischetti-Boncardo said. “It’s so tender and lean it looks like steak.”
She called the meat “very high quality.” The pigs forage for feed, helping to clear the land, and are also fed among other things spent brew grains from a Brooklyn brewery.
The pork, along with seasonal vegetables, herbs, honey and eggs are sold to the public Wednesday through Sunday at the museum, 73-50 Little Neck Parkway, from noon to 5 p.m., July through October.
Prices are competitive with supermarkets, but in most cases the goods are fresher and organic. Many of the vegetables are grown from heirloom seeds.
The farm’s 200 laying Rhode Island Red hens produce 14 dozen brown eggs a day and Fischetti-Boncardo said there have been fights over them by eager customers. Despite popular belief, brown eggs are no more nutritious than white ones. The color is determined by the type of chicken.
Because of limited space, only pigs are raised for slaughter. “People do eat meat,” the director said. “We give them [pigs] a good quality of life, a dignified life, a healthy diet and treat them humanely.”
Cool-weather vegetables including Brussels sprouts, broccoli, turnips, kohlrabi and beets are still being picked in the fields. All told, there are 100 varieties of 20 different crops grown on 1 and one-half acres.
One of the most popular growing ventures — salad greens — are cultivated year-round on three acres in cold frames, the historic greenhouse and structures called hoop houses that are curved metal supports covered with canvas.
The numerous varieties of lettuce are trimmed and continue to grow or what is known as “cut and come again,” according to Kennon Kay, farm manager, who added the greens are more flavorful in winter because they grow better in cold weather.
The greens are combined to make Mesclun mix, a popular salad blend. It is a big seller on Fridays at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan.
“Some people in Queens wonder why we are selling in Manhattan throughout the year,” Fischetti-Boncardo said. “It’s to get the word out about the farm. It lets people know we are here.”
In the spring, the farm grows peaches and pears and next spring will add raspberries and blackberries, which are very popular, according to Michael Robertson, director of agriculture.
The farm will be introducing its first wines in about a month from vines planted in 2006. They will include a merlot and a red blend. The 2007 crop will feature a Chardonnay.
A 10-year master plan for the farm museum will add more planting acreage from existing property, produce goat cheese, goat soap and goat milk from the herd there and perhaps free-range chickens.
Robertson said the goat cheese project is high on the list. “We want it to be successful,” he said. “Goats are very sustainable animals that live in a small space.”
The farm is open free to the public, except during special events, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is owned by the Parks Department and operated by the Colonial Farmhouse Restoration Society of Bellerose.

Our first-time gardeners share tales of their bounty

2009-10-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

As the leaves begin to color up and drop - and our thoughts turn from basil and cucumbers to apples and pumpkins - we thought it the perfect time for one last check-in with the first-time vegetable gardeners we've been following all summer.

High-priced produce, tainted-food scares and a yen for organically grown vegetables led so many of you to pick up hoes and shovels and try your hand at growing food for the first time.

Any great successes to report among our gardeners? Abject failures? Have we uncovered any new green thumbs who will become lifelong gardeners? And what's in store for next year?

Alison Lazarus was clearly our most ambitious new gardener. In spring, she planted a 30-by-40-foot plot after clearing about an acre of overgrown bramble behind her Harrison home. She even added a tool shed, 8-foot fencing for critters and a new water line just for the garden. "It started as a small idea, and every step along the way it just got bigger and bigger," she says.

A long row of strawberry plants lines one side of the fence with dozens of asparagus plants on the other side. One corner holds blueberry bushes, with raspberry canes in another. A cornucopia of every vegetable you can think of fills the beds: herbs, broccoli, Napa cabbage, peas, beans, lettuce, snow peas, peppers, radishes and lots of herbs.

"I certainly learned this was too ambitious for one person," she says, especially a working mom who commutes to Manhattan five days a week. "Next year I'm going to get friends to help, maybe even hire someone to keep up with the weeds."

Next year, by the way, her squash gets banished to a new site outside the fence. "I like having it, but I had no idea how big it got," says Lazarus, pointing out a squash vine crawling at least 5 or 6 feet beyond its assigned raised bed, one of eight in her garden.

Lazarus wasn't the only one who learned what a space-hog squash could be.

George Mickatavage had the same issue in his new Rye garden, a modest single raised bed that measures 5 feet by 12 feet. "They produced tons of leaves and flowers, but I only got one squash."

For Mitch Bernstein, who crammed all kinds of heirloom vegetables into his new 10-by-16-foot plot in Katonah, the jungle of squash meant no beets or carrots from the seeds he carefully nurtured indoors all spring. His cauliflower and onions didn't fare well either.

"I think they were a victim of the heavy squash explosion," he says. "They lost their light."

OK, so the squash was a bust. Cucumbers, on the other hand, seem to be everyone's best crop this year.

"It was the cucumbers that really went ballistic in mid-summer," Bernstein says.

Looking back over the whole summer, he mostly sees his first garden as a winner.

"It went really, really well," he says. "I had phenomenal success with my eggplant. All the herbs went nuts, same for my peas and beans and all the leafy stuff in spring. I have another crop coming in now."

Like all of our first-timers, he knew that the startup costs of a new garden would surely outweigh any savings at the supermarket this first year. "I didn't do it to save money," he says. "I did it so I could grow my own."

For nearly all of our newbies, it ended up being a terrible year for tomatoes. Wet, cool weather in June and July led to an explosion of late blight, a devastating fungus that killed thousands of tomato and potato plants across the Northeast.

Bernstein lost nine of his 10 tomato plants to blight.

Cathy Deutchman says she only got about a half-dozen tomatoes all summer from her tidy plot in Croton-on-Hudson. "They didn't do well at all," she says. "A lot of them turned rotten on the vine."

Lazarus says she started off well - "tons of cherry tomatoes and Romas like crazy" - but then blight hit in mid-August and "things well downhill quickly."

Mickatavage was our only gardener with good tomatoes all summer.

"My tomatoes were fantastic - no problem with blight," he says. "I think it's because I had a brand-new garden - new soil, a new bed - and a new farmer!"

His beefsteak tomatoes were "so juicy, so good, and I had lots of Romas that came up."

Deutchman blames the weather for a not-so-hot first year for her and her family - "all that rain in June and July, and then we were gone for most of August."

"Overall, I must say it was pretty disappointing," she says. "It was a lot of fun getting started, but it was disappointing not to have more, especially tomatoes and pumpkins."

Fortunately, she's not giving up. In fact, she's already planning a plot with tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs and pumpkins, plus peppers and more sunflowers for the birds.

Bernstein calls his first garden a "great experience - I look forward to doing it again next year, with a few extra morsels of knowledge."

Mickatavage says he's discovered a real love for gardening this summer. "I've really become a gardener - and everybody thinks I am because it's all I talk about."

Lazarus modestly says: "If I can do it, I think anybody can - I just threw the seeds in and things grew."

Her garden has been a big hit at the family dinner table. "I probably cooked more this year than any other summer," she says. "My husband and my two boys really enjoyed all the fresh food they got, and they were very proud of me because it actually worked."

Butlers receive Garden of the Month award

2009-10-17T05:13:00.000-07:00

Use just a little imagination and one could easily believe that one is strolling through a garden somewhere deep in the north of Italy.

The Sierra Madre Garden Club wants to congratulate Joan and Roy Butler of Jackson Pines for having created a stunning garden, which includes a number of dramatic focal points and sitting areas, containing different combinations of plants that immediately capture interest. The garden's meandering pathways emphasize design elements that incorporate texture, pattern to form an overall feeling of unity. The entrance of the vegetable garden only adds to the Tuscan charm and feeling of relaxation in every part of this garden.

Gardening season far from over

2009-10-17T05:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend’s freezing temperatures may have nipped many outdoor plants, but it didn’t end the gardening season. There is still lots to do — cleaning up, transplanting, clipping back frost-killed foliage and raking leaves, Fall is the very best time for planting bulbs for color next spring.
“Gardening season is never over and I’m happy it isn’t,” Janell Mead said. “It’s a lot of work. You don’t do this unless you love it, unless you have a passion for it.”
Mead’s interest in gardening began early. She recalls her father plowing up a small square of ground at the farmstead northeast of Sawyer where she and husband Steve now live, and fencing it off with old window screens. She grew four o-clocks and other flowers in her own garden before she was 10 years old. A love of gardening was nurtured by her Grandmother McFall, who also taught her to can the produce.
Just ahead of the predicted freeze, Mead picked buckets of peppers to make jalapeno relish, something her family can never get enough of. She also picked tomatoes, ripe ones as well as green. The green tomatoes will ripen, she said, and she has friends who would enjoy them green.
Houseplants have been brought into a large addition to the old farmhouse. It isn’t quite a sunroom, being on the north, but plants like the light and the Meads enjoy the view of the yard.
Flowers are laid out in a room concept in the yard, she said. One bed is for iris, another for ornamental grasses. Tall phlox in another room were transplanted from the garden of Fannie Rhea, a longtime Sawyer resident who died more than 20 years ago.
Geraniums and other flowers have been dug, carefully labeled and moved to a greenhouse, where over the next months Mead will root cuttings to put back outside in the summer and also for the Pratt Garden Club’s annual plant sale.
Mead joined the club five years ago, and enjoys the camaraderie of like-minded women, as well as the field trips and opportunities to learn from each other.
“Part of my philosophy is to always keep learning,” Mead said.
Last February she enrolled in a 40-hour course and was certified as a Master Gardener by Kansas State Research and Extension. The Master Gardener program offers another resource for the Extension Service to educate local people about growing things.
A retired science teacher, she enjoys experimenting and planting some novelty crops.
Yard-long beans were a hit with the grandchildren this summer. They almost met advertising claims — the longest bean, now mounted on a yardstick and dried, measured 32.5 inches. Instead of snapping them, she held the beans up and snipped them into serving lengths with scissors. She has tried purple potatoes, purple okra, black radishes and pink tomatoes. They didn’t do really well, she admitted, but it was fun.
“I love to see things grow and play a part in the growing,” perhaps sums up the reason behind a project — several projects, in fact — that consume much of her time and energy.

Gardening season isn't over 'til the last veggie's picked

2009-10-17T05:04:00.000-07:00

Lee and John Radigans are native Staten Islanders living in Rosebank in the house John built more than 35 years ago. The couple have a simple arrangement where gardening is concerned: She’s in charge of indoor plants, he’s in charge of the outdoor plantings.

John’s gardening chores may be winding down, but he said there’s still plenty for him to do. Early this month he planted some spinach seed in the tiny greenhouse he’s constructed in the back yard. (The greenhouse is so low he has to get down on his knees to work in it.) The spinach sprouted within five days, and John said he expects to harvest both it and some Swiss chard at the end of November.

COLORFUL PEPPERS

Although the greenhouse is unheated, the ground beneath it never freezes, with the result his red and green peppers are as luscious-looking inside, as if it were August instead of October. Beyond red and green, John’s pepper bounty also inclues varieties in shades of purple, yellow and black.

Staten Island Advance Photos/Anthony DePrimo

Ready for picking in John Radigan’s garden are deep purple peppers, a lush crop of curly parsley, and eggplants.

The Radigan outdoor vegetable garden is still producing some tomatoes, stringbeans, peppers, lettuce, parsley, basil, eggplant and zucchini. John explained that his Italian tomatoes are very different from ordinary tomatoes; very dense and “pulpy” inside and with an elongated, rather than round shape.

When he first moved to Rosebank he was a novice gardener who learned vegetable gardening from his neighbors, John said. Now, although he has become an expert, he, like all of us who love to work in the garden, admits he is still learning.

For instance, to keep the soil moist around his parsley John places wet newspaper around the base of the plants, which also serves to prevent weeds from sprouting. He said he used this technique to eliminate a grassy area of his lawn recently, saving himself the bother of digging out the grass by hand. A square raised bed of marigolds, New Guinea impatiens and forget-me-nots now surround a crepe myrtle bush replacing the piece of lawn.

A lush crop of curly parsley adds texture to the garden.

CREPE MYRTLE

I always thought of the crepe myrtle as being a tree, but have recently learned of the crepe myrtle bush. The difference between a crepe myrtle bush and a crepe myrtle tree is the “trunk;” a tree has a single trunk, while a bush has multiple trunks. If you neglect to remove the suckers, your crepe myrtle tree will begin looking like a crepe myrtle bush. It’s up to the individual to decide whether to prune or not. There also are miniature crepe myrtles that are bred to be self branching and never need to be pruned.

John pointed out the many “volunteers” that have appeared in his garden. A window box at the corner of his property holding a variety of marigolds has suddenly developed a lush growth of parsley, and nasturtiums have both invaded a border area and appeared in another raised bed.

COMMITTED COMPOSTER

John maintains a compost pile, utilizing a shredder and roto tiller to help convert yard waste into renewable, enriched garden soil. The gardener said he is a fan of the “Compost Give Back” program and even though he maintains his own compost pile, hopes recent funding cutbacks will be reinstated so that we’ll all once again be able to obtain some more of the compost known as “black gold.”

In a sunny corner of the back yard several varieties of zinnias are thriving. His wife appreciates the little bouquets of fresh flowers that he brings her and says they brighten up her kitchen window when her houseplants are not in full bloom.

An area of 6-foot-tall sunflowers in shades of yellow, rust and brown brighten up a nearby area. His Montauk daisies are in full bloom along the walk and a planting of “Knock Out Roses” continues its endless show of red flowers.

GARDEN NOTES

Continue weeding and add compost to your soil in preparation for next year’s garden. This is a good time to plant evergreens, making sure to water them in well. Plant spring bulbs now, before the ground freezes.

Families to explore 'edible schoolyard' this weekend

2009-10-17T05:02:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the harvest of the first organic crop from the new “edible schoolyard,” the Garden Education Center invites the community to join the opening ceremony of its outdoor classroom at The Harvest Moon Festival on Sunday, Oct. 18 from noon to 3, rain or shine.

Exploring the pumpkin patch, searching the Pinetum in a scavenger hunt, mastering a wildlife obstacle course and riding a pony are just some of the children’s activities that will be featured this weekend at the center, 130 Bible St. in Cos Cob. An opening ceremony commemorating its Teich teaching vegetable garden will be followed by cooking demonstrations of delicious home-grown organic vegetables, guided tours of the Montgomery Pinetum, family portraits by Samuel Owen Photography and refreshments. Families are encouraged to bring a nonperishable food item to donate to Neighbor to Neighbor and receive a raffle ticket for garden-related prizes.

The Garden Eduction Center's Teich Garden Classroom educates, inspires and creates an awareness of healthy and sustainable living practices. The Greenwich community has the opportunity to experience organic vegetable gardening through hands-on educational programs. From seedling to salad, engaging activities will help families understand where food comes from and how to grow their own vegetables from the ground up. Teich gardens are designed to enrich the academic and healthy living experiences of children in elementary, middle and high school.

"A Classroom In Every Garden" teaches and promotes sustainable agriculture, science, math, dietary education, personal development, teamwork and so much more. Children learn lifelong habits that encourage health, wellness and sustainable action plans for their future.

The Garden Education Center at the Montgomery Pinetum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting horticulture, conservation and the arts through educational outreach activities and special events.

Early registration is $20 per family online or $30 per family at the festival.

A mulch of autumn leaves breeds an army of slugs

2009-10-17T04:59:00.000-07:00

IThe Oregonian
was out checking the dregs of the vegetable
garden when Doug the Wonder Guy approached me looking stricken. "I did it," he said. "I'm the guilty party."

I wondered what on earth he was talking about. Had he pruned my chocolate mimosa again? Had he eaten the last piece of pie sitting on the kitchen counter? Had he let Ernie the dog escape from the yard?

"I'm responsible for the slugs this year," he confessed. Since he looked so bereft and contrite, I resisted the urge to whap him on the side of the head with a cabbage and, instead, listened to his story.

It seems DTWG had a bright idea last fall, which I have to admit sounded reasonable. Instead of putting all of the fallen leaves into the compost pile, why not rake a bunch over our flower beds to act as winter protection? That part of the plan worked. Even a newly planted crape myrtle survived last winter.

But the carpet of leaves also did something else. It provided a perfect habitat for slugs to crawl under and deposit their eggs. Leaves are airier and lighter than most mulch but still retain moisture and some measure of warmth.

Hence, by spring, I had half the world's slug population bounding out from underneath their leafy nursery and heading straight for the shoots of my newly emerging plants. Over the summer, as I've whined about slugs ad nauseam, kindly readers have sent me slug remedies that will not harm my pets.

Reader Linda Taylor swears by the herb borage, which she says slugs loathe. She places a borage plant at each corner of her vegetable garden and among her tomatoes. Roger Ferguson asked if I was aware of the corn gluten-based slug remover, and no I wasn't. He says it is quite effective in getting the "little dears" to go away permanently and is still kind to the environment.

Darlene Sanman passed along advice that slugs prefer the thin-leaved hostas. I have noticed that they don't touch some very thick-leaved greens, such as Podophyllum, that enjoy the same conditions as hostas -- shady and moist. Truly, it helps to have a thick skin.

Carole Trenko wonders if I've tried late-winter slug control with ammonia. She credits this advice to the late Elsie Skinner, longtime president of the Northwest Hosta and Shade Gardening Society. In late February before shoots emerge, she advises sprinkling about half to one cup of a mixture of one part non-sudsy ammonia and four parts water onto the crown of hostas and other susceptible perennials. This does in the slug eggs.

There seem to be dozens of environmentally friendly ways to control slugs. All work to a degree. They probably can do in a zillion slugs, but my problem is that I have about a centillion. I think, given DTWG's epiphany, that the most viable solution is to smash or spray the ammonia mixture on the eggs during winter. They are, I'm told, underneath anything dark and moist, such as boards, pots and, alas, masses of leaves. They look like milky-white caviar (sorry if I've put you off that delicacy now).

Otherwise, if they hatch, my slugs will mount armies and march forward with impunity in spring. No matter that they lose companions to boiling water, diatomaceous earth, salt, copper barriers, beer, oat bran, ducks and chickens, salt and various spray mixtures. There are still enough survivors to munch everything in their slimy path.

And, of course, I will try readers' suggestions. This is war, after all, and I am glad to have allies. And I'm really glad that baby slugs are not cute.

PRINCETON: Pumpkinmania! Glorious orange squash are a vital part of autumn

2009-10-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

It was a on a hot, humid day in the middle of August when I started to get tired of the green.

I was doing my best to get rid of it, mowing the lawn and pulling weeds (including a 3-foot monstrosity that looked like a prop from a high school production of “Little Shop of Horrors”), but the results were merely shorter grass and fewer weeds.

Green is good environmentally but the color gets tiresome by late summer. Everywhere you look there are green leaves and green lawns. Worst of all are the high green weeds growing on the sides of roads — their mere presence makes me feel itchy.

People treasure summer for its warm weather, corn and lazy days but, for me, it’s a season lacking in personality. Autumn is nature’s way of getting rid of the green and adding a little color to our world. It’s when we pick apples of red, yellow and (sigh) green. Leaves develop wondrous color combinations. Even the sky is more vibrant with its glowing sunsets and the colorful harvest moon filling the horizon.

And there are pumpkins! Those glorious orange squash (they’re a fruit, not a vegetable) are a vital part of autumn. They’re used to make pies, muffins, cookies, bread, soup, fudge, pancakes and beer (like the pumpkin beer sold at Triumph Brewing Company in Princeton). Their seeds can be baked for a snack, and according to the Web site amishghords.com, you can even make a birdhouse out of a pumpkin.

Pumpkins have carved out a place in our literature and pop culture. One of America’s first great writers, Washington Irving, had the Headless Horseman throw a jack-o’-lantern at Ichabod Crane, Cinderella’s godmother turned a pumpkin into a carriage, and generations of children have watched Linus faithfully wait in his sincere pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to appear.

A more horrific pumpkin-patch discovery was made in the movie “Pumpkinhead,” and John Carpenter set the perfect mood in the opening of his original “Halloween” with its glowing jack-o’-lantern and that creepy tune.

Speaking of jack-o’-lanterns, creating them is a highlight of my year. I started carving them with my nephew many years ago. I now carve them with my daughter. I’m no artist, and there’s nothing fancy about my jack-o’-lanterns, just some triangle eyes and nose and a mouth with a few teeth in them, but those glowing faces are a source of personal pride each and every year.

According to the History Channel’s Web site, the jack-o’-lantern was born from an Irish tale about a man named Stingy Jack who shared a drink with the Devil. Not wanting to pay for his libation, Jack tricked the Devil into turning himself into a coin to pay their tab. Jack then kept the coin in his pocket near a cross so the Devil couldn’t return to his original form. Jack agreed to free the Devil on the condition that he not bother Jack for a year, and not claim his soul if he dies.

Jack played some other tricks on the Devil (who apparently isn’t very bright). When Jack died, God banned him from heaven because of his antics. An angry Devil kept his promise to Jack by not claiming his soul, thus forbidding him entry to hell. The Devil sent Jack back to earth with a burning coal as his only light. Jack placed the coal in an empty turnip and has traveled the planet ever since.

Mike Russo, of Russo’s Orchard Lane Farm in Allentown, says he started planting this year’s pumpkin crop over seven or eight acres in early June. The strange weather this summer complicated things a bit, but he already had pumpkins ready for picking by early September and expected to have enough for the Halloween season.

“Most of our pumpkins are sold here,” Mr. Russo says. “We do have a couple of wholesale people who buy pumpkins from us but most of them are sold direct. In the fall time, we do a hayride and corn maze, and we also have a pumpkin field that the hayride wagon stops at. So people can either pick their pumpkin out in the field, or we have a field that people can walk through if they don’t want to pay to take the hayride.”

Most of the pumpkins sold at Russo’s are used for decorative purposes but there are customers who purchase fresh pumpkins for baking. If you are interested in whipping up your own pumpkin filling, it’s best to avoid the large orange pumpkins we typically carve faces into.

“A lot of people don’t use the big pumpkins because they’re not as meaty inside and they tend to be a little more watery,” Mr. Russo says. If you’re looking to create tasty pumpkin treats, Mr. Russo suggests cheese pumpkins, sugar pumpkins or hubbard squash. Sugar pumpkins are round and medium-sized, about 2 or 4 pounds. Hubbard squash come in different shapes and can be red or gray.

Cheese pumpkins are especially good for pumpkin pie, according to Mr. Russo. “It kind of reminds you of Cinderella’s pumpkin,” he says. “It’s short and squatty and fat. It has a really deep orange (filling) inside.”

Most people make pumpkin pies from a canned filling because cutting up a pumpkin, and boiling its filling is lots of work. But the taste of pies made from fresh pumpkin may be worth the effort.

“There’s a big difference,” Mr. Russo says. “It’s a lot more flavor. Canned pumpkins are good but when you get someone who makes a fresh pumpkin pie, there’s a big difference in taste and the texture.”

My wife and I had a minor disagreement when, in the spring, we planned our first-ever vegetable garden. I wanted to grow pumpkins, but several people told my wife that they sprawl and take over a garden.

I saw no downside in this. I imagined a yard full of glorious orange pumpkins. “We’ll give them away to everyone in the neighborhood,” I told her. “We’ll be the happy pumpkin people!”

It reminded me of “Too Many Pumpkins,” a book by Linda White that I read to my daughter every year. It’s about a woman named Rebecca Estelle, who absolutely hates pumpkins. Stuck with an unexpected crop of them, she frees herself of the unwanted bounty by baking treats and carving jack-o’- lanterns, which she gives to her neighbors. The experience brings her so much joy that she keeps a few last seeds for planting the next year.
I don’t think I’m going to be the Rebecca Estelle of my neighborhood this year. We planted pumpkin seeds, but I think we were too late to get any actual pumpkins in time for Halloween. Those vines are sprawling, though, just like people told my wife. I still think it’s worth it.

Maybe this year, we’ll carve jack-o’-lanterns for Christmas.

More Central Coast residents are raising chickens

2009-10-12T18:50:00.000-07:00

"Hi, ladies!” Carol Fleury calls as she swings open the gate to her Templeton garden.

Three chickens — one a big, buff-colored beauty, the others brown with bare, scrawny necks like turkeys — emerge from behind green vegetation.

“C’mere, I’ve got the apple,” Fleury tells them, holding out a red, much-munched fruit. One bird trots over and starts pecking.

Fleury and her husband, Steve, are among the ranks of Central Coast residents who raise chickens at home — in backyards, garages and gardens.

Some fowl fanatics crave farm-fresh eggs. Others, like the Fleurys, relish the way their chickens gobble earwigs and weeds, or treasure the free fertilizer that backyard birds provide.

In addition, fans say, chickens tend to be affectionate, good-natured birds — the perfect pets for poultry-loving families. “The biggest surprise has been how enjoyable (raising chickens) has been,” said Los Osos resident Bryan Brown, who has four chickens. “It has just been a thrill having them.”

Hobby has wings

As Christine Heinrichs of Cambria can attest, interest in backyard chickens is nationwide.

The author of “How to Raise Chickens” and “How to Raise Poultry,” Heinrichs has been singing the praises of her feathered friends for years. In the last two years, she said she’s seen more home poultry production.

“There’s a mystique there,” Heinrichs said. “People will say, (whispering) behind their hands, ‘I’ve always wanted chickens.’ They say it with that kind of awe.”

According to Heinrichs, chickens were once an essential part of the American homestead. As people started moving into cities and suburbs in the 1950s, however, interest waned.

Now, propelled by the same back-to-basics approach that’s repopularized vegetable gardening, chickens are enjoying a comeback.

Local feed stores report that more people are buying and raising chickens than before.

“Especially this year, the baby chick phenomenon has been unbelievable,” said Cara Crye, marketing coordinator for Farm Supply Company.

The San Luis Obispo store sold about 1,800 chicks last year between March and September, said Dick Gularte, in charge of poultry sales. This year, more than 2,400 fluffballs have flown out the door.

Although commercial chicken producers typically use just two breeds — leghorns for eggs and Cornish-rock hybrid crosses for meat — Farm Supply sells more than a dozen varieties. Popular breeds include black australorps, buff orpingtons and americaunas, prized for their blue eggs.

Demand for equipment such as feeders and waterers is also up, Gularte said.

So many people are interested in raising chickens that Cal Poly is offering a new class through its Continuing Education program. Jim Adkins, founder of the International Center for Poultry in Sonora, will teach “Raising Standard Bred Poultry” on Nov. 14.

In recent months, as many as 630 people have flocked to screenings of the documentary “Mad City Chickens” in Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, HopeDance magazine publisher Bob Banner said. The film chronicles urban chicken owners.

On the BackYardChickens.com online forum, more than 42,000 people trade tips about incubating eggs and share photos of their fowl.

Chickens are also a hot topic for homemaking maven Martha Stewart, New Yorker writer Susan Orlean and Andy Schneider, host of radio’s “Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisperer.”

Why they’re popular

So, why this love of chickens?

Just ask Fleury, who became interested in backyard birds five years ago when she and her husband moved from San Luis Obispo to Templeton.

“I was so excited to have a real vegetable garden,” she recalled.

Then earwigs gobbled her newly planted seedlings. A neighbor recommended chickens as a natural pest control. These days, the Fleury household includes three hens named Mardi, Gras and Buffy.

“I don’t have an earwig problem anymore,” Fleury joked. What’s more, the chickens take care of table scraps and keep her tomatoes, peppers and melons lush with their quick-curing manure.

“It’s a reason to get up and go outside every morning before work,” Fleury said of her flock. “I feel like a city girl playing farmer. It’s fun.”

Brown is more frank about his reason for getting chickens.

“My primary motivation was chicken poop,” said the avid gardener, who studied food science at Cal Poly. “I know what it means to have good soil.”

Brown bought four chicks in April from Farm Supply. Over the past months, he’s grown to enjoy watching the birds — two Plymouth barred rocks and two buff orpingtons — run around the yard or thunder across the deck like a miniature herd of cattle.

The birds, in turn, treat him like a human jungle gym, perching on his back and legs as he pulls weeds.

Watching chickens squawk, strut and scratch for bugs “brings out a lot of creativity and a lot of fun in people,” Heinrichs said. “People are willing to … see the amusing and heartwarming aspect of them.”

Still, she added, raising chickens can pose a challenge — especially in San Luis Obispo County, where hungry pets and predators prowl.

Lee Oliphant, a gardening columnist for The Tribune’s sister weekly, The Cambrian, said wild animals are a constant concern at her Cambria home.

“We’ve learned from past experiences” with predators, said Oliphant, whose architect husband, Don Sather, designed an elaborate backyard coop with safety in mind. “I don’t let (our six chickens) out at all unless I’m right there with them.”

In more crowded areas, opposition occasionally comes from folks irked by crowing roosters and clucking hens.

Although most Central Coast communities allow chickens, there are restrictions as to the number, type and location of birds. Morro Bay’s municipal code allows up to a dozen hens, while fowl fanciers in Atascadero can have as many as 40 chickens, or eight turkeys.

Heinrichs recommends working with neighbors to deal with issues such as noise. “Fresh eggs can go a long way to smoothing things over,” she said.

Like homegrown vegetables, food purists say, they simply taste better.

“As soon as you start eating some of these foods that aren’t grocery store food, your taste buds are awakened,” Heinrichs said. “You realize what you’re missing.

Master Gardeners assist NELC with Children’s Garden

2009-10-12T18:49:00.001-07:00

Orange County Master Gardeners have been sharing their love of gardening with the classes at North Early Learning Center by helping them prepare and seed a Children’s Garden which will grow vegetables.

The Master Gardeners prepped the beds last week, and then Gardener Sandra Hoke working with Head Start Teacher Dolly Gauthier, met Tuesday with NELC teachers and students to plant individual classroom vegetable garden beds.

Hoke greeted the classes and told students about the vegetable they would be planting which varied by class: mustard greens, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, carrots and swiss chard.

Then students each planted and watered their seeds.

Students also stuffed a scarecrow which they hope will keep birds away from their garden.

“Master Gardeners like Sandra Hoke make it possible to keep our garden going. We could not do everything that needs to be done without them. The children loved working in the garden and look forward to watching their plants grow and tasting the vegetables,” Dolly Gauthier, Head Start Teacher said.

Classes will now water and care for their gardens, and hope to enjoy fresh vegetables later in the year.

The NELC Children’s Garden will also have a flowerbed to attract butterflies. Mexican milkweed is planted for the Monarch butterfly and the students hope to plant passionflower vines soon. The children annually watch caterpillars grow into American Painted Lady butterflies. The bed will serve as a release site for those as well.

The individual garden beds were built two years ago with a donation from Home Depot. Frey’s Nursery donated decomposed granite for a garden path. Other garden items will be added throughout the year.

Garden profile: Judy Shea

2009-10-12T18:44:00.002-07:00

Gardens at: her home in Oley Township.

Profession: retired professor at Kutztown University.

When did you start gardening? About 35 years ago. I did vegetable gardening, and more of the aesthetic stuff has been since I retired and had more time.

What is your favorite plant? I really like very simple things like mosses and ferns. I'd love to learn more about the culture of plants because I find them intriguing.

What do you like most about gardening? The sense of accomplishment that I get from it. It's a nurturing kind of thing in that you get a little plant and you coax it along. It gives you a real sense of accomplishment.

What are you most proud of about your garden? The area that I have under the maple tree. That's mostly shade plants and a few cement finials to set them off. It's very restful to look at.

What is your next project in the garden? I'd like to put up some decorative fencing around the vegetable garden to improve the aesthetics. In other words, I want to hide it.

What advice can you give to a beginning gardener? Take advantage of some of the publications and TV shows that are out there. You can learn an awful lot about gardening from a little book you pick up at the grocery store and from the TV shows.

What has been your biggest challenge? Finding help, people to dig out flower beds. Besides that, I have a devil of a time with zucchinis and pests. They just start to look great and then they collapse.

Urban gardening gains popularity

2009-10-12T18:44:00.001-07:00

One year ago, Phan Thi Hue, 45, in HCM City worried when doctors told her that she had health problems and advised her to follow a vegetarian diet.

“After several months of eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, I feel much better,” Hue reported. “I have a vegetable garden of my own on my terrace. I can use vegetables from my garden at any time and I do not have to go to the market.”

“I have everything I want, from amaranth to cabbage and even sweet potatoes,” she added.

Nguyen Van Cong in Thu Duc district related that he was shocked when he witnessed firsthand how farmers sprayed pesticides on vegetables.

“With their way of farming, I’m afraid that we cannot have clean vegetables with no toxic chemicals,” Cong explained. “I dare not purchase vegetables at supermarkets since that time.

I decided to grow my own vegetables on the third floor balcony,” he added. “With my own garden, I can save money on vegetables, and more importantly, I have clean vegetables to eat.”

Cong’s vegetable garden was small at first, about three square metres. Now he is using every square metre of space.

“I have the pleasure of watching my vegetable grow,” he said of his favorite work. “I care for the vegetables every day and water them each morning. Sometimes I have to clear the plants of caterpillars.”

“I rarely use chemical fertilizers for my vegetables,” he observed. “I just use a little of urea two weeks before harvesting.”

Most “urban farmers” grow vegetables using hydroponics. With this method, farmers do not use soil, so they are not afraid of insects and they do not have to spend a lot of time caring for the plants. Hydroponics also allows farmers to grow vegetables even when they do not have large space. A 3-4 square metre garden can provide clean vegetables for an entire family.

Many young mothers grow vegetable themselves, because they want to provide safe vegetables for small children.

Thuy Lnh in Binh Thanh district works for a car trading company and said that she is afraid to purchase vegetables from the market for her 8-month old child.

“I accidentally learned from Internet that everyone can grow sprout vegetable at their homes with simple tools and I decided to grow vegetables myself. The health of my child is the most important thing for me now.”

A director of a company specializing in providing sprout vegetable seeds revealed that urban gardening is a growing trend. He told a Tuoi Tre reporter that his main clients are educated and many are office workers, accounting for 80 percent of total clients. Most of them are male, aged above 30.

Looks good enough to eat

2009-10-12T18:41:00.001-07:00

Long-time fashion designer Sally Browne's patchwork signature patterns also take the form of an edible garden in her small backyard, writes Nikki Fisher.

SALLY Browne refers to herself as ''a visual person'', so it follows that her vegetable and floral garden is as beautiful as it is edible.

Her South Yarra home is surrounded by cafes, restaurants and produce markets but she says she still loves to grow her own food.

"It's the joy in the toil, the constant surprises, the health aspect of eating organic food knowing how it's been grown, and it's also the meditation of planting and the absolute thrill of harvesting,'' Browne says.

''For instance, I'd never grown Jerusalem artichokes and then when I did that crop gave me so much joy. The flowers were magnificent. It was like a small sea of beautiful miniature sunflowers and then underneath came the tubular Jerusalem artichokes. I explored all these wonderful French recipes of roasting them or turning them into soup. The whole circle from the planting to the flourishing and harvesting and eating, it's a beautiful cycle.''

The cycle starts in her kitchen with the vegetable scraps she saves for her worm farm. ''The worms do their work, then I get my hands dirty and use that soil to sow seeds in my greenhouse, then the seedlings graduate to the garden,'' she says.

Browne says her food garden keeps her mind on the scarcity of water: she collects rainwater in a 2000-litre water storage sac that fits under the house.

Browne's first experience of a home vegetable garden was in Moorabbin, where she grew up.

''My parents always had a vegie garden and chooks. Then when I moved out of home and my children were little, we dug in a trampoline and I used the soil from that to start my own vegetable garden,'' she says.

Despite an early start, Browne says what she has now in South Yarra is still ''a huge experiment'' for her. ''I don't read gardening books and I break all the rules - I've had some shocking disasters but the majority are really fabulous surprises,'' she says.

She doesn't, for instance, pay much heed to planting instructions. ''I plant things very close together,'' she says. ''I like to eat things from when they're very young to when they're fully grown, so I take the middle of the middle lettuce out and the bed doesn't look empty and as they get bigger they've got room to spread out. My tips for growing vegetables are to make your own rules and plant as closely as you want to - it's a good way of leaving no room for weeds!''
Her current planting includes an abundance of leafy, crisp greens: soft lime-coloured butterhead lettuces contrast with deep-green spinach and rocket leaves, Lebanese cucumber and flat-leaf parsley (yes, salad is always on the menu). Snow peas are favoured for salad or stir-fry or eaten straight from the plant. Beetroot and rhubarb have been planted side by side for their matching colour; broad beans, tomatoes and corn climb the back wall alongside the passionfruit vine and fig tree. The far side of the garden, where there's room to stretch out, is dedicated to pumpkin, with floral beauty courtesy of roses and snapdragons.

Browne doesn't spend her weekends toiling in the garden, either. ''I set a few hours aside once a fortnight,'' she says, adding that she now saves time on food shopping and preparation. ''It is quicker for me to throw a piece of chicken or fish or steak on the barbecue then tear out whatever herbs, lettuce, cucumber is growing, give that a wash and a chop and there's a meal - 10 minutes, straight out of the garden, I couldn't do that if I drove to the shops.''

Sally's easy, high-protein barbecued tuna, grilled asparagus and 'this and that' salad.
INGREDIENTS

500g fresh asparagus
Lettuce and spinach leaves
Baby broad beans
Snow peas
Chives
Italian parsley
1 tsp sesame seeds or 1 tbs roasted almonds
1 avocado
Snow pea shoots
Any additional salad ingredients you love or have available in the garden
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 egg
2 tuna steaks
LSA mix (ground linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds)
METHOD

■Preheat barbecue.

■Break woody ends off asparagus spears, rub with olive oil, grill and set aside.

■Prepare ''this and that'' salad: wash lettuce and spinach leaves.

■Layer leaves with raw baby broad beans, snow peas, chopped chives and Italian parsley. Add sesame seeds or roasted almonds.

■Top salad with sliced avocado, snow pea shoots and anything else you love.

■Make dressing: whisk garlic, balsamic and avocado oil.

■Beat egg, dip tuna steaks in egg and then roll in LSA mix.

■Barbecue tuna for two or three minutes each side, arrange with asparagus and add dressing.

Tadeyo helps to feed SOS Children's Village Lilongwe

2009-10-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Tadeyo was one of the first children to go to live at SOS Children's Village Lilongwe in September 1994, when he was six years old, along with his two younger brothers. Even at such a young age, Tadeyo showed an interest in agriculture as he regularly tended to the vegetable garden that his SOS mother had started to complement their household budget. If she could not find Tadeyo, the vegetable garden would be the first place she checked. After completing his secondary school education, he decided he would like to become an agricultural expert.

Tadeyo's dream came true when he joined the SOS Vocational Training Centre Lilongwe in June 2008 to study on a one-year course in tropical agriculture. Tadeyo wanted to put his skills into practice, so he convinced the Village Director to allow him to plant maize for the village youths with the help of other young people. This led the Village Director decide to encourage village mothers to have their own maize garden supervised by Tadeyo. The vocational training centre was very impressed with the proposal and gave part of the agriculture training land to mothers and young people from the Village.

The Village Director is happy about the enthusiasm shown by both the young people and mothers alike. "You know - I am quite impressed with what mothers and young people have done. They are now ready to harvest enough maize to carry them through half way to the next growing season, which means SOS Children's Village Lilongwe will have enough maize to feed itself during the most trying times when maize becomes a scarce commodity". The maize in the gardens is quite promising as it is already at the tasseling stage and it is quite clear that each house will have a minimum of twenty bags of 50kg, each filled with maize from just under an acre of land. This should be sufficient for almost quarter of the year to cover maize needs of one house. The arrangement has not only benefited the SOS Children's Village in terms of providing food security, but has also meant children in the Village are exposed to life in the rural village sector in which mothers and their children grow most of their own food.

Mrs Rose Masiye, the Village Director, really has reason to smile as this has happened at a time when the global financial crisis is meaning that everyone at SOS Children's Villages throughout the world needs to look at ways of saving money. Tadeyo's dream doesn't end there. After finishing his course at the training centre, he plans to study for a diploma at the Malawi Natural Resource College. Tadeyo wants to specialise in crop science. He says: "When I've finished my course I want to go to Natural Resources College and specialise in crop science and then later on I want to have my own estate that produces cash crops. I am sure I will succeed as agriculture is the backbone of the economy of Malawi."

The Retrovore's Dilemma

2009-08-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

NOT TOO LONG AGO I took a bag of lettuce seeds as my date to a party. The seeds were of a variety called Speckles, a crispy, chartreuse-green plant marked with splashes of red. I was drawn to Speckles because of its backstory: For centuries, it has been grown in Austria, where it is known as Forellenschluss (which refers to its distinctive troutlike splotches). At first, it didn't do so well on my small urban farm. But four years later, it's thriving, consistently producing massive heads of lettuce well into the fall. Now Speckles and I have a bond. And so, as a reward, I'd decided to pass on its genetic line.

The party we attended was a "pirate seed swap" in an epic bachelor pad in San Francisco's Mission district. The pirate theme referred to the seeds many of us had brought along: heirloom, open-source seeds that hadn't been created by agribusiness, free to be planted, preserved, and shared as seeds have been for millennia. As more than 50 young gardeners milled around, feasting on roast boar, pirate chief Heather Flores set up a long table where we'd trade our botanical booty. Dressed in a jaunty fedora, a form-fitting black dress, and vintage Mary Janes, Flores unpacked a small suitcase, revealing labeled vials of seeds, and set out copies of her book, Food Not Lawns, in which she warns that "seeds have become another form of capital—to be owned, manipulated, and profited from, rather than stewarded and shared for the benefit of all."

Oddly, it has become unusual, even subversive, to grow fruits and vegetables with the straightforward method that humankind has used since the dawn of agriculture: A plant grows, its seeds are collected and sown, another plant grows, ad infinitum. Yet the majority of the commercial and household seeds sold today are F1 hybrids, crosses of different varieties created by seed companies. Big commercial growers use hybrids because they grow like weeds and are easily harvested and processed by machine. But unlike heirlooms, hybrids can't reliably replicate themselves. The seeds of a hybrid sweet orange tomato, for example, might grow into a bitter red tomato. Only the seed companies can make more F1 hybrid seed—whose exact origins are usually trade secrets—so farmers have to buy more every year, instead of simply storing and planting their favorites for years, decades, or generations.

The shift to hybrids has come at the expense of agricultural diversity. A century ago, there were 15,000 kinds of apples in America; now there are 1,500. Among the varieties that have disappeared for good are 96 percent of corn, 95 percent of cabbages, and 81 percent of tomatoes. Today, four giant suppliers (Monsanto, Syngenta, Limagrain, and DuPont/Pioneer Hi-Bred) control more than half the seed market. Because these companies engineer seeds for uniformity, the gene pool has shrunk considerably. This means pests or disease can easily wipe out a crop, leaving no backup variety. Plus, hybrid plants' lack of adaptability may make them more susceptible to the impacts of climate change.

Yet after decades of being forgotten or plowed under, heirlooms (also known as open-pollinated seeds) have made a comeback. Diane Ott Whealy, cofounder of Seed Savers Exchange, an Iowa nonprofit that has dispensed more than 1 million seeds in its 34-year history, says she's seen a tremendous increase in business. "One doesn't like to brag," she reports, "but this past year was the best ever—we were up more than 50 percent." Several recent books, including Flores', extol the heirloom renaissance. In Heirloom Beans, farmer Steve Sando touts the superior flavor of antique legumes like the Good Mother Stallard over boring supermarket beans. Renewing America's Food Traditions, a branch of Slow Food USA, has published a self-titled compendium of traditional recipes that use rare heirlooms such as Osage Red flint corn, Sibley squash, and the Santo Domingo casaba melon. In her foreword to the book, vegetarian cuisine guru Deborah Madison muses, "Could it be that backward is the new forward in the food world?"

I started planting heirlooms in part because I loved their names: Country Gentleman sweet corn. Aunt Molly's tomatillos. Cream of Saskatchewan watermelons. These were like name brands—folksy, antique brands that I hoped would transport me back to a simpler time. I also expected that my heirloom tomatoes, soft skinned and delicate, and antique watermelons, all perfume and juice, would taste better than their mass-market cousins.

However, I've come to realize that even though these old-timey varieties have survived the hybrid invasion, they aren't always the best performers. My Country Gentleman corn, for instance, was starchy and hard, not sweet and luscious like a hybrid such as Honey & Cream. Growing heirlooms is a rejection of quick and easy uniformity, and that means the occasional failure. But I sometimes wonder if some heirloom seeds are being saved simply for saving's sake.

When I confessed my doubts to Flores, she was reassuring. "People get attached to these heirloom varieties," she said. "But if they plant them year after year with poor results, that is just foolish." She said that if I selected seeds from my best performers, they might eventually adjust to my garden's soil conditions and climate, just as Speckles had done.

At the party, a short, older man named Tree approached the seed-swap table. He had some seeds from his purple orach, a tall-growing spinach relative that, he boasted, had both taste and dazzling color. Curious, I poured some of his papery seeds into a jar, and in return, he took some of my lettuce seeds. Like a worried parent, I told him it might take a few sowings before Speckles got the hang of his San Francisco microclimate. Tree nodded, perhaps worried about his orach's new home, too. As he wandered off, I suddenly did feel like a pirate—a pirate with another piece of treasure to bury.

Summer of Salads: Heirloom Tomato Panzanella

2009-08-25T19:23:00.001-07:00

Panzanella is an Italian salad that typically consists of the following basic elements: day-old bread, diced onions, and ripe tomatoes. Many other ingredients can be added, but I prefer variations that highlight the pure fresh flavor of in-season tomatoes. This recipe is Top Chef Masters runner up Michael Chiarello's version. Although he says one should peel, seed, and drain the tomatoes, I skip this step all together. With its burst in your mouth tomatoes, crunchy cheesy croutons, and peppery crisp arugula, this is my favorite Summer panzanella. I've made it countless times over the years and my guests are always impressed. To introduce your friends and family to this scrumptious salad, get the recipe.

Heirloom Tomato Panzanella
From Michael Chiarello

Ingredients

2 pounds ripe heirloom tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup minced red onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1 teaspoon sea salt, preferably gray salt
Several grinds black pepper
Panzanella Croutons, recipe follows
2 cups trimmed arugula
Wedge Parmesan, for shaving

Directions
In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, basil, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Add the croutons and toss well.
Divide tomato mixture among 4 plates. Top each serving with an equal amount of the arugula. With a vegetable peeler, shave the Parmesan over the salad. Serve immediately.

Serves 4-6.

Panzanella Croutons:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
6 cups crustless cubed day-old bread (1/2-inch cubes)
Sea salt, preferably gray salt, and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and preheat a cookie sheet in it.
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and cook until it foams. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Add the bread cubes and toss to coat with the butter. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the bread to a baking sheet. Immediately sprinkle with the cheese and toss again while warm to melt the cheese.
Bake, stirring once or twice, until the croutons are crisp and lightly colored on the outside but still soft within, about 8 or 9 minutes. Let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Inspiring generations of organic farmers

2009-08-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

Jean Iverson stretches her legs out in front of her for maximum speed as she walks. She is in the barn to get her hat and then out in the field in an instant. She doesn't have time to waste. There are rows of tomatoes, broccoli and beans to pick in her 140-foot-by-80-foot garden and more down the road in another 50-by-20-foot plot.

When she's finished, she'll load them into a garden cart and walk them down to the corner to her Kelly Farm stand on Route 6A in Cummaquid. She's been bringing vegetables to the family stand since her parents were alive, except that she used to drive. Now it's a 10-minute walk.
Today, there's also weeding to be done, a new crop of beans to put in and dinner to pick for herself, before the sun sets. She does it all herself. Without complaint. Stooped, and not quite as tall as she used to be, Jean, 87, has become an inspiration to organic farmers far and wide through the organic garden club she started before most people thought about organic gardening. She was a pioneer in the field, and has been gardening on the Cape for almost three decades.

Jean has been mentor to many well-known area organic farmers, including Tim Friary of Barnstable, Jack Stacy of Dennisport and Gretel Norgeot of Checkerberry Farm in Orleans.
Friary, who recently took over the former Barnstable County Farm in Barnstable, calls her the anchor of organic farming on the Cape since 1980. “She's been in the forefront, helping people get established. She's a sweetie. If she was 20 years younger, I'd marry her myself.”

The daughter of dairy farmers Earl and Pearl Kelly of New York, Jean has been growing vegetables organically since she was a child. When she grew up, she became a nurse and married Roger Gott, a trumpet player who dreamed of having his own music store. The couple moved to the Cape in 1945 and five years later opened Gott's Music Store on Route 28 in South Yarmouth.

Her parents sold their farm in the '30s and moved to the Cape a year after Jean did, in 1946. “My father never liked dairy farming,” she confides. Instead, he bought 34 acres of farmland from Harry Ryder, which soon became known as the Kelly Farm, where he delighted in growing produce. “He didn't have to milk cows morning and night,” she says.

After husband Roger died in 1977, Jean went to work at the family farm stand and met her second husband, George Iverson. “He had a farm up the street and brought his extra vegetables to my mother. We had a lot in common.”

But according to Friary, who later bought the Iverson farm when George's health was failing, the couple didn't always share the same views. She farmed organically and he didn't, so they farmed their separate ways on his-and-her farms. Despite their deep attachment, Iverson moved to an assisted-living home in Duxbury, because of his health, five years ago. He didn't ask Jean to join him.

“He knew I wouldn't leave my farm,” she says. “I couldn't give this up. But I love him dearly. He's 90 now and not too well.” The couple see each other infrequently now because Jean, who has macular degeneration, can't drive and has to rely on rides.

A YEARLY RHYTHM

A simple white sign with a number on it identifies her homestead, across from the rolling green of Cummaquid Golf Club, land her family once farmed. When her widowed mother was in her 80s, a real-estate developer dropped by. He offered her $50,000 for the 34 acres. She accepted, leaving the one acre that Jean farms today.

“They put in another nine holes where there used to be corn,” says Jean, indignant still.

The soil at the Kelly Farm is the color of milk chocolate. And well it should be. Since 1981, Jean has added three yards of cow manure, green sand and rock phosphate to a section every fall. She also plants a cover crop in the fall, which someone turns over each spring. Otherwise, she does all the work herself, although she has given up her big tiller.

“I till the soil using a 5-horsepower tiller that can go between the rows. Weeds come back so quickly you have to rototill.” She also puts down drip irrigation and removes it when it's time to till again.

In season, her fields are laden with asparagus, leeks, strawberries, peas, soybeans, beans, raspberries, onions, Oriental eggplant, potatoes, regular eggplant, garlic, carrots, sweet potatoes and her favorite heirloom tomatoes: Rutgers, Celebrity, Brandywine, Sweet 100 and Juliet.

“I plant nine crops of beans 10 days apart. A home gardener can plant three to four bean crops, two weeks apart, in a 4-foot space. Last season, I picked 150 pints of raspberries. I enjoy it. It's not back-breaking. My husband made me a thick pad for kneeling.”

The only pest that dares cross her path is the potato beetle, which she hopes to dispense with by mulching deeply this fall.

In March, she starts her seeds by her wood-burning stove, then moves them to a sunny kitchen window when they germinate. She repeats the process until she has enough seedlings to fill her fields.

“I start with the hardiest crops first – broccoli, kale, onions – and hold the tender ones, like peppers and tomatoes. Then ambrosia melons. I plant carrots in July.” She plants her special heirloom sweet peppers and plum tomatoes from seeds brought to her from Italy. But away from other plants. “If you plant two kinds of peppers next to each other, the seeds won't be true,” she cautions.

FOOD ALL YEAR

Saving seeds is easy, according to her. “The vegetable has to be perfect and very ripe. For a tomato, pick a nice ripe one and let it sit until almost spoiled. Then cut it and take the seeds out, clean them and let dry on a paper towel. Peppers are easy, too.”

She picks tomatoes, green beans and squash in the late afternoon and the rest in the early morning. Then she brings the produce to her stand by 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday. It's usually sold out by 2 p.m.

Jean acknowledges she doesn't put everything on her stand. “I've been a vegetarian for 40 years. I have kale all winter. I had 30 plants in and cut the tender leaves off till they looked like a palm tree. It's my favorite. I have baked potato, sweet potato, winter squash. I'm great for greens. Collards, broccoli. I put lettuce and parsley in the cold frame. I'm almost self-sustaining. I eat soybeans with rice and other vegetables. They're good for you.”

Her doctor told her she was developing arthritis, but she doesn't have any pain. She walks two miles and does exercises every day to stay strong.

Her mind is as limber as her body. She worries about genetic engineering, people eating too much meat, and the trash created by plastic bags. But it isn't all bad news. She is thrilled that more people are interested in and care about organic farming. “It takes time. There's been a lot of publicity and articles written.”

It was 25 years ago that a little boy helping her at the stand came up with the idea of starting an organic farm club. She thought it was a great idea. Now, thanks to her energy and enthusiasm, it's an active group of more than 100 members called Cape Cod Organic Gardeners. “I'm everything in the club. I've got to pass it on,” she notes.

On Saturdays, she finds time to invite neighborhood children in to garden their own row.
“Young people have to have the spirit. I can't make much money farming, but it is so spiritual. I have to get my hands in the earth. I can't help but believe in God when I see these seeds germinate.”

Master Gardener: Seeds hold the miracle of life, so save, swap and share them

2009-08-25T19:16:00.001-07:00

Seeds can seem so commonplace. They're everywhere. We plant them, eat them and sometimes even make jewelry from them. But how often do we consider their magic? Seeds range in shape and size from smaller than the tiny parachute-like dandelion seed to the weighty bulbous Seychelles nut, the largest seed in the plant kingdom at up to 65 pounds. Yet whether winged or whorled, notched or silky, all seeds contain within them the miracle of life.

Along with produce swaps, many gardeners are rediscovering the ancient practice of saving and sharing seeds. It's not only economical to produce your own seeds for the next season and trade them with other gardeners, but through the selection and breeding process, you can nurture varieties that are well adapted to your particular garden and climate. And you help preserve plant varieties that contain within them our horticultural heritage.

Since agricultural beginnings, farmers and gardeners selected the best seeds and stored them for the coming year. Survival depended on knowledge of pollination, harvesting and storing of seeds. The development of commercial seed companies allowed farmers and gardeners to forgo seed saving and purchase new seed every year.

With modern industrialized agriculture has come the concentration of these seed companies into a few conglomerates. One-quarter of the world's entire seed supply is controlled now by three agro-chemical corporations: Monsanto, Dupont and Syngenta. These companies produce genetically
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uniform hybrids designed for mass production.
With this green revolution, global food production has increased and famines have been averted, but the diversity preserved by ancient seed-saving practices has greatly diminished. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that since 1900, 75 percent of the varieties of agricultural crops have been lost.

Growing concern about this loss has led to a grass-roots movement dedicated to seed saving. The Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL) has created a library of open-pollinated seeds that it makes available free to the public. Here in Marin, the Bolinas-based, nonprofit SPROUT Seed Library also provides a collection of open-pollinated seeds free of pesticides that members may "check out," grow and return to the library. These seeds are uniquely suited to West Marin's coastal setting.

Getting started saving seeds is easy, especially if you begin with standard or heirloom varieties that are self-pollinators. These are plants that contain both male and female parts and accept their own pollen without help from insects or the wind. You don't need to isolate them from other plants to prevent them from accepting pollen from other varieties. Some common self-pollinators are tomatoes, lettuce, peas, snap beans, soybeans, lima beans, endive and escarole.

Look through your garden to select the healthiest plants and the qualities that you would like to encourage - the tastiest tomatoes, for example, or the earliest or the largest. Tag your selected plants with a stake or cord to make sure you don't mistakenly eat your prize seeds in a dinner salad.

Avoid collecting seeds from hybrid plants. These plants are created by crossing two unrelated parents. Their seeds are sometimes sterile and do not breed true. Select plants that are open-pollinated, the traditional "heirloom" varieties that have been pollinated by natural means.

Allow the seed to mature and dry as long as possible on the plant. When the flowers and pods are faded and dry, it's time to harvest. Spread your collection in a single layer on a screen for up to a week to complete the drying.

Seeds harvested from a dry plant should be threshed to separate the seed from their cases. You can gently crush your harvest between two pieces of cardboard to separate the seeds, then toss them in the air or pour them from one container to another near a fan to winnow away the chaff. The light casings will blow away leaving you with the seed. You can also use a sieve to separate the two.

The seeds of fleshy fruits, such as cucumber, tomatoes, squash and melons, should be scooped out, washed, and dried. Some gardeners ferment these seeds, especially those of tomatoes, before drying. It's not essential, but it helps sort out the bad seeds and helps kill diseases. If you decide to ferment, add the seeds to a little water in a jar and place in the sun. After a few days, carefully remove any moldy film, add more water and stir. The good seeds will sink to the bottom. Pour off any floating pulp and seeds, then repeat the process until all the pulp is gone. You can now drain and dry the seeds in a single layer on a screen or a paper plate.

Store your dried seeds in an airtight container in a cool place to avoid exposure to moisture and heat. Mark the container with the name of the plant, the date and any notes on color, location or size.

By saving seeds, you can develop plants in your garden while participating in an ancient tradition that preserves genetic and cultural diversity.

Urban Gardening Interview: London Vegetable Garden

2009-08-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Callum! What got you interested in growing your own?
When my girlfriend and I moved into our current flat 1 year and 4 months ago. We have a good size balcony that was a sparse, bare piece of concrete! We put a few pot plants out there, I decided to have a go at growing salad as well and the rest, as they say, is history!

What are the easiest things to get growing on a window sill?
Without doubt, the easiest things to grow on a windowsill, vegetable wise, are salad leaves such as lettuce and rocket. All you need is a well-drained container, such as an old ice-cream tub, some soil and seeds and you’re off. Rocket is very hardy - just keep things watered well, since they can dry out quickly on a sunny windowsill.

What's the most extraordinary thing you've grown?
Well, my butternut squash plant is threatening to take over the entire balcony, but it’s a long way off big squashes, so we’ll have to wait and see. Although not extraordinary, I’ve managed to grow runner beans in pots on my balcony, which took plenty of watering and care - definitely an extraordinary thing to have a go at on a balcony, but very achievable! I’ve also been enjoying an abundant crop of tomatoes!

If you live in an apartment without so much as a windowbox, how can you get planting and pottering?
There are many ways. Obviously for the majority of Londoners, allotments are out of the question, since the majority of London councils have ludicrously long waiting lists - 40 years in Islington! Try looking for community schemes such as shared gardens, or schemes to help look after an elderly person’s garden; Wandsworth council recently launched a similar scheme that has been really successful. One of the simplest things to start with however, as suggested, are hardy vegetables and plants that can be grown on a windowsill, such as salad leaves and radishes.

Rooftop vs windowsill - what has the edge?
As with all things, it depends what you’re looking for. Rooftops offer a large space on which to plant things, but the lack of shade means that during oppressive summer months, many delicate plants can’t cope. A windowsill offers you the flexibility to move things around, which is good for more delicate plants such as salad leaves; however you won’t get as large a crop of produce as you would with the space of a rooftop garden!

What's the best thing about the London Gardeners Network so far?
The best thing about the London Gardeners' Network is undoubtedly the people. Since I started the blog back in April, I’ve been getting 2,500 visitors a month, so it became apparent that a community was out there. The London Gardeners' Network has given urban gardeners a place to ask for advice, upload their photos and share news with fellow green-fingered friends! Many gardening sites seem to have an inherently elitist attitude; gardening should be for everyone and the best thing about the London Gardeners’ Network is that everyone offers advice and helps each other regardless of age, experience or background.

Tell us about the Lily-off
The infamous lily-off! This is a pure bit of fun! I met Charles (of Tipped and Grumblegarden) for a wander through Columbia Road flower market one day and we came across a stall selling all types of exotic lily bulbs. We both bought a ‘Cobra Lily’ bulb and challenged each other to a gardening race! The competition has been chronicled on both of our blogs. Naturally, I’m going to state that I’m in the lead, however I’m sure that Charles would argue otherwise. But again, we’re trying to open up people to the idea that gardening is fun and enjoyable, not a stuffy, middle-aged profession where little old ladies argue about their roses at prestigious flower shows!

What's your favourite green space in London?
I think that many Londoners don’t realize how lucky they are; we live in a fantastically green city with parks and green spaces all over the place. Aside from the rather obvious choice of Kew Gardens and its Palm House, I’ve been in love with Greenwich Park ever since I first walked into it many years ago. It’s at it’s best on a crisp autumn morning when no-one else is around and you have it all to yourself.

Vegetable gardening: Food for thought

2009-08-25T19:13:00.001-07:00

Planting a vegetable garden is a very “green” thing to do these days. Today, our food is ground, dehydrated, steamed, colored, refined, formed, added to, and subtracted from, until the final product bears little natural qualities. Even so-called “organic” food has been processed to some degree. Fast-food joints and restaurants are now offering a variety of low-fat, no-carb alternatives that still contain loads of sugar, artificial color, and preservatives that cannot be good for us. In the beginning, God did not place Adam and Eve in a grocery store; he placed them in a garden. And in the middle of the garden, he did not plant “golden arches,” but trees of all kinds, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food (Genesis 2:9). So let’s start planting! It’s not too late! The rewards of vegetable gardening are endless.
Here are some vegetable gardening tips 101 from the Penn State Urban Gardening Program.
Tips for Designing a Vegetable Garden

* Order seeds by January or February.
* Vegetables grow best in a level area with loose, well-drained
soil that provides at least six hours of sun. (8–10 hours is ideal).
* Avoid placing the garden in low spots at the base of a hill.
Such areasare slow to warm up in the spring, and frost often
settles in these places.
* Avoid windy locations; if you must plant in a windy spot, build or
grow something near it to block some of the wind.
* Locate your garden near a good and easily accessible water
supply.
* Choose a spot near your home so it’s convenient to work in
the garden when you have a few minutes.
* Avoid planting near trees and shrubs; they compete for nutrients, and
water may cause excessive shading.
* Group plants by length of growing period. Plant spring crops together
so that latter crops can be planted in these areas when the early
crops mature.
* Don’t plant related vegetables in exactly the same location in the garden
more often than once in three years. Rotation prevents the buildup
of insects and disease.

The Patio Vegetable Garden
* You can grow vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and
even herbs in containers from your own porch, patio, or balcony.
* Almost any container can be used as long as it has adequate drainage.
Plastic containers weigh less and are easier to move around than clay
planters.
* Use well-drained potting soil. Pat-based, soilless potting mixtures work
well because they not only provide good drainage, but they also don't
dry out as quickly as soil. A homemade potting mixture can be made by
combining two parts peat moss to one part perlite, vermiculite, or sand.
* You can use wood or bamboo stakes for supporting vining plants such
as cucumbers, peas and squash. Tomatoes can be either staked or
placed in metal cages.
* Plants growing in containers dry out faster than those in the ground
and should be checked daily for water.

For urban gardeners in Philadelphia who don’t have the space for a vegetable garden; the city Philadelphia offers information on how to start your own community garden.

Gardening for anybody

2009-08-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

When you’re trying to start your own garden, it’s easy to be intimidated by the abundant orchards, vegetable beds and flower gardens that dot the fertile Willamette Valley.

But don’t despair. The valley’s temperate weather and fertile soil promise the first-time gardener a shot at relatively easy success, whatever the weather.

In the colder seasons, some low-maintenance plants can still grow indoors or in a protected greenhouse. In late-summer and fall, outdoor gardens flourish in Eugene’s muggy climate and sunshine. Your garden can be anything from a dorm-bound potted plant to a small vegetable garden in the backyard of a rental home, or even a plentiful multi-species produce patch in a community garden plot — cultivating your own garden in Eugene can be a promising and stress-free venture.

Junior Alayna Rasile-Digrindakis, a volunteer at multiple community gardens and local farming enthusiast, recalls the first garden she and her roommates put together a year ago in the yard of their home. “We made a vegetable box out of recycled dresser drawers, drilled holes in the bottom for drainage, and planted veggie starts,” or young vegetable plants, she said. “I never realized how cheap and easy starting a garden could be.”

In the colder months, plants can still easily find a home on windowsills with regular watering.

“Indoor plants add to the atmosphere of any home,” junior Molly Simas said. “Just make sure that they are getting enough light, water, and soil to keep them alive, or else you’ll feel guilty.” Local gardening stores can provide advice on which plants would live comfortably in your home, and what kind of care each needs.

While potted plants may add to the indoor appeal of a house year-round, it’s hard to compare to hands-on gardening outdoors. If you live in an apartment, or any home without a yard (or considerate landlord), you can still have your own outdoor garden in Eugene.

The city’s six community gardens offer space to grow your own garden or assist more experienced gardeners for free produce and knowledge.

“Most community gardeners love volunteers who are interested in learning about local produce and simply helping out,” Rasile-Digrindakis said. “It’s a great way to get off campus by yourself or with a group of friends. Plus, you’ll usually return with a bunch of
fresh produce.”

Alice Aikens, volunteer manager of the Amazon Community Gardens, values the community and education in the garden. “There’s a sense of accomplishment that comes from cultivating the seed-to-food process,” she said.

Other community farming areas focus on harvesting food for social programs for the underprivileged. Among them is Food for Lane County, a local non-profit food bank with three volunteer-supported gardens.

“I first started working there as a way to legitimize spending my whole summer in a garden,” FFLC volunteer Rasile-Digrindakis admitted. “But it’s turned out to be a great source of gardening education, both for me and for the younger volunteers who I help teach.”

Public schools with gardens, local farm merchants and on-campus farming groups also encourage help from interested college students. For students who find it hard to make time outside of school, Landscape Architecture’s Urban Farm class (LA 390) provides a hands-on gardening experience for any University student.

Junior Sara Quinn is a strong advocate for local farming. A member of the UO Food Project, she founded Project Tomato, a group run out of the Office of Sustainability with a mission to educate students on local and organic sustainable agriculture.

“It’s so important for students to become more involved and more active with what is going on with their food,” Quinn said. “From volunteering at local farms to cultivating your own produce, it’s becoming so much easier to grow local.”

Vermicomposting: Creating Garden Gold, with Ward Habriel

2009-08-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

Worms, Worms, Worms. Some people love ‘em, some people are a little nervous around them and the way they wriggle and squirm. But no matter which kind of person you are, you can rest assured that creating compost with worms is an excellent way to recycle many of your food scraps and a good way to make top-grade fertilizer for your garden. Free. Well, close to free once you set up your worm bin.

I have a good friend from elementary school who has had a smallish worm bin in the cabinet under her kitchen sink for years. Other gardening friends up near Redding in Happy Valley, Alice Wilkinson and Tom O’Mara have a big wooden worm bin built of recycled boards outside in their vegetable garden. You may have read about Alice’s discussion with Doni Greenberg on Anewscafe.com about her worm bin earlier this year.

Last month I attended the first of two workshops offered by The Friends of the Chico State Herbarium on Composting with Worms (or Vermicomposting) presented by Ward Habriel, Master Composter from Paradise. I did a segment with him on standard backyard composting last year. I went to the workshop with interest, but not necessarily with the intention of setting up a worm bin. I have always maintained a healthy, cooking-right-along backyard compost system and this in itself makes as me happy as anything I can think of short of my family. It’s a deep, spiritual kind of happiness. I wasn’t sure I needed a worm bin. As it is, I add all of my vegetable food scraps, my coffee grinds and egg shells to my compost and I love the idea that these food scraps boost the nutrition level of my compost transforming it from mere soil conditioner to soil food.

“And this is true,” Ward said to me when we were discussing why I should take on a new form of composting. “But here’s the thing…” Ward slows almost to a full pause for effect and drama. “If you composted some of your food scraps and vegetable waste with worms - you would have gardening gold, Jennifer….worm castings (the scientific name for worm doo-doo) are pure organic plant food. Much richer than even backyard compost with kitchen scraps because of the additions made by the worms. Vermicomposting is the PERFECT complement to your backyard bin. A tablespoon of highly concentrated, nutrient rich worm castings will feed a plant for months. Added to your standard finished bin compost, you’ve got dynamite. And you can still add the rest of your scraps to your bin, so it will be nutritious as well.” Who could ask for more than this nirvana of composting?

The workshop run by Ward, and which will be repeated on Sept 19th (for more info click here), covered a good deal of in depth information about the life cycle, care and maintenance of a worm bin as well as actually walked us through setting up a bin. Similar workshops are also held by The Worm Farm in Durham. The first key point made by Ward was that you cannot use just any old garden worms. You have to use surface dwelling, vegetation or manure eating worms, not earthworms, which do not like to live in groups and prefer to live beneath the surface of the soil. The best composting worms according to most sources is the Red Wiggler or Manure Worm, or Eisenia fetida. The are relatively small worms and they are communal so enjoy the worm bin environment.

“Worms are not smelly. If it is managed properly, just like a backyard compost, with the right balance of carbon based bedding, soft edible food waste and the right amount of water - your worm bin will not smell bad. Promise,” Ward assured the workshop.

The second point that Ward and his wife Cheryl, also a Master Composter, stressed to the workshop attendees is that you need to have your worm house ready before you bring your worms home. You do not want to stress them out by leaving them to get too hot, too dry, or otherwise distressed. You should also have the location for your worm bin chosen - it should be fairly protected - not in direct sunlight and not in a place where it would freeze solid. If it has a non-porous and protective lid, it can be out in the rain, but if not it should be protected from too much rain as well. Worms like to be relatively cool, slightly damp, have good air circulation and darkness.

Ready-made worm bins are available at many garden supply stores, at the Durham Worm Farm or on-line. Several ready made bins are available and work well. Some have multiple trays to make harvesting your worm castings easier. Some have a spigot and liquid collection area at the bottom of the bin system to make it easier to drain off any extra liquid that has collected at the bottom level. Also known as worm juice, this liquid is very highly concentrated and can mixed with water as a compost tea to water plants or apply a foliar feeding spray.

As Ward demonstrated in the workshop, it is also easy enough to create a bin of your own out of a solid colored, mid-sized plastic storage bin with a snugly fitting lid and holes drilled in the sides for air circulation. As my friends Alice and Tom demonstrated it is also easy enough to build one out of good scrap wood - NOT treated, or too rough or beat up. A wooden bin will lose moisture more quickly and so needs to be dampened a little more often.

As for the size of the box, it can pretty much be as big or little as the space you would like to put the bin in. A small bin for under an apartment sink, an enormous dumpster sized bin for the food waste coming out of the UC Davis cafeteria (and yes there is one). For a family of four who eat a fair amount of fruit and vegetables, Ward recommends a bin between 10″ - 16″ deep and 2′ square.

Once you have your bin, and you know where it is going, the worms need bedding. The simplest and most cost effective bedding in Ward’s opinion is simply shredded newspaper. Not shredded too small, but ripped into long 1 inch strips. “It’s therapeutic ripping the bedding for your new pets,” says Ward. Rip enough to produce a nice fluffy pile of the paper, and then dampen it with a water sprayer until it is moist - not wet - not with dry spots - but evenly moist. “The worms will eat their bedding and so it is important to just use newsprint. The black dye in newspapers in soy based and so is fine for the worms to eat. The paper is an off white, without too much added chlorine or bromide, and soft. Please avoid bright white, glossy or coated papers in the worm bin.” Bedding can also be damped coir, Sphagnum moss, peat moss or even dried leaves well dampened.

Once your bedding is in, you are ready for your worms. For a small under-counter bin you might want 1/2 pound. For a 2′ x 2′ bin you’ll want a good pound. Both The Durham Worm Farm, which Ward recommends highly, and the Gas Point Worm Farm in Anderson sell composting worms by the pound on site or ship them. Ward has also used and been pleased by the worms from the Sonoma Valley Worm Farm. After you put your worms into their new home, you’ll want to put a handful or two of soft fruit or vegetables in one corner of the bin. The Durham Worm Farm recommends getting your worms warmed up with watermelon “which they love!” Then add another good fluffy damp layer of bedding on top of them and close them up for a few days. Another friend, Hal Mackey, told me “do be sure your worm bin has a snug top or you might wake up to worms all over your garage floor.”

As for food, in general worms like soft or rotting fruit or vegetable trimmings. “Because they have no teeth - it takes them longer to work through harder foods,” explains Ward. Coffee grounds, coffee filters, chopped up citrus rinds, rinsed and crushed egg shells, tea bags (no staples), chopped up flowers are all good food sources. Sources are mixed on whether or not to feed them pastas, grains or breads, but people who say not to are primarily concerned about attracting other creatures to outdoor bins, so starches within reason are fine. Most people do not recommend meat, bones or moldy food in the worm bin. Do not put fresh mown grass into your bin as it heats quickly and this heat can hurt your worms.

A few days after the first feeding, open up the bin to make sure it is still nice and damp - not too wet - and that the worms are working in and around the food. “If they have made a good dent in it, you can add some more. Again,” Ward tells me, “add it to one corner and then cover the new food with a good layer of bedding. The best way to avoid smell or flies is to cover your fresh food with a lot of bedding and to not overfeed the worms. Only add new food once the previous food has been worked through - one to two times a week or less.” Ward and Cheryl have gone away for several weeks without having anyone come to feed their worms. They made sure to feed them normally before leaving and to leave the worms with plenty of damp bedding and the worms were fine.

Just as I once wrote that Ward preaches the gospel of compost, he also preaches the gospel of worm composting and I am now a believer. After the workshop, my children and I spent one morning recently setting up our worm bin. After some initial misgivings on the children’s part, they are feeling quite proprietary about their new pets. Ward tells me that within a few months we can start to harvest castings, and that within a year we could be harvesting every month. My children, my garden and I can hardly wait.

Post script: One of the many reasons that Ward and Cheryl Habriel believe and spread the word of composting so passionately is their firm belief that we as culture need to reduce our inordinate amount of waste. Besides composting, they work tirelessly to reduce the waste stream throughout our communities most recently by organizing and spear-heading a solid block styrofoam (such as that found in packaging boxes around new refrigerators, washing machines, microwaves and coffee pots - not peanuts, not take-out food containers) recycling campaign. Ward brings a large trailer to pre-designated sites and leaves it for several days so that near-by residents can drop their styrofoam. He then delivers that styrofoam to a storage facility in Oroville before going to the reprocessor in Stockton that manufactures it into new white interior trim (baseboards and moldings) for houses - much like MDF.

Watchwords for August: fertilize, weed, prune

2009-08-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

Many gardeners think August is too hot to work but a great month to sit under the shade of their trees, eat mangoes and plan their fall gardens.

While August can be a difficult month for garden work because of high temperatures and rainy weather, it can also be very rewarding.

A little labor this month to maintain your landscape will pay you dividends in flowers, fruit, wildlife and beauty in the coming seasons.

FERTILIZE NOW

August is one of the hottest months in South Florida and falls right in the middle of our rainy season. Those conditions make this an ideal time to apply fertilizer.

It is important to note, that by making good plant choices -- natives and plants adapted to our soil -- you can eliminate the need for most fertilizers. But due to our alkaline, rocky soil, some plants -- including hibiscus, ixoras, gardenias, some palms and most fruit trees -- need supplemental fertilizer.

The essential elements that are needed by plants can be divided into two categories: macro and micro elements. Both are equally necessary.

Macros are applied in a granular form two or three times a year and consist of nine elements, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. A bag of granular fertilizer will have three numbers, such as 8-3-9. These numbers correspond to the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the bag.

Most plants do well with a balanced fertilizer, a 6-6-6. Fruit trees, excluding mangoes, do best with 8-3-9. For mangoes, use 0-0-50. Many palms and ornamentals thrive with 8-2-12 or 12-4-12.

Macros are applied lightly and evenly along the drip line at a rate of one handful of fertilizer per inch of diameter of the tree's trunk. A tree with a three-inch diameter trunk would get three handfuls of fertilizer. The drip line is an imaginary line that circles the tree just below the furthest branches of the tree. The feeder roots that take up nutrients are found here and just beyond the drip line.

APPLY MICROS

There are seven micro elements, including iron, zinc, boron and manganese. These should be applied generously in the form of a foliar spray to the leaves of your plantings twice a year, in June and August. Iron can also be applied as a drench using the chelated form sold as Sequestrene 138. Drenches should be poured along the drip line.

Make sure you buy your fertilizer from a South Florida company where they formulate their mixes specifically for our soils.

August is also a good time to prune your mango trees. A mature tree should be pruned once a year after the fruit has been harvested to keep the tree small enough that the harvesting can be done by hand. If your tree is already very large, you may need to consult a certified arborist.

If your tree is still manageable, you can control its growth by removing any strong vertical branches and encouraging the horizontal growth, as well as by removing larger branches in an attempt to renew the canopy over time.

Never prune more than a third of your tree's canopy. It is perfectly acceptable to leave some parts of the tree to be pruned next year. If a mango tree is pruned heavily, it will skip fruit production for a year or two while it regrows the foliage that was lost.

You must also stay on top of weeds in your garden this month. Hand pulling or hoeing is preferred to chemical control. Generous applications of mulch after an area has been weeded will help keep the unwanted guests from coming back.

Vegetable beds should be prepared for planting in October by tilling the soil and working any weeds that have moved into your vegetable garden into the soil.

A growing community

2009-08-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

Tracy and Steve Smith are reaping the benefits of yanking out juniper bushes in their front yard and replacing them with robust cantaloupe plants.
And they’ve gradually transformed their back yard from lawn and flowers into a veritable salad bar with an assortment of fruit and vegetables ready for picking.

The change occurred shortly after their west Petaluma neighbors, Paul and Suzanne Mackey, moved in.

The Mackeys were more interested in yard potential than house features while shopping to buy a new home, and the couple has created a four-seasons “food forest” within a modest back yard.

To them, growing food is a community endeavor, and they’ve teamed up with the Smiths and other neighbors to grow nearly all of the produce they consume.

“We intentionally didn’t plant certain fruit trees because our neighbors have them. We informally have a produce alliance,” said Suzanne Mackey. “Corn grows better in our neighbor’s yard so we decided not to grow it.”

Some of the most successful plants are “volunteers,” like the wild plum tree planted by a bird that spontaneously sprouted and flourished.

Much of what the Mackeys grow takes care of itself with minimal maintenance. They consider their garden’s weeds an “underutilized resource,” since their chickens thrive on them.

The Mackeys have mastered the art of watering just enough by having water slowly seep into the ground and are aided by a 2,700-gallon rainwater storage tank in their backyard.

The Smiths and Mackeys represent a local movement of first-time and experienced gardeners who are growing fruit and vegetables as an alternative to high-maintenance flowers, shrubs and lawns.

“We’re thrilled with it,” said Tracy Smith. “The funny thing is we always thought we didn’t have enough land to grow food crops. Suzanne told us how to kill our lawn by laying down newspapers, cardboard and mulch. I don’t miss the lawn at all."

Suzanne Mackey acquired much of her knowledge about establishing a successful permaculture system from a year-long program at the Regenerative Design Institute in Marin.

Local wholesale and retail nurseries are witnessing unprecedented demand for vegetable plants, and many say they could scarcely keep enough tomatoes, basil and other veggies in stock this season.

But they’re not complaining about booming business - and instead are gearing up for an onslaught of gardeners who will be browsing nurseries in coming weeks seeking cabbage, broccoli, and other foods traditionally harvested during winter.

Suzanne Butterfield, a sales associate at King’s Nursery in Santa Rosa, has experienced her own conversion from horticulturist favoring flowers and lawn to new vegetable grower. This year, she ripped out a six-by-eight-feet circle in the middle of her brown, unwatered lawn to put in tomato and pepper plants.

“Everyone who walks by is looking at it,” said Butterfield, who lives in the Burbank Gardens neighborhood.

“This spot is most ideal for a vegetable garden. It’s very exciting watching a tomato grow compared to lawn.”

“I’m absolutely planning on expanding the vegetables and will turn over the rest of the sod for vegetables,” she said. “I plan to convert the whole lawn to pollinator-friendly, low water use plants.”

Butterfield waters the veggies with a once-a-week trickle, and said that’s plenty as long as the soil is well amended with compostl The slow water coaxes the plant roots to go deep, leading to a healthy plant.

Among the voracious vegetable customers at King’s Nursery this year have been parents who want their young children to learn where their food originates, said Butterfield.

“The vegetable business has grown by leaps and bounds and taken off exponentially. We even ran out of carrot seeds,” she said.

Daria Morrill of Cottage Gardens nursery in Petaluma witnessed the same stampede for vegetables this year, with practically every customer’s cart containing vegetable plants. She said sales of the plants doubled from last year, and food crops expanded ten-fold from what it used to be at the 19-year-old nursery.

“Definitely lawns are being phased out and people are being gutsy, putting veggie gardens in their front yards. Sometimes the front of their land is bigger than their backyards,” she said. “People are looking to be part of the green movement and live sustainably.”

Among her top sellers have been heirloom tomatoes like Black Krim, Brandywine, and Sungold, basil, and lemon cucumbers. Customers also wanted fig, pomegranate and honey crisp apple trees.

“Berries were ballistic, with people wanting thornless blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, and kiwi sales were huge,” she said.

Sebastopol-based Sweetwater Nursery is a wholesale, organic grower supplying vegetable plants to Whole Foods markets and retail nurseries from Sacramento to San Jose.

Owner Elise Loveday-Brown cultivates vegetable starts inside a one-acre plastic-covered nursery, and notices a steady increase in customers seeking a variety of edible plants - including oddities like red and gold celery and Italian black kale.

“If I can sell it, I’ll grow it. Our business is sort of recession-proof,” said Loveday-Brown. “We only grow what we know will do well.”

“People are more adventurous. They’re growing year round and it used to be only in summer. It’s fun for us. People are trying turnips and rutabagas. The sky is the limit and the customer base is eager and willing. We live in an incredible Mediterranean climate and it’s really exciting to us,” she said.

“More people are spending time at home and in their yards. When people have success and say, ‘I grew that,’ they want to do it again,” said Loveday-Brown.

“If you put something in every week, you will harvest every week,” she said. “It’s so magical.”

Suits and salary not a patch on shoots and celery

2009-08-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

SIMON Gilfillan's great adventures in agriculture had taken him from managing farms in outback NSW and Queensland to grain-handling, international currency and futures exchanges.

But when he was offered redundancy from the Australian Wheat Board last year he decided it was time to mothball the suit and get back to basics.

''I wanted to do things that were transparent, I really wanted to build things,'' he said. ''And thought, why the hell don't I build vegetable gardens. We looked at business models and trends and decided to have a crack.''

Six months ago, ''having a crack'' led to a family-run company called Kitchen Farmer, a Melbourne business that designs, builds, plants and plans no-dig gardens for suburban backyards.

''A lot of urban people don't have the tools to know how to build a vegetable garden,'' Mr Gilfillan said.

''So we start from scratch. Talk about what they want from their garden and teach them about vegetable families, heavy and light feeding, crop rotation, companion planting and provide a two-year planting guide.''

His timing may be perfect with the release this week of the Australian Conservation Foundation's Paddock to Plate report calling for a backyard gardening revolution that by 2015 would have urban food production across Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley return to World War II levels.

The comprehensive report, written by Andrew Campbell, former executive director of Food and Water Australia, calls for a holistic approach to food-production policy that incorporates public health, the environment, farming and society.

It puts 24 propositions to the Victorian Government for the intertwining of public policy across planning, health, primary industry, transport and environment portfolios.

''In terms of urban food production, backyards are a crucial element but so is designing suburbs so food gardens are part of the vision, along with waste recycling, water conservation, public health, the environment and open spaces,'' Mr Campbell said.

''Improving the performance and resilience of food systems is about far more than just tweaking policy settings, it needs leadership at the highest political levels.

''We need a world centre for excellence in sustainable food systems in Melbourne to provide a focus for innovation and leadership and to attract talent and drive reform.''

Margaret Cockram and her husband Neil, an Anglican priest, look like unlikely revolutionaries, but they may be at the forefront of change. Among the first of Mr Gilfillan's clients, they had their Ballarat vegetable garden completed in May and producing in June. It will supply a surplus to their needs by the end of winter.

''We have moved around a lot and we see this as an opportunity to put down roots,'' said Mrs Cockram. ''We aim to be as self-sufficient as possible in vegetables and to feed friends and neighbours and establish ourselves in the community as well.

''We both grew up on farming properties and wanted to reconnect with that through organic vegetable gardening.

''The savings are already evident. There is no transport, the vegetables are grown mostly from seed produced in an organic way and it is easier to have your hands in the soil than get petrol for the car for a trip to the supermarket.''

The Cockrams next plan to establish an orchard of dwarf fruit trees.

Vegetable Gardening with Seeds and Transplants

2009-08-25T18:58:00.001-07:00

Once the decision is made to start a vegetable garden, the choice must be made to either sow seeds directly in the soil or to use transplants. There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods. Unless the transplants are home-grown 4-6 weeks before they are set out in the garden, gardeners are limited to the selection available at the local nursery. For a fall or winter garden, these will most likely be cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, collards and cabbage. All are easily transplanted varieties that are good producers for cool weather gardens. For other vegetables that don't take well to transplanting, plant beans, cucumber, peas, squash and turnips either as seeds or start them in peat pots that can be planted in the garden.

Shopping for seeds for a fall garden can be a challenge. Many stores with garden centers, as well as nurseries, will have taken down their seed displays after summer. A good source for late season seeds are feed stores that sell them in bulk by the ounce or by the pound. Popular varieties include okra and the southern peas such as white acre, black eyes and crowder peas.

When planting seeds, follow the directions on the packet for planting depth and spacing. When buying seeds in bulk, a general rule is to plant large seeds like beans 1 to 1-1/2 inch deep; medium sized seeds, such as cucumber or okra, about 3/4 inch deep; and smaller seeds like carrots plant about 1/4 inch deep. For very fine seeds such as lettuce, scatter the seeds on top of the soil and just press them down gently into the dirt or cover with a very fine layer of soil. Water in seeds well and wait about a week or 10 days for them to germinate. Think about the mature size of the vegetables and thin the plants to allow space for them to grow. If you are careful you can tranplant these young seedlings into peat pots to place in other areas of the garden or to fill in if you experience plant failure.

Some gardeners prefer to plant seeds or transplants in garden rows to make weeding and cultivating easier, while others prefer wide row or "square foot" gardening in prepared beds. It's a delicious experiment to find which method works best!

Common garden questions: Using leftover seed, identifying poison ivy

2009-08-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

Q. Can the vegetable seeds I had left over this year be saved for next year and still be good?

The answer is YES! Some resources suggest that many kinds of seed can be saved 5 years and sometimes longer if properly stored.

The keys to storing leftover seed are temperature and humidity. Many folks simply put the leftover seed in sealed plastic bags and store in the refrigerator. A cool dry place in the basement will also work. Adding a desiccant such as dried rice or dried milk can further ensure the contents of the plastic bag will retain a consistent moisture. Most seeds that come in packets can be saved quite successfully this way. Seed corn doesn't save well, however. In terms of saving seed from your heirloom produce, there are many good resources online for this issue (check out Iowa's own Seedsavers Exchange for information). Note that hybrid seeds cannot be saved true to type.

Q. Can you tell me what poison ivy looks like? I'm breaking out and am not sure what to try to kill.

This is a common question and how many of us have heard the old saw, "Leaves of three, let it be"? But if you aren't familiar, there are some impostors that can give you a scare: Boston ivy, Virginia Creeper and Box elder.

So here are pictures of each so that you can have a visual guide to identification. The oil found in poison ivy, called urushiol, is an irritant that can cause rashes and serious respiratory problems if burned and the smoke is breathed in.

Tierra Madre Herbs owner grew from one packet of basil seeds

2009-08-21T17:38:00.000-07:00

Matt Keefhauver shows off some of his herbs at the Durango Farmers Market.

culinary paradise in a pot

Keefauver is the owner of Tierra Madre Herbs, a small business that he runs out of his backyard, located in the city limits of Cortez. By using two small greenhouses and careful planning, he grows about 30 varieties of herbs and several hundred bedding plants each season. Initially focusing on growing culinary herbs such as rosemary, thyme and sage, he eventually expanded his operation to include the cultivation of medicinal herbs and bedding plants such as heirloom peppers and tomatoes.

Keefauver grew up in a small farming community in west-central Illinois, where his grandfather and uncle were traditional farmers and he participated in the daily life of a farm kid. He is a fourth-grade teacher, but always has had a penchant for growing plants. His interest in herbs began with one packet of basil seeds that had a tremendous germination rate. Motivated by his abundance of basil seedlings, he created Tierra Madre Herbs five years ago.

Since its inception, Tierra Madre Herbs has used earth-friendly growing practices, such as organic soils and fertilizers, natural pest control and biodegradable plant containers. Keefauver believes any plant we might consume should be grown as organically as possible. So, he strives to find ways to make his business eco-friendly.

The special pots he uses are made of compressed rice hulls, and though an investment for him over the price of standard industry plastic containers, he believes they are worth every penny. Both handsome to look at and sustainable, with a life of two to three years, they can be reused and eventually biodegrade.

Keefauver's herbs are mostly perennials, perfect for planting in the fall or over-wintering on a sunny windowsill indoors.

Keefauver plans to expand his business by including more heirloom bedding plants and rare and unusual herbs customers may have difficulty finding. His heirloom seeds are obtained through Native Seed/
SEARCH, a Tucson, Ariz.-based organization whose goal is to conserve native crops by maintaining knowledge about their uses and distributing adapted seeds.

Keefauver is happy to promote the use of these ancient crops, contributing to the preservation of cultures of the Southwest. When asked what he enjoys most about Tierra Madre Herbs, Keefauver says, "The greatest reward in having a small business is that I can make many connections within the community and share some profit with community causes."

Each year, he sponsors the Poetry Corner at the Cortez Public Library and the Montezuma Land Conservancy Brew Fest. He enjoys selling his herbs directly to customers too.

"Meeting people in a vibrant and healthy atmosphere each week at the Durango Farmers Market has been an incredibly uplifting experience," Kee-fauver said. "I always look forward to Saturday mornings."

Marje Cristol owns Linnaea Farm in Durango and sells cut flowers and goat-milk cheeses. She also serves on the Durango Farmers Market board.

Back to the table: Tasty tomatoes a bit late after hail, cool nights

2009-08-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Expect to see local tomatoes more regularly at the farmers markets, though many had to replant due to early and repeated hailstorms.

Between hail and cooler nighttime temperatures, tomatoes are maturing later this year. A bright spot has been the little, super sweet and golden orange Sungolds, which create a crisp, juicy flavor explosion in the mouth. Great as a snack or tossed into salads and salsas, Sungolds come early and produce a long time.

If you are looking for the tomato flavor you remember as a child, check out the Larimer County Farmers’ Market on Saturdays at the courthouse parking lot, the Drake Farmers’ Market, 802 W. Drake Road, on Saturdays and the Fort Collins Farmers’ Market, southwest corner of Harmony Road and Lemay Avenue, Wednesdays and Sundays.

Most of the tomatoes you’ll find there are heirloom varieties, meaning you can save the seeds to replant and produce the same tomato. Hybrids and heirlooms are delicious and easy to incorporate into summer menus, but the old-fashioned heirlooms seem to have deeper, more complex flavor.

I grill them, halved, along with zucchini and eggplant slices, grilling onions and portabella mushrooms and enclose them in a wrap with chipotle sour cream. Add cheese, grilled chicken or steak if you want something more substantial.

Broil halved tomatoes until slightly browned along with fresh sage leaves, salt, pepper and a little olive oil and toss with hot pasta, feta cheese and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Or add diced tomatoes to a pan of sautéed chicken with garlic and onion, deglaze the pan with ¼ cup red or white wine, simmer 5 to 10 minutes and serve garnished with torn fresh basil leaves.

Or poach mahi mahi fillets or large raw shrimp in a combination of minced garlic, chopped onion and bell pepper softened in olive oil, plus 2 chopped tomatoes and ½ cup dry white wine. Add Kalamata or green olives, if you like, or 1 teaspoon capers and serve with chopped Italian parsley over cooked brown rice.

By all means, slice heirloom tomatoes and stack them with slices of fresh mozzarella and whole fresh basil leaves for the popular Caprese salad drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Tomatoes are loaded with nutrients: fiber, potassium, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, copper, vitamins A, B, C, E and K and lycopene. Lycopene is strongly anti-cancer, particularly prostate cancer. The lycopene in organic tomatoes appears to be more effective than taking a supplement. Lycopene is fat soluble and pairs beautifully with heart-healthy extra virgin olive oil. Recently, I prepared this unusual salad to good reviews:
Green Salad with Fresh Tomatoes and Peaches

Ingredients

4-6 cups washed salad greens

2 peaches, sliced

2 yellow or red heirloom tomatoes, rough chopped

½ cup red onion, thinly sliced

¾ cup feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions

Whisk together 2 tablespoons minced shallot with 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Whisk in salt and pepper and add 1/3 cup olive oil in a thin stream. Toss with the salad and serve. Substitute goat cheese, if you like it.

Red hot: 50 juicy ways to enjoy summer's tomatoes

2009-08-21T17:36:00.001-07:00

There are a multitude of reasons to love August in Chicago. Let's whittle it down to the two most obvious ones: It's not winter. And, tomatoes.

What is it about tomatoes that makes us gush as if recalling our first kiss?

What other vegetable -- or fruit, technically -- prompts even the most timid gardeners to get their hands dirty in their urban plots (or pots), and goads veteran green thumbs to one-up themselves with each season, filling their gardens with all sorts of gorgeous, misshapen heirloom varieties?

"More than any other vegetable, it's immediately accessible," says cookbook author Ronni Lundy, whose own affair with the tomato caused her to write a book on it, In Praise of Tomatoes (Chronicle Books, 2006). "You don't have to do anything. You just have to let it ripen to the point that it's ready to burst.

"Then you can take it off the vine and put it in your mouth and bite, and what you get is that essence of summer and growing. You taste the sun, you taste the earth. That sounds really fanciful, really poetical, but it's literal. It is literally the truth."

The other truth about tomatoes -- and excuse us as we wipe the drool from our keyboard -- is that now is the time to start tasting the best.

Get out of the supermarket produce section; if you can, head to a farmers market. Or make nice with that green-thumbed neighbor of yours. Tomatoes are summer, folks. Lap it up.

If you grow your own tomatoes, you soon will find yourself with more than enough. If you know someone who grows their own, you might find yourself the lucky recipient of some of that bumper crop (tomato people are usually generous that way).

Either way, here are 50 ideas for using up tomatoes and making the rest of your summer an especially fruitful one. No offense, zucchini.
1.

Slice, sprinkle with salt and eat.
2.

Slather a bagel with cream cheese and top with sliced tomatoes. On a related note, cookbook author Ronni Lundy recommends spreading butter on toasted bread, topping with sliced tomatoes and dusting with salt and pepper. "Incredible," she says.
3.

Snack as the Spaniards do on pan con tomate. Rub slices of grilled bread with a cut garlic clove, then a tomato half. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Top with cheese, ham or an anchovy if you like.
4.

Freeze extras. You'll thank yourself this winter. Wash tomatoes and remove stems and cores. The University of Illinois Extension suggests either leaving them whole or halving or quartering them before placing in freezer bags. Or, stew them first before packing in bags. Frozen tomatoes are best used in soups, stews and sauces.
5.

Turn sliced tomatoes into a gratin, with a topping of bread crumbs and grated Parmesan and a finishing splash of heavy cream.
6.

Toss warm pasta with cherry or grape tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, herbs and Parmesan or pecorino cheese.
7.

Make a cold soup -- gazpacho.
8.

Make a warm soup -- Mark Bittman's Charred Tomato Bisque from his new book, Kitchen Express (Simon & Schuster, $26).

Broil thinly sliced tomatoes with a few smashed garlic cloves, olive oil, salt and pepper until tomatoes start to blacken; remove garlic when golden. Puree everything with cream and basil leaves. Warm and serve (though Bittman says this is great cold, too).
9.

Build a BLT. Thick-cut bacon, bibb lettuce (or iceberg, or arugula, or whatever green you prefer) and mayo on toasted bread. Gild the lily with sliced avocado, as is done at Chicago's Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine shops.
10.

Make a quick salsa by mixing together chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, minced chile pepper, cilantro and lime juice.
11.

Slow-roast gobs of plum tomatoes. Drizzle halves (you also can use grape, cherry or pear tomatoes) with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for a few hours on low heat (250 degrees or so) until soft and shriveled. Store in olive oil in the refrigerator. Use in pastas and salads, on sandwiches, with cheese and crackers.
12.

Grill hefty slices of beefsteak tomatoes. Enjoy in a sandwich, on salads or on their own.
13.

Make your favorite pasta sauce.
14.

Dip cherry tomatoes in mayonnaise, then in sunflower seeds -- a fun finger food idea from the inimitable Martha Stewart.
15.

Make jam. Here's a version from the playbook of canning fiend Paul Virant, chef and owner of Vie in Western Springs:

Blanch, peel, seed and dice 10 pounds of plum tomatoes (reserving the juice). Cook tomatoes in ¼ cup of extra-virgin olive oil with ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper until dry. Add ½ pound of sugar and cook until caramelized. Deglaze with reserved tomato juice and a bottle of white wine. Cook until thick. Cool and refrigerate.
16.

Make carpaccio out of very thinly sliced tomatoes, sprinkled with salt, pepper and capers.
1.

17.Toss with watermelon for an unusual, refreshing salad. At Province, 161 N. Jefferson, chef Randy Zweiban combines heirloom tomatoes, watermelon and avocado with an aged sherry vinaigrette.
18.

Give Heinz a break -- try your hand at homemade ketchup.
19.

Cool down with tomato sorbet.

"Most people do not associate tomatoes as a dessert, but by definition, tomatoes are considered a fruit and have a blend of sweet and savory properties," says Four Seasons Chicago pastry chef Scott Gerken. "When you bring those out, it makes for a 'wowing' dessert."

Gerken serves an heirloom tomato sorbet with sweet corn creme brulee and caramel popcorn at the hotel, while chef Michael McDonald of one sixtyblue, 1400 W. Randolph, makes a yellow tomato sorbet to accompany a spicy Bloody Mary gazpacho.
20.

Dip thick slices of firm, green tomatoes in milk, dredge in cornmeal and fry.
21.

Stuff cherry tomatoes with herbed goat cheese.
22.

Stuff large tomatoes with any number of salads -- tuna, egg, chicken, rice.
23.

Construct a Caprese salad -- sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, torn basil leaves, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Make it portable by threading skewers with cherry tomatoes, basil leaves and mozzarella chunks marinated in olive oil and garlic.
24.

Another salad combo to try -- tomato, fennel, arugula, orange segments and shaved Manchego cheese. It's a favorite of chef James Gottwald of Rockit, 22 W. Hubbard.
25.

Combine tomatoes with other summer fruits -- peaches or plums -- for an out-of-the-ordinary crisp or crumble.
26.

26.Make a consomme. Here's Kendall College chef John Bubala's favorite recipe:

Pass 18 plum tomatoes, diced, and 2 fennel bulbs, diced, through a juicer; you should have about 4 cups of liquid. Slowly bring liquid to a boil in a saucepan; it will separate. Skim foam off the top and strain the clear liquid through cheesecloth.

Season with up to 2 teaspoons sugar (depending on ripeness of tomatoes) and salt to taste. Serve hot or cold.

Or, Bubala jokes, "Add a shot of vodka and your mother-in-law will think you are drinking water instead of Bloody Marys."
27.

Combine chopped tomatoes with chunks of bread, cucumber, onion and a vinaigrette for panzanella, an Italian salute to day-old bread and, of course, tomatoes.
28.

Clean a copper pot. Tomato juice works just as well as lemon because of its acidity, says Shelley Young, owner of the Chopping Block cooking school in Lincoln Square and the Merchandise Mart.
29.

Shake up the Tomato Mojitonico, a signature of Nacional 27 mixologist Adam Seger. It's a muddled concoction of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, a lime wedge, a handful of herbs, rum and tonic water.
30.

Roll out a pizza Margherita with slices of ripe tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves.
31.

Simmer together tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, onions and bell peppers to make ratatouille, a Provencal stew.
32.

Make subzi, a Middle Eastern version of ratatouille and one of author Lundy's favorites. Saute chopped onions in olive oil until soft. Grind cumin seeds, coriander and cloves; add to onions along with sliced garlic. Add chopped summer squash, chopped tomatoes with their juice, a bit of turmeric and salt. Cook for 30 minutes. Serve over rice, couscous, even cornbread, Lundy says.
33.

Enjoy a no-frills Filipino breakfast of sliced tomatoes, fried fish or longanisa (a sweet pork sausage), a hard-boiled egg and rice -- all doused with fish sauce.
34.

Layer sliced tomatoes over ricotta cheese or another soft cheese in a pastry crust for a savory tart. Dress up the cheese with herbs or roasted garlic, says chef Mark Mendez of Carnivale, 702 W. Fulton. If you parbake the crust first, it won't get soggy, he says.
35.

Use tomato juice or shredded tomatoes in chocolate cake or zucchini bread as a tenderizer. "If a recipe calls for milk, you can use the juice instead," the Chopping Block's Young says.
36.

Make a savory play on cherry clafoutis, a French dessert kind of like a big baked pancake, by baking tomatoes in a bath of eggs, cream and Parmigiano-Reggiano, suggests French cooking authority Patricia Wells suggests.
37.

Whip up a tomato vinaigrette. Here's the preferred method of one of my best friends, who picked it up out of a magazine long ago: Simply rub tomato halves on the side of a box grater. Whisk in red wine vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, minced garlic and herbs, if you like, and salt and pepper.
38.

Go Greek. Toss tomato wedges with feta, oregano cucumbers and red wine vinegar.
39.

Have a low-maintenance fish dinner, courtesy of Diana Henry's Pure Simple Cooking (Ten Speed Press, $21.95). Roast olive oil-slicked cherry tomatoes, potatoes and fennel, place fish fillets seasoned with salt and pepper on top of veggies and pop back in oven until fish is cooked through.
40.

Dress tomato wedges with a perky mint vinaigrette -- extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, minced garlic and chopped mint.
41.

Poach in olive oil. Carnivale's Mendez throws tiny tomatoes, a few garlic heads and a handful of herbs in a pot and covers all with olive oil.

"We won't even cook 'em," Mendez says. "Just put them in a very warm place in the kitchen, like above the stove, and leave them there." The tomatoes get super soft; when the skins start to slide off, they're ready.

Serve poached tomatoes with grilled fish, or puree with a bit of the steeping oil and vinegar for a sauce or vinaigrette.
42.

Mix chopped tomatoes with chopped olives, capers, onion, parsley (and any other herbs you like), olive oil and red wine vinegar. It's a lovely relish for fish.
43.

Gently cook down peeled, seeded tomatoes with olive oil. Stewed tomatoes can go far as a base for sauces, soups, vinaigrettes and more, says chef Chris Pandel of the Bristol, 2152 N. Damen.
44.

Try with peach wedges for another summery combination.
45.

Make a Romesco sauce. Spiaggia chef Tony Mantuano's version in Wine Bar Food (Clarkson Potter, $27.50) is a puree of plum tomatoes, roasted peppers, bread, ancho chili, garlic, almonds, hazelnuts, parsley, sherry vinegar and olive oil. It's the perfect vehicle for dipping grilled veggies.
46.

Fold chopped tomatoes, onions and Cheddar into scrambled eggs.
47.

Make fattoush, a lemony Lebanese salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, radishes, mint, parsley and toasted pita pieces.
48.

Toast as Martha (Stewart, that is) does -- pour a cocktail of chilled aquavit or vodka and fresh tomato juice, made by pureeing tomatoes in a food processor and straining the juice.
49.

Make Tomatoes Provencal the Julia Child way, from Julia's Kitchen Wisdom (Knopf, 2000). Fill halved, seeded and juiced tomatoes with a mixture of ½ cup fresh white bread crumbs, 2 tablespoons minced shallots or scallions, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with olive oil and bake in a 400-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned.
50.

Top slices with blue cheese, drizzle with oil and broil until oozing.

More Americans Buying Home Grown Vegetables This Summer

2009-08-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

The creation of a vegetable garden at the White House - a project championed by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama - has delighted advocates of fresh, locally-grown, organic produce. For those Americans lacking the time, skills, or a suitable plot of land, there is another option; Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA.

The basic business model has been around for years, but those involved say the concept is benefitting from a resurgence of interest among U.S. consumers in the origins and quality of their food.

The vegetables, fruits and herbs growing on this small farm in West Virginia are not destined for the supermarket shelf. Instead, they will travel straight to homes in the Washington, D.C. area.

Just a few hours after harvest on a very wet June morning, this load arrives at a suburban neighborhood in Bethesda, Maryland - around 100 kilometers from the farm.
Farmer Allan Balliet unloads the year's first delivery, which is sorted into bags, for pick-up by subscribers on a weekly basis during growing season.

Consumers like Margie Orrick pay $600 for a share of the crops produced over an 18 week season. Orrick sees it as a good deal, although that is not her primary motivation. Instead, she is evangelical about the taste of the produce, like the carrots they got one year.

"They exploded in our mouth because it was just such a fresh taste and it made the carrots from our local grocery store taste like cardboard and I'd never thought that they tasted like cardboard until I really tasted a real carrot," said Margie Orrick.

There are other considerations too, like preserving the rural landscape.

"Knowing where your food comes from, which was very appealing; getting it fresh, which was quite appealing," she said.

Like farmers everywhere, Allan Balliet worries about the weather and the host of things that can destroy a crop. If all goes well, though, he should not have sleepless nights over money. That is because, under the CSA model, subscribers pay up front at the start of the season, freeing up the farmer to focus on quality and variety.

"Conventional farms are entirely driven by borrowing the money for the seed, borrowing the money for the chemicals, and then paying it back after harvest," said Allan Balliet. "We don't have to borrow money. We have our entire budget sitting in the bank, theoretically, before we plant the first seed."

The direct-to-consumer model allows Allan Balliet to use older, so-called 'heirloom', varieties - selected for their taste and nutritional value, not their ability to withstand long periods in transit or storage.

"The people that belong to our CSA aren't gourmands by any means, even though we do have some ambassadors' households and some chefs that subscribe to our CSA," he said. "But, on the whole, they are just D.C. people who, once they've had a taste of what real good food tastes like, they just aren't happy with what they get from the grocery store."

He attributes much of the food's flavor to the system of organic agriculture he practices, known as biodynamics.

For example, rather than using chemical compounds; weeds and other harmful organisms are killed off with a gas burner.

CSA farms aim to educate the communities they serve about the way their food is grown. Consumers are encouraged to visit and lend a hand, with the idea of forging a bond between producer and consumer.

For the farmer, advance payment may provide some peace of mind, but Allan Balliet says it also produces a strong sense of obligation to deliver.

Land as Canvas, Plants as Paint

2009-08-21T17:26:00.001-07:00

MANY contemporary artists move among a variety of mediums, and for those lucky enough to have outdoor space, landscape often becomes one of them. On Aug. 29 Guild Hall, the performing and visual arts center in East Hampton, N.Y., will conduct a tour of several artists’ gardens on the East End of Long Island. Although tickets are priced at Hamptons rates — $100 for nonmembers; $500 for those who also want a lecture, lunch and a cocktail party — the event is a reminder even to have-nots of the aesthetic potential of earth and plant life. Here, three artists’ gardens in the area (two of which will be on the tour) offer evidence of what can happen when a distinct artistic vision connects with natural, growing forms.

Dianne Blell, Photographer

LIKE her highly stylized photographs of models against painted backdrops, Dianne Blell’s Bridgehampton garden, above, has the inherent yet somehow suppressed drama of a theatrical stage set. In this fairyland of English dwarf boxwoods, Irish yews and old tangled bittersweet vine fashioned into garden arches, nature’s caprices are tamed by obsessive clipping, shaping and rearranging. As in pieces like “Courting the Beloved,” above right, classical symmetry and architectural columns combine with whimsical personal flourishes like the garden’s animal statues. And everything but the grass appears trained to perfection. “I don’t try to keep a perfect lawn,” said Ms. Blell, who welcomes the intrusions of clover and moss. “It’s my great medievalist gesture: Just let it be.”

In this year of persistent rains Ms. Blell’s exacting standards have led to a full-scale battle in her rose bed. The crisis began when, after considerable fertilizing and cutting back, her first blossoms didn’t open. Upon close inspection she discovered little spiders and insects eating the insides of the buds. “I said, ‘All right you win, but I’m going to get you,’ ” she said. “I resorted to lethal methods.”

During a recent visit there were fresh buds on her roses. Her “Intellectual Ladies Grid Garden,” with its cement-and-grass checkerboard pattern, appeared lush and green. And her “Melancholy Garden,” where, she said, “every tree and plant is weeping,” was also thriving.

Ms. Blell bought the property in 1993. After excavating 6,000 square feet of concrete from her back yard, she began gardening from scratch. Now green ivy grows up the cedar shingles of her house to an octagonal sleeping porch, where she confessed, “I have this fantasy of letting my hair down, like Rapunzel.”

Keith Sonnier, Sculptor

WHEN the sculptor Keith Sonnier first laid eyes on what was then a 150-foot tulip tree in the front yard of a farmhouse in Sagaponack 21 ago, he said recently, “it was so majestic, so huge,” that he immediately made an offer on the property. And when he landscaped the “exceedingly overgrown” two-acre grounds, Mr. Sonnier, who grew up near his grandmother’s sugar cane and cotton farm in Louisiana, opted for a somewhat wild, even baroque, aesthetic.

Now his garden (which is not on the Guild Hall tour) retains elements of its own past — a venerable Japanese maple, an unruly lilac grove and an orchard of ficus trees all but consumed by ivy — while also serving as a record of Mr. Sonnier’s evolving interests. After travels to India and Japan in the early 1980s, for example, he began incorporating bamboo and a variety of Asian woods into his sculptures, and he has cultivated several varieties of bamboo and a grove of miniature Japanese maples in his garden. And the interest in hybrids evident in the garden also shows up in many of his sculptures like his 1981 “Sarasvati,” left, in which he endowed bamboo, a type of grass, with treelike qualities like branching systems. Conversely, his maple and cedar sculptures typically rely on multiple supports, which resemble the spreading root systems of bamboo.

His vegetable garden combines Asian herbs like lemongrass and shiso with Southern staples like collard and turnip greens.

“My garden was built around that big tulip tree,” he said. “When it blooms, it has this wonderful orange flower. And the leaf looks — curiously — very much like a maple.”

Bryan Hunt, Sculptor

THE sculptor Bryan Hunt thinks of his lush waterfront property, in Wainscott, “more as a landscape than a garden.” On further reflection, referring to a grove of his cast-metal works, some of which, like the one above, rise 10 feet among distinguished oaks and elms, Mr. Hunt said recently, “I guess I grow sculptures.”

In a small garden, nestled between his house and studio, Mr. Hunt also grows perennials, vegetables and a mix of leafy annuals, which he plants each May. Nearby a raised wooden gazebo with outdoor seating is shaded by a tangle of concord grapes and roses.

Although he keeps an apartment in TriBeCa, Mr. Hunt spends seven months a year here, making pieces like “Flume I,” above, in a converted-barn studio with expansive views of Georgica Pond. The sculptures, with their crinkled surfaces, blur the line between abstraction and figuration, solid mass and liquid. Like amalgams of the natural features around them, they simultaneously evoke knobby tree bark, fungus and rippling water.

The nearby water is a particularly important influence in Mr. Hunt’s work, he said. Having lived in Florida and Los Angeles, he said, “water has been near and dear to me most of my life.”

Lehigh Valley gardeners get an inside look at Burpee's newest produce

2009-08-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

George Ball isn't shy about his love for tomatoes.

Red. Yellow. Orange. Maroon. Purple.

Big and little.

Beautifully round, pear-shaped or delightfully lumpy.

Seedless or heirloom.

''I'm a tomato freak,'' he declares during an interview. A few minutes later, the CEO of W. Atlee Burpee Seed Co. confides, ''I'm a tomato wolfman. I just adore them.''

And that's why a tomato-tasting table will be featured during the Burpee Harvest Festival 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Burpee's Fordhook Farm in Doylestown.

Filled with fervor about the event, Ball will stir up some batches of his special tomato sauce for visitors to taste.

During the two-day festival, visitors can rake in information about growing vegetables and flowers, see new varieties during guided tours of Burpee's ornamental and kitchen gardens, get pointers on fall gardening and collect the favorite recipes of Burpee employees (including Ball's tomato sauce recipe).

They can also see pesto being made by cookbook author Laura Schenone (''The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken'' and ''A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove'') and ''Discover the Power of the Vegetable Garden in the Kitchen, in History and in Daily Life'' from her two lectures each day.

Although some new tomato varieties on trial this summer will be included in the tastings, Ball carefully mulches his answer to a pointed question about whether any really ''hot'' tomato news will be revealed.

''We're previewing candidates for our next catalog, rather than going public with them and their names ... Generally, we save our surprises for the new catalog that's released in December. But our festival visitors might find out about one or two new veggies or flowers, if we find we have something truly exceptional to show off.''

According to Ball, the interest in growing tomatoes and all kinds of vegetables has never been higher in the last 30 years. ''This year's vegetable seed sales spiked by 25 to 30 percent. Prime on people's minds during the recession are savings reaped by growing their own food.'

When Michele Obama planted her garden at the White House, Ball couldn't have been happier about the example she set for Americans. But even when the economy goes north again, Ball doesn't expect the interest in gardening to go south. ''It's about saving money as well as health and safety concerns,'' Ball says.

''When you're gardening, you're bending, pulling, pushing and stretching as you go. And after security stimulated interest in eating locally grown food, you couldn't get more local than raising food in your backyard.''

''If people really want to save money on their food bills, tomatoes are tops,'' he adds. ''A $2.95 packet of 30 seeds is guaranteed to produce 25 plants. If one plant produces 40 large fruits that would sell for about $1 apiece in the grocery store, you're getting $40 worth of tomatoes on one plant. Multiply that by 25 plants and you'll have reaped $1,000 worth of tomatoes.''

The self-professed tomato lover adds, ''I haven't even mentioned the added taste and nutritional benefits of home-grown tomatoes over those that are store-bought.''

When it comes to savings, peppers, sugar snap peas and green beans are among other good crops to plant. Sweet corn, potatoes and onions yield lower savings because they sell at lower prices in food markets. Ball adds, however, that they're still worth planting for their homegrown taste.

So what are Ball's favorites? As expected, he talks tomatoes. ''Big Boy is a favorite of mine because it is a very fragrant tomato, but I also like our Porterhouse variety that's more productive than Big Boy. I'm fond of Brandy Boy, too. It's probably the best of our line when it comes to overall quality. But we're coming up with new ones all the time. We're never at rest.

''Big Mama and Healthkick are the two that I like to combine for my tomato sauces. The Big Mamas are about four or five times the size of Roma tomatoes and have very few seeds. Healthkick has a high level of licopene, is fairly dry and kicks in a 'buzzy' flavor for my sauce.''
But Ball admits that not all in the seed business is as rosey-red as his tomatoes. He stops short of skipping down his gardens' rows because the skyrocketing seed sales have been confined to vegetables.

He laments, ''Sales of flower seeds, except for classics like sunflowers, zinnias and marigolds, have been declining. People perceive them, particularly higher-end perennials, as frivolous. But they're not.

''One of the points we need to make on our garden tours and as an industry is that there's nothing better to increase the perceived and actual value of a house than some beautiful landscaping with flowers and shrubs.''

The Garden Conservancy Open Days Tour 2009

2009-08-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

The Garden Conservancy Open Days tour will be held once again in the Raleigh area. For two days, six gardens will open to share a peek behind their private gates. Gardeners and non-gardeners will enjoy special access to these works of nature’s art just in time for fall planning and planting.

CARY
The Thompson Garden
Garden of Kathleen and Walt Thompson
119 Ravenna Way
Cary
As close as the curb, delight begins. Paths beckon to enter, but proceed slowly to take in everything — the threadleaf Japanese maple, plant vignettes and accents.
At the arbor, take in the view of a garden gently sloping with curvilinear borders and paths outlined with recycled concrete, displaying an excellent example of applying recycled materials to create garden walls, paths and edging.
Garden beds are planted with perennials, tropical and native plants. The sound of the pond provides a soothing respite and attracts various wildlife visitors that continue on down the paths into the woods to the community lake.

RALEIGH
The Paisley Garden
Garden of Julia Kornegay and Alfredo Escobar
5237 Leiden Lane
Raleigh
A groovy garden to be sure! Paisley patterns present well to the visitor, who can meander the paisley beds and into and out of the woodland gardens, never far from the sound of water from the stone-bordered pond, a stream and the waterfall comprising the heart of the garden.
On a corner 1-acre lot, Julia and Alfredo create a fashion-forward design (or is it nostalgia?) with a front yard vegetable garden — providing tomatoes, potatoes, onions — and a sweet English knot herb garden.
The borrowed landscape makes this property seem larger than it is. With plenty of seating dotted throughout, take the time to sit a spell and enjoy the views.

Rose Cottage
Garden of Sharon and Jim Bright
115 N. Bloodworth St.
Raleigh
The journey through the quaint and mesmerizing gardens of Rose Cottage begins at the carriage step: Antique roses, perennials, annuals, flowering trees and shrubs, plus pretty parterres define the space that serves to halt the hectic pace of life.
This new home, built to historic specifications, sits comfortably in Raleigh’s downtown Historic Oakwood district. The gardens arose out of an old graveled parking lot left barren by a house fire long ago. The couple transformed the grounds into a lush and tranquil oasis of color and fragrance — inspired by Monet, but realized with Sharon’s keen eye for color and Jim’s talents.
In the very back, bountiful vegetable beds, a secret garden, a compost operation and a little garden cottage functions as a convenient shed.

Helen’s Haven
Garden of Helen Yoest and David Philbrook
3412 Yelverton Circle
Raleigh
Helen’s Haven is the garden I share with my family. The design took into account the needs of three young and active children. Even so, the stone path through the center on the main back border, built by Phil Hathcock of Natural Stone Sculptures, is often overlooked as a transition point when the kids are chasing an errant ball. But that’s OK; this is their garden too.
Low boxwood hedges were used to create a formal atmosphere to complement the architecture of this Georgian Colonial-style home. These hedges also map out the space for the kids to play. Within the hedges are informal plantings of perennials and annuals to attract butterflies, birds and bees.
Helen’s Haven is a certified wildlife habitat and a certified Monarch Watch Station. Using waterwise design principles and watered with harvested rain, the organic garden demonstrates environmental practices resulting in a colorful, lush space.

WAKE FOREST
Entwined
Garden of Jayme Bednarczyk and Phil Abbott
1025 Traders Trail
Wake Forest
The home and garden’s name is Entwined, aptly named by Jayme and Phil as their place of, “hopeful dreams entwined with patience and time.”
The gardens were built at the pace of one passion at a time. Amidst the trees, roses and perennials, with drama focused to the lake, visitors turn back to a villa. Strong European influences are present in the design decisions; terraced beds on the sloping land add to the drama of a home in the heart of a garden.

Falls Revival
Garden of Jeff Bottoms and
John Martin
12160 Falls of Neuse Road
Wake Forest
From the road, visitors view a tapestry hedge buffering the busy street. On the other side, in an historic valley in Wake Forest, rests a garden — a collector’s garden — with a foot in the past and an eye toward the future. Nostalgia, tradition and modern design meld to make this garden shine.
A casual cottage-style garden, with some very unusual plantings, pique interest, with visitors wanting to know more and where to find them. And you can. Toward the back of the property is the nursery, with a wide range of exotic and unusual plants, many found in the gardens.
During the tour, the on-site nursery will be selling plants and sharing proceeds with the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Postscript
For the past five years, it has been a pleasure volunteering for the Garden Conservancy Open Days tour. This year marks my last year leading this great tour and fundraising event. I’m happy to announce the Garden Conservancy tour will continue on in 2010 under the direction of the JC Raulston Arboretum. Please contact Anne Porter at the Arboretum if you are interested in helping with next year’s tour at, 919-513-3463.

About The Garden Conservancy
The Garden Conservancy is a national organization with a mission to preserve exceptional American gardens for public education and enjoyment. The Open Days Program serves as the primary educational outreach for the Conservancy.
Founded in 1989 by American gardener Frank Cabot, the Garden Conservancy works in partnership with individual garden owners and public and private organizations, and uses legal, financial and horticultural resources to help secure the future of hundreds of gardens across the country. North Carolina is fortunate to have two Garden Conservancy preservation projects: Montrose in Hillsborough and The Elizabeth Lawrence Garden in Charlotte.
The Open Days tour allows proceeds to be shared with another nonprofit. Helen Yoest, regional representative of the Raleigh area tour, named the JC Raulston Arboretum as the shared benefactor.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at the JC Raulston Arboretum by calling 919-513-3463 or directly through the Garden Conservancy, www.gardenconservancy.org. Tickets can also be purchased during the days of the tour at the individual gardens or at the Bobby Wilder Visitor Center at the JC Raulston Arboretum, 4511 Beryl Road, Raleigh. Tickets are $5 per garden or a book of six tickets for $25. Garden Conservancy members get a further discount of just $15 per book of six tickets.

Good things are growing at York Care Centre

2009-08-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

A vegetable garden started by Sherry Holder, one of the nurses and a unit co-ordinator at York Care Centre, is part of the therapeutic care at the facility.

"In the past, they have always had flower beds the residents helped take care of. This is the first time we've had a vegetable garden."

Holder, who likes to grow flowers at home, decided to plant a vegetable garden after several of the nursing home's residents expressed a desire to have a vegetable garden.

She asked Terry Grant, a maintenance worker at York Care Centre, to build a raised area for the garden.

Once the bed was ready for planting, Holder purchased the vegetable seeds in the spring.

Waxed beans, pumpkins, tomatoes and leaf lettuce are all thriving in the garden and so are the residents when they get outside to weed and watch their garden grow.

Holder is also loving her time in the garden with the residents.

"I'm very proud of it. I enjoy it very much and I love spending the extra time with the residents. As a unit co-ordinator I have to do a lot of paperwork. This is a nice excuse for me to say, 'Let's go outside and work in the garden for a little bit.'"

The garden is a huge hit with the residents who are excited about watching it grow. This garden reminds them of the gardens they grew before they came to live here.

When they are near the garden, the residents seem to light up.

"It brings back a lot of wonderful memories from when they were younger and had their own gardens and produced vegetables for their families.

"It makes them reminisce about people who were in their lives and things they used to do. People will stop by the windows and they will watch the progress of the garden. It's generated quite a bit of conversation around here. There is one gentleman named Clifford Gee who helped me plant. He loves the outdoors so he is out there on a daily basis and he will pull weeds from his wheelchair. He's a man of very few words but just the expression on his face is very heartwarming."

Holder paid for the seeds and planted the garden on her own time. Her colleagues at York Care Centre say she has given her own time and money to make this garden happen because she knows how much the residents get out of watching things flourish.

Some of the residents who can eat salads are enjoying the fruits of their labour and some of the vegetables have been given to the residents' family members.

The most popular names are listed at St. Thomas University

For the past five years, as part of his preparation for faculty orientation, Garry Hansen, director of institutional research (associate registrar) has generated a list of the top five names for men and women at St. Thomas University.

Although there has been some jockeying for the most popular name, the list of names of the top five for guys and gals has been fairly consistent, he says. The five most common first names of female students in 2008 and 2009 include Sarah, Amanda, Jessica, Jennifer and Ashley. No new female names broke into the top five this year, he says.

"Sarah and Amanda hold the coveted first- and second-place titles for another year, while Ashley stumbles, falling from fourth to fifth. Jennifer and Jessica continue to jockey for position, with Jessica jumping two spots to third."

The five most common first names of male students are Matthew, Daniel, Andrew, Christopher, while Joshua and Michael are tied for fifth place.

"The seemingly unstoppable Matthew continues its long reign as top male name. Daniel and Andrew swap positions, setting up a battle of biblical proportions next year with Daniel no doubt dreaming of dethroning the venerable gospelaire.

"Christopher and Joshua continue the biblical theme, returning unexpectedly to knock Ryan from the top five."

Howard attended STU from 1981 to 1985. He's pretty sure that Garry likely wasn't among the top five most popular guys' names back then.

"My name is spelled with two Rs so people tend to see that as very rare. I'd be astonished if it were in the top five back then."

Howard says for the past couple of decades, popular culture has really influenced how people have named their children; however, many of the names on the list are traditional and biblical.

Howard isn't sure if he will still be at the university 20 years from now but he says it will be interesting to see what the most popular names are for university students at that time.

"My son's name is Brian. I always get asked if he spells it Bryan, and before Bryan Adams I would never even thought of spelling it that way. But now people see that as the standard. That's popular culture.

"The thing that's most interesting about names is that they are kind of like a time capsule because you are looking at the names that are a result of something that was going on 18 years ago. So you can try to track it back to some kind of culture thing that was going on back then."

Local Vegetable Gardeners Persevere During Rainy Summer

2009-08-21T04:23:00.000-07:00

"Grow your own" used to refer to those spindly nine-leafed marijuana plants under a grow light in the basement, but 40 years after Woodstock, the reference conjures up neat rows of corn, bushy tomato plants, and twirls of squash-heavy vines in well-tended backyards. This summer, South Orange vegetable gardeners are out with a vengeance. For some, the wet weather complicated the crops; for others, it worked miracles.

Kobi Josefsberg, who has transformed his back and side yard on Riggs Place into a farmlike haven, found that the rain increased the number of bugs and contributed to the tomato blight that weakened some of his plants, turning their leaves yellow. Since the weather has become warmer and dryer, the plants are staging a comeback. His garden is in its third year and has 12 varieties of tomatoes including orange Sun Golds, Giant Amish Paste, and even one called a Julia Child, which is a huge heirloom tomato that is red and pink inside.

Using a method called square foot gardening, which consists of a grid of raised beds, each square with a different crop, Josefsberg grows peppers, Japanese eggplant and collard greens. Neat rows of corn, potatoes in large bins, eggplant, Swiss chard, brussels sprouts, beans, squash, zucchini, ginger, onions and artichokes fill out the garden with an interspersing of bee-attracting perennials. About a third of this property is dedicated to vegetable gardening.

Josefsberg's advice to novice vegetable gardeners is not to be afraid to experiment, pick a sunny spot, and have reasonable dirt. “We use natural things as much as we can,” he said. “Compost a lot. Use grass clippings. And the first year, we bought peat moss and chicken manure and spread it over the main garden. It makes the soil much looser so that the roots have an easier time penetrating the ground.”

Montrose resident Jami Thall viewed her vegetable garden and commented, “Best tomatoes I've ever had. Maybe the rain. Maybe I was due a good year." It may have been the rain or the lady scarecrow, for summer vacation certainly didn’t stop the Marshall School garden on Grove Road from putting forth edible nasturtium, medicinal borage, strawberries, carrots, cherry and beefsteak tomatoes. And a few blocks away, on Fairview Avenue, a giant feathery fennel plant sits in the middle of Mark Farrell’s backyard.

Yet, even with good weather or good luck, soil is still key to any garden’s success. “Matching your soil to your plantings is very important,” commented Sybil Archibald, one of the parents who started the Marshall garden two years ago. “If people put as much time into their soil as their plants, they would have much better results.”

The acidic soil in our area needs amending, and the best way to find out about your dirt is to send a sample to the soil testing laboratory at Rutgers Agricultural Extension.

Regardless, Josefsberg is confident that anyone can find gardening success if they have the desire, and the rewards are immeasurable. “You’ll have the pleasure of picking a tomato in your own backyard," he said. "It’s red all the way through, and bursting with taste and smell.”

Why Garden? Because Dirt Is the New Prozac

2009-08-21T04:20:00.000-07:00

The Huffington Post has an interesting piece on how getting down and dirty with nature in, for example, a vegetable garden can keep us emotionally healthy.

The microbes in dirt, apparently, affect the same neurons that are stimulated by Prozac. A British study from a couple of years ago found that lung cancer patients exposed to the common, safe microbe Mycobacterium vaccae reported an increased quality of life, including a brighter mood.

According to the research, just rooting around in a vegetable garden or eating veggies picked from that garden would achieve the Prozac-like effect. And if you don't have a vegetable patch, you can always try getting your hands dirty on your windowsill.

Burpee’s Harvest Festival celebrates home gardening

2009-08-21T02:54:00.000-07:00

You can blame it on the recession, if you choose, or to heightened concerns about the way our food is processed. Anyone who has seen Robert Kenner’s devastating documentary “Food, Inc.” (Magnolia Pictures, 2007) will never look at corn (not to mention beef, poultry and pork) products the same way again.

You can also credit the First Family’s White House vegetable garden, if you will, or (on a lighter note, during the 40th anniversary of Woodstock) to the desire of many to “get [themselves] back to the garden.” But this year has seen the biggest renaissance in edible gardening since the end of World War II.

To celebrate the boom in home vegetable gardening and to educate those eager to learn what to do after they harvest their garden bounty, world-class seed company W. Atlee Burpee & Co. is hosting its periodic Harvest Festival, Friday, Aug. 21, and Saturday, Aug. 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine.

The two-day event will take place at Burpee’s Fordhook Farm at 105 New Britain Road, just across from Delaware Valley College in Doylestown.

The farm’s chief researcher, Grace Romero, during a tour of the vegetable gardens last Saturday, said, “The festival is all about the vegetables, including a workshop on preparing your garden, a tomato tasting and a peek at some of the new varieties we’re working on before they appear in the [Burpee] catalogue.”

Our tour of the Cook’s Garden (gourmet vegetables) revealed to this denizen of urban/suburban environments that Burpee’s, a company founded by the visionary 18-year-old W. Atlee Burpee in 1876, developed not only the Big Boy tomato but also Iceberg lettuce and that, “among the thousands of plants being tested,” according to Romero, “we might choose only 20 varieties.”

A tour of the Harvest Garden brought into sharp relief more than 500 tomatoes of every size, shape and color, including the Golden Mama, the only variety that retains its golden color in sauces, as well as a host of other vegetables, such as squash, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, okra and tomatillo, all being tested for the catalogue.

At this moment, Burpee is harvesting a new variety of potato expected to have a rich, buttery texture, right on the heels of having developed (earlier this year) the Sweet Seedless tomato and the Salsa tomato, both available only through the catalogue.

Grace Romero — who got her first taste of gardening at her maternal grandmother’s farm in her native Philippines and who has degrees in horticulture and botany from Cornell University and the University of Michigan — said that the criteria for introducing new varieties of vegetables being developed at the Cook’s Garden (set up like a prospective domestic garden) and Heronswood (“unusually great plants,” according to its catalogue) are “that they offer something different, something not on the market yet — like superior taste, nutrition, yield and resistance to disease.”

Visitors will be able to roam across much of the farm’s 60 acres, during guided garden tours that will provide an advance look at some of Burpee’s new varieties prior to their release to the public. They can also attend a pesto-making demonstration given by cookbook author Laura Schenone, who will use freshly harvested basil grown in Fordhook’s kitchen garden.

Schenone will also give a lecture on “Discovering the Power of the Vegetable Garden — in the Kitchen, in History and in Daily Life,” followed by a book signing featuring two of her cookbooks.

Other planned activities include a tomato-tasting, in which visitors will have a chance to taste and comment upon various Burpee’s tomatoes, purchase hard-good items as well as cool-weather vegetable seedlings, share and receive recipes from Burpee’s employees at a display table, and learn how to prepare their fall gardens and sow cool-weather vegetable seeds at a workshop led by Burpee’s expert horticulturalists. Food will also be available for purchase for those who get hungry during their visit.

There will also be a coloring contest for children.

So really, now, how does one explain the increased interest in vegetable gardening over the past few years? More than a mere fad, it has become a way of life for many.

As Burpee’s President George Ball Jr., a passionate gardener himself, explained in a telephone interview Aug. 7, “It all started with the aging of the baby boomers, that segment of the population that’s now middle-aged. There’s an ocean current of demographics flooding the marketplace.

“They include non-recurring events,” he said, “like concern for food safety. There have been a lot of food contamination problems and outbreaks, like salmonella, E. coli, fungal spores on raspberries grown in Central America, and the diseases keep mutating.”

Ball also cited health on a general level, with the rising awareness that eating home-grown vegetables in simply better for you — “plus, you’re exercising while doing it,” he added, “and it’s an environmental issue, gardening in healthy fresh air.”

Money is another factor. It’s not just that with more time spent at home, there is more cash available for other needs. The savings can be significant. In fact, a Burpee’s cost-analysis study uncovered the following — namely, “a 1 to 25 cost-savings ratio for those who grow their own vegetables as opposed to purchasing them at the supermarket. Simply put, folks who invest $50 in their vegetable garden on seeds and fertilizer will be able to harvest at least $1,250 worth of vegetables.”

“And with 401(k)s being cut,” continued Ball, “a lot of older people would rather send their granddaughter to college with the money they’re saving.”

According to the National Gardening Association (NGA), 19 percent more households will grow their own fruit, berries, vegetables and herbs this year than in 2008. The NGA also predicts a 20 percent increase in edible gardening in 2009 — that’s roughly 7 million new gardeners.

Ball explains, however, that even though many young people are becoming vegetarians and vegans, new gardeners are a small minority in this number. The huge increase, he contends, lies “in existing gardeners gardening more. And we find this expressed in two ways: 1. the increased size of gardens, and 2. flower sales have gone down, except for zinnias and sunflowers and others that grow alongside vegetables. But sales of seeds for roses and other more decorative flowers are way down.”

Ball does credit the Obama White House for much of the surging interest in edible gardening since the early part of the year.

He said, as casually as can be, “Michelle Obama called me on the first day of spring, seeking advice on the best seeds to plant at that time. Since it was kind of late in the planting season, I made some suggestions, and I hear that the garden is doing quite well. Next year will be even better.

“But what really impresses me is that the First Lady is not being a leader so much as she is responding to what the people want.”

If you want to know what the fuss is all about regarding planting your own edible garden, you couldn’t receive a much better primer than Burpee’s Garden Festival this weekend.

Moonflower, moonflower

2009-08-13T19:14:00.001-07:00

I find myself humming Cat Stevens these days. "I'm being followed by a moonflower...moonflower, moonflower."

It was "moonshadow" in his song, but it is a moonflower in my garden.

My friend Susan Iglehart of Susan Iglehart's Flowers in Glyndon, Md., gave me a moonflower (Calonyction aculeatum) when I arrived at her home in May to pick up my order of annuals, vegetables and herbs.

Susan works hard over the winter to find the newest and best seeds to "custom" grow for her gardening clients. She sends us a checklist in February, and we pick up the results from her greenhouses in May.

(It is always a bit like Christmas to visit Susan. I never remember what I ordered, so it is always a surprise. And I always find one or two plants that I absolutely must have. And then she sends one of her newer varieties home with me, too. It might be an heirloom tomato, or an unusual geranium. This year, it was the moonflower.)

I tucked it in a spot at the corner of the deck, where the steps lead down into the yard, and now its vines and heart-shaped leaves have found their way up the steps and along the railing and into the bird bath that is attached there!

Moonflower is an annual tropical vine that is a slow starter. But it thrives in the heat and as the summer warms, it quickly grows, flowering around the 4th of July. It is like the morning glory in one sense - it is almost invasive. Deadhead if you don't want it to self-seed. (Warning: seeds are poisonous.)

Each evening, as I welcome the soft night, there are giant white blossoms to welcome me -- as big as dinner plates and as white as French porcelain.

The flowers are only there in the evening, and each bloom lasts only until dawn when it closes and waits to drop from the vine.

But every night, there is a new moonflower to follow me.

Red gazpacho

2009-08-13T19:13:00.001-07:00

In late summer, when tomatoes are at their ripest, I crave slices of heirlooms and mozzarella sprinkled with sea salt and olive oil, rather than a cold soup of diced raw veggies, heavy on the tomatoes. Then I tried a gazpacho by Dani Garcia, a prodigy of molecular cooking and chef at Restaurant Calima, in Marbella, off the southern coast of Spain. His gazpacho is a sweet puree of cherry tomatoes studded with pistachios and anchovies, topped with cheese snow (made with liquid nitrogen). In this version, whirl native tomatoes with garlic, chilies, sherry vinegar, and cumin. Strain the mixture and stir in chunks of tomato and cucumbers. Instead of preparing Garcia’s snow, make some by freezing feta or goat cheese and scraping it over the bowls. It’s gazpacho from its country of origin - gone modern.

1/4 cup feta or goat cheese
1 tablespoon milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup crust-free, fresh diced bread
1/2 cup water
2 1/2 pounds (about 8) ripe medium tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 serrano chili (with seeds)
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon sugar
1 large pinch ground cumin
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped, seed-free cucumbers
1/3 cup shelled green pistachios, toasted
2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped (optional)
4 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

1. In a small bowl with a fork, break up the feta or goat cheese. Add the milk and a pinch of salt. Beat until smooth. Set in the freezer for at least 1 hour or until frozen solid.

2. In another bowl, combine the bread and water. Squeeze out and discard the water.

3. Seed and finely chop enough tomatoes to fill a 1/2-cup measure. Sprinkle with salt.

4. In a food processor, chop the garlic and chili with a large pinch of salt. Add the bread, remaining tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, and cumin. Pulse until soupy. With the motor running, pour in 4 tablespoons of the olive oil.

5. Work the soup through a sieve into a bowl; add salt and pepper.

6. Stir the cucumber and diced tomatoes into the soup. Cover and chill.

7. Before serving, ladle the soup into bowls. Garnish with pistachios, anchovies, if using, basil, and a drizzle of the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Use the tines of a fork to scrape the frozen cheese mixture and top the bowls with cheese snow. Jill Santopietro

An Exhibition Ripe for the Eating

2009-08-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

“The Edible Garden,” this summer’s multifaceted exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, builds on programs that the garden has had for decades, putting special focus on edible plants. Subjects include culinary herbs, the cultivation of heirloom varieties and gardening in urban spaces. Chefs like Emeril Lagasse and Lidia Bastianich are giving demonstrations, Mr. Lagasse on Sept. 12, and Ms. Bastianich on Sept. 13.

READY FOR PICKING More than 50 herbs, in a colorful garden designed by Martha Stewart, are flourishing, and plants in the family garden plots are bearing fruit. In coming weeks there will be more to see. Especially noteworthy is the heirloom vegetable garden set up by Seed Savers, where chard, cabbage and peppers are maturing.

For inmates, a breath of fresh air

2009-08-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

More than a thousand pounds of peppers, lettuce, tomatoes and other vegetables will arrive on the tables of Rochester families, the results of a vegetable garden cultivated by residents of Maple Lane School.

In the spring, staff members and inmates at the school for juvenile offenders began working on a vegetable garden for families receiving food from the Rochester Organization of Families, known as ROOF.

Kellie McNelly, executive director of ROOF, said she was excited to hear about Maple Lane superintendent Bob Nelson’s proposal. The arrangement benefits everyone, she said.

“We have some hands-on experience for these young men,” McNelly said. “It fills the need we have at the food bank for fresh vegetables.”

Last week, the Maple Lane garden provided 150 pounds of green beans, said Cindy Caturia, food bank coordinator.

“I really just wanted to get out of my room at first,” said garden worker Trenton Huggard, 18, of Lacey. “But it reminds me of my aunt,” he said, remembering the garden and fruit trees in his great aunt’s backyard.

“Helping others while I’m in my position is the best thing,” Huggard added. “Because when we were on the outside, we didn’t care for nobody.”

The correctional facility, operated by the Department of Social and Health Services’ Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration, houses about 200 youths ages 14 to 21 who have been convicted of felonies in juvenile court. Many receive mental-health treatment and attend high school classes.

Counselor Brian McElfresh, who worked on organic farms in the past, has been in charge of cultivating the vegetables, which have been grown organically.

Most of those working on the garden volunteer their free period during school. Sometimes the maintenance crew, which pays $1 an hour, includes the garden in its regular duties.

No one is required to work on the garden, but almost anyone without a behavior problem can participate.

“It’s very inclusive. We’ve actually used it as an incentive,” McElfresh said. “Just getting outside is an incentive.”

Nelson said that the garden was an experiment. There was no way to tell how many people would be interested in working on the garden or how much food the garden would generate.

Now, about 40 residents regularly volunteer in the garden, he said.

It is uncertain whether the garden will continue next year, Nelson said. This year, the Legislature ordered a study on whether to combine Maple Lane with Green Hill Academic School, another juvenile correctional facility in Chehalis, to cut costs. That report is due to the Office of Financial Management on Nov. 1.

Food bank client and volunteer Val Normand said that the amount of fresh vegetables available to families in need skyrocketed after Maple Lane’s donations.

Garden Club RFD plans calendar of events

2009-08-13T18:59:00.003-07:00

This year marks the 68th year of existence for the Garden Club R.F.D. Their home is the historical Little Red Schoolhouse on the corner of Nut Swamp and Dwight Roads in Middletown. Through the years, you may have gotten some good gardening advice from its members at the annual plant sale each May before Mother's Day.

The Club will begin its calendar of events this year with a visit on September 15, 2009, to The Grove in Shrewsbury. The visit, that begins at 11 a.m., will include lunch at D'jeet (new this summer) and a garden tour of The Grove and The Grove West.

One new feature at The Grove West is a program called From Seed to Need. It is a community organic vegetable garden. The Grove has been working with local school children to teach them the benefits of growing an organic vegetable and herb garden. Students from Rumson Country Day School have been donating their time to work with nature to help those in need. Under the direction of the Grove's Master Gardener, the students are getting a hand-on experience in the planting, watering and maintenance of the garden. 100% of the produce has been donated to local charities. This summer Lunch Break and 180 Turning Lives Around have benefited from the program.

Garden Club R.F.D. is interested in this new program as they have been running a program for the past four years at the New Jersey Blind Citizens Association. Under the direction of Bernice Berger and Ruth Korn, a vegetable and herb garden has been maintained at the Association's facilities called Camp Happiness on Burlington Avenue in Leonardo. Charles Blood is our liaison at the Camp. The blind and visually impaired campers help in applying mulch, planting seeds, watering and picking the results. The produce is used in the lunches provided at the facility and surplus goes home with the campers. Vegetables like zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant, celery, tomatoes, potatoes along with herbs like basil, oregano, parsley and mint help to brighten their day—particularly the scent of the fresh cut basil. We are awaiting the results of our plantings of watermelon and pumpkin! Hopefully October will bring a 100 pound pumpkin.

Garden Notes

2009-08-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

August is finally here; weather patterns are still strange and unpredictable, but let's hope the month is warm and sunny. This morning I read for inspiration in "The Art of French Vegetable Gardening," by Louisa Jones. Then I spent the rest of the day under fair summer skies in my vegetable garden, red-tailed hawks soaring overhead, their piercing calls filling the air.
Rows of storage onions alternate with 'DeCicco' sprouting broccoli. When half the onions have gone over, bulb onions are ready to harvest; bend the others to arrest their development. Photo by Susan Safford

A primary objective was folding over the onion tops. These onions are grid-locking the garden. I need their space. In a couple of days I will pull them and put them to cure, done by leaving them on the ground in the sun for a couple of days more. The outer layers of the bulbs dry and the necks shrivel. If the weather is uncooperative I can take them into the barn, but an airy shed, mudroom, or porch is fine if you have no barn. The usual recommendation is to braid them or store them in mesh onion bags, after sorting out any with double centers or imperfections. Use these immediately because they will not store.

I set up some black leaky hose around the eggplants. I grew 'Listada di Gandia' this year, a beautiful lavender and white Italian heirloom that has been pining, I suspect, for more hot, sunny degree-days than it has been receiving. It will be miraculous if I have any to enter in the Fair.

I transplanted tiny Batavian lettuce seedlings from the 20-row tray into the ground. I "dug" (rolled back hay and picked up) some tasty, four-inch 'Yukon Gold' potatoes and boiled them, served with butter and chopped flat parsley, for lunch. Sweet peas' requirements are the opposite of eggplants' - it is getting too warm for them. I gave them water and combed them over for deadheads. I stripped the 'DeCicco' sprouting broccoli of florets to cook with.

Weeds are always a factor. My practice is never to go into the garden to harvest anything without pulling at least three weeds. I keep a large bucket handy that they go into, and from there they go into the compost tumbler. The soil is in good enough tilth that it weeds and cultivates easily and the green matter helps heat the compost. I weed as I work, making piles then collecting them.

Health of the soil

Every gardener needs to think constantly about improving the garden's soil. Many of our gardens are new, mere infants, but in large parts of the world, garden plots have been in use for hundreds if not thousands of years. Consider for a moment the terraced agriculture/gardens of Peru, Bolivia, France, Italy, India, China, and of course the rice culture throughout Southeast Asia and the wine culture of Europe.

While different crops have differing requirements, in all cases, these sites are maintained over long periods of time, not depleted and abandoned. Lazy, old-time farmers used to like virgin soil, or "new ground," because it has few problems; with use, plots acquire their measure of pests and contaminations. Soil needs to be cared for by working it and constantly improving it.

One of the strengths of organic gardening is this attention to the needs of the soil, treating it almost like a parallel crop to the one that is being grown to eat. Consider that the very basis of our food chain is the soil beneath our feet. Its quality affects everything that comes from it, including us. A book of traditional skills, "Back to Basics," edited by Abigail R. Gehring (Skyhorse Publishing, 2008, 456 ppg.) describes it: "The ideal gardening soil is soft, loose, and crumbly. It should be rich in organic matter and free from stones, roots, and debris." Elsewhere in the volume, Gene Logsden, a garden writer and farmer, says: "Organic gardening is not just gardening.... It's bringing your life into mental and physical harmony with the world around you."

One way to view diseases and pests is as stress opportunists. They attack plants that are stressed in different subtle ways. There's a problem? They'll find it. Soil quality, or lack of it, is a "ground-floor" (root?) cause. If you have been having a difficult season in the garden due to soil-borne diseases or insects, take a critical look at what you have been doing and how you can do better in future.

Soil splash leads to many different types of foliar problems and may be controlled by use of mulches, either organic materials or man-made, such as plastic or landscape cloth. Organic mulches help build better soil structure that pays off in healthy, vigorous plants better able to live with insect and disease infestations.

Take soil samples and send them in, so that you can act on the recommendations you receive before next summer. Plan to renew and improve the soil by sowing sanitizing cover crops in fall and incorporating them into the soil early next season. Hairy vetch is recommended for mitigating diseases of tomatoes, and mustard crops are showing promise in mitigating soil-borne diseases of strawberries. Manure the garden with well-aged horse or cow manure, or start composting. It is not a question of what you can spray on your plant to make it healthy, but how healthy your soil is.

Polly Hill Arboretum

Early-bird readers of today's MV Times may just catch the talk that last night's David H. Smith Memorial lecturer, Prof. Doug Tallamy, gives today, Vineyard Oak Appreciation, from 10 to 11:30 am.

Dan Hinkley, well-known plantsman, is featured in two events at the arboretum next week. On August 19 his program Plant Hunting in Asia begins at 7:30 pm; $10/$5 for PHA members. On August 20 the arboretum is pleased to present Wine, Cheese... and Trees with Mr. Hinkley, 5-7 pm, $50. Please call 508-693-9426 for more details.

Home Help: It's not too late for a vegetable garden

2009-08-13T18:53:00.001-07:00

Garden Guide: Get your fall veggie garden growing

If you haven't yet joined the "grow your own vegetables" craze, it's not too late to join in.

Cooler autumn temperatures make it a delight to spend time outside in the garden, and you'll spend less time caring for your fall crops because of the favorable cool weather growing conditions.

Plants will grow rapidly at first and gradually slow as the days become shorter and colder. Destructive insects won't be as numerous in autumn as they are in summer months. Weeds germinate less frequently and grow slower than they do during the warmer seasons. Compared to hot and dry summers, fall usually brings an increase in the amount of precipitation, eliminating another time-consuming chore - watering.

What you need to know:

1. Let the sunshine in. Most vegetables need full sun - at least six hours of direct sunlight per day. Mix a 2-inch layer of compost into the soil, or spread a balanced fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, according to labeled instructions. Plants will need an inch of moisture per week, either through rain or supplemental watering.

2. Start with transplants. Plants are six weeks or older when you put them into the ground, so you will begin harvesting much sooner than if you start from seed. Garden centers typically supply optimum fall varieties for your geographic region.

3. Don't fear frost. When frost threatens, cover plants with a floating row cover, cold frame or a cloche. Or, you can grow fall veggies in a container and move the pot to a protected location on frosty nights.

Vegetables best suited for fall gardens:

- Winterbor kale: This nutritious leafy green is a vigorous producer that endures winter easily, even in very cold climates. Cut the outer leaves so that the center can continue growing. Space transplants about 12 inches apart.

- Georgia collards: Another leafy green similar to kale, collards offer a larger, stronger, sweet cabbage-like flavor. Leaves taste best when young. Space transplants 36 inches apart.

- Romaine lettuce: Romaine packs more vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytonutrients than other popular types of lettuce. Rich in fiber, vitamin C and beta-carotene, romaine is an especially good vegetable for heart health. Space transplants 18 inches apart.

- Early dividend broccoli: Popular, productive and easy to grow, this broccoli is high in fiber and calcium. Set transplants 18 inches apart.

- Mustard greens: Offering spicy hot leaves, this is a very fast-growing, nutritious vegetable. Mustard greens always taste sweeter when nipped by frost. Space plants 12 inches apart.

- Bonnie hybrid cabbage: Grows large, round, blue-green heads. Cabbage is especially high in beta-carotene, vitamin C, K and fiber.

- Arugula: These fast-growing leafy greens are great for salads or gourmet recipes. This peppery-tasting green is a super food for your bones. The leaves are nutrient dense and low in calories. They are especially high in vitamins A, C, and K.

-- ARA

Decorating Tip: Make a small space feel bigger

If your living room is crammed with a huge couch, big-screen TV and oversized lounge chairs, try making some changes to make it feel less cramped.

- “Cool” colors like blue or green can create the illusion of higher ceilings and are neutral enough to easily accessorize.

- Use mirrors to emphasize and spread the light from windows in the room. Hang a wall mirror, or use a piece of mirrored glass on a coffee table or mantle.

- Ceiling-to-floor flowing curtains can make ceilings appear higher. A decorative piece hung horizontally just on the top of the window will let in lots of light, and you can add blinds that provide coverage when you need them.

Ware pair relishes bountiful garden

2009-08-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

When David R. Pilch was growing up, he worked on his father's farm and learned the secrets to a great garden.

His father, John S. Pilch, who died in 1992, was the child of Polish immigrants who had a farm. His father, an inventor who owned Ware Machine Works, taught him everything he knew about gardening.

Now, Pilch and his wife, Ellen J. Pilch, who live at 84 Old Belchertown Road across the street from the family farm, have created both a productive vegetable garden and a decorative area featuring the characters from "The Wizard of Oz," including the legs of the Wicked Witch that sprout out from beneath their dog house.

"It's very relaxing. I was a mechanical engineer, and it was very stressful. This helped me unwind," said David Pilch. Unemployed since February, he's been devoting much of his time to his garden.

"It's more than that. It's very personal. I remember how my dad taught me to plant. I put in a plant, and I remember him. A lot of things I do remind me of him, of things he told me how to do. It's very close to my heart," Pilch said.

One of his dad's specialties was horseradish, which he used on kielbasa and made as strong as possible.

"He would make gallons of it. He gave it to us to smell, and if you passed out, he knew it was successful," Pilch said.

Now David and Ellen Pilch don't make quite so much, and sometimes they prepare it outdoors because of the smell. They harvest only a few horseradish plants a year, digging out their wandering roots, preparing it and putting it in jars as gifts for friends and family.

The couple, who have been married more than 16 years, have had the garden since 1996, and each year it has grown larger as new things are added.

This year, they have an array of squash, cucumbers, beans, peas, carrots, celery, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and sweet potatoes, corn, parsnips, beets and rutabagas. There are also strawberries, blueberries, herbs and radishes.

Ellen Pilch, a film buff who specializes in being an extra in movies and television shows, knew when she got married what she was getting into. Before they were married, she frequently helped out in the garden.

The couple doesn't sell any of what they grow, but often give it away to friends and family. They also make salsa and spaghetti sauce to use during the winter. They have a vegetable cellar in their basement.

"We eat a lot of vegetables. I make a killer vegetable soup in the Crockpot," he said.

They have developed an elaborate system for keeping out the many four-legged intruders that want to share the bounty of their garden. There is a three-tiered electric fence to keep out deer, woodchucks and rabbits.

Pie pans on strings keep away birds, especially crows after corn, and a there is a windmill that moves a ball bearing back and forth, creating a sound annoying to moles that radiates into the ground.

In winter, the couple studies seed catalogs and decide what to try out come spring. That's when the rototilling begins, and the application of fertilizer, lime and the ash from a bonfire of their brush cutting are spread.

While the cost of supplies and the hours put in don't make growing vegetables in the garden very cost effective, both say it is well worth the trouble. "There's the satisfaction of picking your own vegetables and making a great meal yourself," David Pilch said.

OUTDOORS: How’s the vegetable garden coming along?

2009-08-13T18:50:00.002-07:00

The resurgence of interest in growing vegetables has gathered pace in 2009 with many people now tending a kitchen garden for the first time. I daresay, and I hope, many more are thinking of turning some soil in the future, but may be waiting until next spring to do so. If that is the case, mark out your beds now with cardboard, weighed down to keep it in place (manure or seaweed are top choices, but a couple of old tyres will do). This will rob the grass below of light, bring up the worms, and will make digging far easier when you lift the cardboard in early spring.
For those already growing, I imagine the now almost forgotten, dry warm and beautiful weather in June, caught some with their pants down, due to plants drying out. It is essential to keep emerging plants well watered – after only a few days of dry weather, the soil starts to shrink away from the roots (and root hairs) causing young plants to wither and die. Maintaining constant contact between soil and roots requires water and if there is a period without rain (it does happen, honest) you will need to replace a rain cloud with a hose pipe or a watering can.
It is better to water late on in the day, when the sun has gone low in the sky, taking care not to let the water run off along the surface. Up-turned plastic bottles with the bottoms cut off, shoved into the ground, can help direct the water to the roots – I use a cunning tactic involving a 3ft (90cm) length of yellow drainage pipe that’s full of holes, and shove the hose pipe into it, drenching the soil.
Once the plant is big and beefy, its roots go deeper, anchor more firmly and are able to search to find water for themselves more readily. They still need watching though, because if they think there’s none to drink, the plant will start putting energy into making seeds (bolting). This is to the detriment of leaf growth, and your rocket leaves, for example, will be small (but devilishly tasty).
Keep an eye open for those pesky slugs and snails. The best way to see if you have a problem with them is to go out an hour after nightfall, armed with rubber gloves and a jam jar of stale beer to drop any that you find into it; very satisfying!

Saving money?
To save money shouldn’t be the driving force behind growing your own. I still can buy carrots and peas cheaper than I can grow them for, but money, the dirty stuff, isn’t the main factor. If it was, you could sit back and eat ten for a quid Kiwi fruits and leave your fork in the shed. But, this kind of food relies on travelling great distances, could be well drenched in banned substances and wholly controlled by a vast multinational interest that has paid poorly for them; and this type of food may not be available for much longer.
Work out the obvious: Is it better practice to have the food we hope to eat growing near where we live – or is it better to rely on badly paid, badly treated distant workers to produce it for us and then transport it to us using lorries, planes, then more lorries, all organised by some large multi-gynormous from somewhere or other, that a few years ago we had never heard of and is driven purely by profits?
Unbelievably, we currently opt for the imported option. Try telling little Johnny the sense in this ten years from now, when oil becomes really scarce and expensive.
Grow your own food for the quality you can produce and because it's going to be essential sometime soon. Keep the faith.

Gardening 101: How can I extend the Denver growing season?

2009-08-13T18:50:00.001-07:00

I am originally from upstate NY. Denver's growing season seems quite long to me. I learned at an early age to protect fall plants from the elements. There are also ways to extend the vegetable growing season at the beginning. Here are some helpful tips to extend the Denver growing season.

Starting seeds early can be very beneficial. The more mature a vegetable plant is at planting time, the sooner it will be able to be harvested. Since some plants will produce again after the first picking, this gives an additional harvest before the first frost in the fall.

Give vegetable plants spring protection from the elements. Do not plant too soon. Warm weather vegetables stay healthier if planted when all danger of frost is gone. Later planting may not seem to extend the growing season, but remember, a dead plant produces nothing.

Cool season vegetables like lettuce and peas may not produce all year in the hot Denver sun. To extend the growing season of these plants, keep them well shaded and plant twice. It may even be possible to get a third harvest in if you monitor plants well.

Grow varieties that tolerate heat well. All vegetables are not created equal and all varieties of vegetables do not grow well in Denver. Extend the growing season by purchasing only the varieties that do well in the area you live in.

Do not give up on your vegetable garden too soon in the fall. Be sure that as your enthusiasm for gardening wanes, your garden care doesn't wane along with it. Extend the Denver growing season by continuing to water, weed and fertilize on a regular basis into the fall.

Frost protection in both spring and fall will extend the Denver vegetable growing season. Watch for nights that are clear, cool and dry. This is when the frost danger is high. Cover new plants with plastic buckets, like the one pictured overnight. Larger plants may need the larger coverage of a tarp or blanket.

Denver often experiences “Indian Summer”. Don't pack up the rake and shovel at the first sign of cold weather. Hot days may return and that cold snap may even add a unique flavor to veggies, as long as you protect them from frost. For instance, the best apples experience a cold snap prior to picking.

Just because your Denver vegetables have experienced a freeze, don't assume they are dead. They may look a bit bedraggled but make a miraculous recovery to extend the growing season. After a frost, wait a couple weeks before removing any plants that look the worse for wear.

Hungry Summer

2009-08-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about summer in New England is pulling over while on a road trip or resting during a hike to take advantage of our area’s wild raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Edible landscapes are an excellent reason for anyone to become an environmentalist, and this year particularly food has been at the front of environmentalists’ minds. Taking to heart the slogan of “Grow Your Own Food,” slow food, local food and organic food movements have sprung up all over the country.

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in the Bronx, New York, has created an exhibit called The Edible Garden. The Edible Garden’s mission is to get the public: “Through delectable exhibitions and mouth-watering programs, (to) be inspired to grow, prepare, and eat garden-fresh produce, and understand how plants provide the food and drink essential to maintaining life and enhancing wellness.”

Scattered throughout the garden there are seven stops, including a Vegetables and Kids Garden, an heirloom vegetable garden, tropical foods in the greenhouse, Martha Stewart’s Culinary Herb Garden, the Good Food Garden and a Beginner’s Vegetable Garden.

NYBG is easily accessible from New York City by Metro-North, and as soon as you get off the train you are transported to a magically green world in the Bronx. Your tour through the vegetable garden is guided by a map highlighting the seven stops. Each stop has complete explanations and even a way to hear about specific plants by using your cell phone.

Stop by the greenhouse to see tropical fruits and foods such as a cacao tree, lychee, pomelo, cassava, sugar cane, rice and even an ice cream bean! Outside in Martha Stewart’s herb garden take a deep breath and you can smell culinary culture from Italy to Latin America. Cilantro, basil, lavender, mint and rosemary are grown here. In the children’s garden, activities run all day—you may plant a bean or create a pollinator puppet while learning how we get our food to grow.

In the Home Gardening Center there is a chance to learn everything you wanted to know about creating your own vegetable garden. Walk through the Seed Savers Heirloom Vegetable Garden, get a look at the different stages of composting and find out about economical edibles.

The exhibit runs June 27-September 13, featuring all kinds of activities, including Edible Evenings on Thursday nights July 9-August 20, and Cooking Demonstrations at the Conservatory Kitchen on Saturdays at 1pm and 3pm. There is also a Greenmarket on Wednesdays and Saturdays through November 14 featuring local produce, meat, cheese and baked goods.

If you’ve ever had an inclination to learn more about where your food comes from without having to read the latest environmental bestseller, this is the place for you. And who wouldn’t want to spend a summer day traipsing through tomato plants, grapes and mint leaves or cap the night off with an exotic botanical beverage?

Vegetables & the City, Pt. 2

2009-08-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the last post, coworker Brenda has a knack for spotting vegetable plants in unusual places.

The latest one she noticed was on a narrow strip of land between a parking lot and the street on Huling between South Main and Front. This is a bona fide vegetable garden and an impressively productive one at that — peppers, tomatoes, squash, melons, herbs, eggplants, cucumbers, etc.

After a few phone calls, I discovered the Huling garden was no guerrilla effort, as Dan Oppenheimer of Jack Robinson Gallery had asked and received permission from the property’s owners before planting.

“I love fresh produce. I love gardening. It’s really that simple,” Oppenheimer explains.

Oppenheimer is a long-time gardener and says that the Huling garden, which he planted well into spring, is his most prolific. He suspects this fertile ground is the result of a good drainage, 100 percent sun, and the key ingredient — years upon years of dog poop that made the soil rich. (The excrement factor at this spot has reportedly been an issue with nearby residents and business owners for years.)

Oppenheimer says that most of the vegetables go to the gallery’s employees and the rest is given away. He also says we ain’t seen nothing yet as far as this plot goes, “Give it another month — my goodness!”

... And check out these scarecrows. Who is Warren Beatty marrying?

Growing Garden, Growing Need

2009-08-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

Old Saybrook - Think “pantry,” and rows of canned and boxed foods come to mind.

Not at Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries' grocery distribution sites. At the pantries in Westbrook, Old Saybrook and Old Lyme, shelvable items such as cereal and peanut butter sit across from an abundance of basil, green beans, broccoli, onions, corn, and on one recent visit, even fresh-cut flowers. The fragrance of fresh basil overpowered the produce table set up in the basement of The First Church of Christ in Saybrook for pantry hours that afternoon.

Volunteers pluck most of the produce right from the group's own vegetable garden, a half-acre of neatly organized rows of greens behind the nearby Grace Episcopal Church on Main Street in Old Saybrook. Farm stands in the area also donate day-old items, such as corn and fruit, and residents drop off produce from their own gardens to supplement the Shoreline Soup Kitchens' own production.

Together, volunteers' efforts last year helped put more than 10,000 pounds of fresh produce on pantry shelves for neighbors in need, Shoreline Soup Kitchens Executive Director Patty Dowling said.

The garden started in 2003 on one-eighth of an acre of land and has expanded each year. This is the biggest production year yet, partly because of the larger demand the nonprofit has seen at both its pantries and soup kitchens during the economic recession, Dowling said.

”More and more people are in need,” she said. “We're providing 30 percent more meals than we were this time last year.”

While a handful of organizations across the state have vegetable gardens that supply fresh produce to pantries, few match the size of Shoreline Soup Kitchens', whose regional scope means the group's endeavors attract volunteers from all 11 towns the group serves.

At the peak of harvest, the garden provides about 500 pounds of fresh produce weekly to each of the three benefiting pantries, Dowling said. The group can give out fresh produce but due to health-department restrictions can't cook it in its meals, Dowling said.

Picking schedules conflict with Clinton's pantry hours on Wednesdays, so a local church garden there supplies that pantry with fresh produce, Dowling said.

Donations essential

The garden would not be where it is today without the donations Shoreline Soup Kitchens has received, Dowling said. They include land, an irrigation system that has cut down the water bill from $2,000 a summer to $200, a shed, seedlings, mulch and even adjacent land that neighbor Bill Marston provided for winter squash plantings.

All the donations mean meals cost only 25 cents apiece to provide, Dowling said. Pantries provide residents with enough supplies to feed every family member for three days, and the group also runs soup kitchens in Centerbrook, Chester, Clinton, Deep River, Essex, Old Lyme, and Old Saybrook.

Carrots and beets at the garden last week poked their heads out of the soil, ready to be picked. Fresh compost that Lyme resident Mark Lenhart prepares in the back of the garden helps the fertile soils produce fat, foot-long zucchinis as well as tomatoes, green peppers, eggplants, yellow squash, green beans, spinach and swiss chard.

For people who pick up groceries at the Shoreline Soup Kitchen pantries, the fresh-picked produce means a nutritious addition to their meals.

That wasn't always the case: Dowling said that when she came to Shoreline Soup Kitchens eight years ago, the group's pantries were giving out canned rather than fresh vegetables.

”There was a real call at the time to sort of say, 'How can we provide more fresh food for the people that were coming (in)?'” Dowling said.

The Connecticut Food Bank estimates there are 280,000 people in the state who are at risk of hunger every year. Because fresh food is more expensive than processed or canned foods, low-income residents often have to decide between volume and nutrition, Dowling said.

”They're going to choose whatever they can get the most of,” Dowling said.

Produce a necessity

The garden started shortly after Dowling arrived at Shoreline Soup Kitchens. Board member Claudia Van Nes, at the time a Hartford Courant reporter, interviewed Dowling for a story and asked her what the group needed the most.

Van Nes expected Dowling to say “money,” but instead, the answer was “produce.”

A member of the Chester Garden Club, Van Nes began hunting for available land to start a garden and found it at Grace Church.

Shoreline Soup Kitchens today has a list of 750 volunteers, with 140 volunteers for the garden, Van Nes said. And that's not even counting the numerous residents who either donate items to the garden or drop off fresh produce of their own to help out.

The garden provides the fresh food pantries so desperately needed, “while taking advantage of, really, a community of gardeners and people who care and people who wanted to do something concrete (for) people in need,” Dowling said.

Chester resident Betty Palka, a certified master gardener, helped start the garden. She keeps detailed records of plant production schedules and tests the soil regularly so that no garden bed ever sits empty and so the garden's soils are always at desirable nutrient and pH levels.

The garden works because of the volunteers' collaborative nature, Palka said. Even her Rat terrier, Cash, helps out - with “pest control,” as Dowling calls it. And this year, Old Saybrook resident Julie Peace organized a new volunteer arm that picks up excess produce from five farm stands in the area.

Cindy Beaumont, of Madison, this past week was helping to drive vegetables over from the garden to the Old Saybrook pantry.

”I was looking for volunteer work for my daughter to do this summer,” Beaumont said. “I thought it was a worthwhile cause to be involved with. … This is something that we could do as a family.”

As a policy, Shoreline Soup Kitchens does not grant interviews with residents who frequent the pantries. But Old Saybrook pantry manager Sarah Noyes said people appreciate the fresh produce.

”It's gone by the end of the day,” Noyes said.

He was supposed to be tending his parents' vegetable garden

2009-08-13T18:39:00.001-07:00

This is Bill Nelson, brother of a colleague, in his parents' backyard in Des Moines, Iowa. He was supposed to be picking vegetables from their garden when they were on vacation. He didn't keep on top of it. Add heat and here's what you get.

Diseases may concentrate in White House organic garden, Seattle-area gardens through sludge

2009-08-13T18:38:00.000-07:00

Can of organic gardening worms opened up: Obama's organic garden a lab for Disease-laden problems thanks to urban composted sludge?

Lead poisoning of dignitaries and school children in Michelle Obama's White House organic garden? Who cares?

This writer took a lot of flack for wondering if food from the White House garden and other similar urban/suburban gardens -- especially those in Seattle -- is safe to eat because of lead poisoning. Turns out there's potentially a much bigger problem.

Swine flu or Alzheimers versus lead poisoning?

Wastewater treatment plants such as King County's sewer plants produce biosolids -- or sludge -- that the EPA and the county claim is safe to put on lawns, flower gardens, and even vegetable gardens. King County markets their product as "GroCo", and says it is safe to use in food gardens. But is it really?

Think about it: If you're sick, you might pass that disease through your waste. It goes into the treatment plant ... and becomes sludge. According to some scientists, those biosolids are never heated enough to kill the diseases.

Wastewater treatment sludge / biosolids may contain super-pathogens with antibiotic resistance

The Obama's new organic garden -- which was dug out of White House lawn previously treated with sewer sludge -- brings into focus frightening issues green gardeners need to think about. Some scientists claim that current wastewater treatment plant practices do not remove pathogens immune to various anti-biotics and chlorine. In fact, some say that the wastewater treatment facilities combination of contaminated fecal matter may be allowing the spread of so-called "super-pathogens". Using sewer sludge to treat gardens could encourage the spread of these super-pathogens.

Class to offer tips on fall vegetable gardens

2009-08-13T18:34:00.000-07:00

With the beginning of August comes the time to start your fall vegetable garden. Fall vegetable gardens can actually be more productive than spring gardens. Come to Room 8 in the Multi-Purpose Events Center from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 20 to learn more about your fall vegetable garden. This class is free. A few of the topics we will cover are location of your garden, soil preparation, weed control, insects, diseases, what to plant, mulching, watering and composting. If you have ever thought about starting a fall garden or already have one and are interested in learning more, this will be a great class for you. Call 716-8610 to register.

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The Charlie-Thornberry Farmers Market Association will hold Salsa Day from 9 to 11 a.m. today at the Downtown Farmers Market, Eighth and Ohio. Association members will be at the Downtown Farmers Market from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday through Aug. 27.

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Here is another Earth-Kind rose to consider for your landscape. Earth-Kind Roses have been through rigorous statewide testing and evaluation by a team of horticultural experts and found to possess a high level of landscape performance and outstanding disease and insect tolerance/ resistance required to for this special designation.

Earth-Kind Roses are among the most thoroughly tested and environmentally responsible plants for use in Texas landscapes.

Earth-Kind roses are certainly not immune to pest problems. However, their tolerance to pests is so great that they rarely require the use of chemical pesticides.

The 15th and final rose on the Earth-Kind rose list is Georgetown Tea.

In 1983, Dr. William C. Welch, professor and Extension specialist at Texas A&M University, discovered this rose in the yard of a day-care center in Georgetown, Texas. It was a large, healthy specimen but the owner knew nothing of its origins. Georgetown Tea is among several “found” roses that Dr. Welch is credited for re-introducing into the rose community.

The double flowers are approximately 4 inches in diameter with a dark salmon pink center that fades to lilac pink. Georgetown Tea is a repeat bloomer, from spring to first frost. Another interesting characteristic of this cultivar is that the petals become pointed at the tips, giving the open flower a star shape appearance. Like most roses in this class, the blooms have a tea-like fragrance. The upright, bushy plant reaches a height of 3 to 5 feet with medium, dark green, semi-glossy leaves.

Cultivar name: Georgetown Tea

Blossom color: Dark salmon pink

Blossom and fragrance: Double, tea-like

Blooming period: May to first frost

Mature height: 3-5 feet

Mature width: 2-4 feet

Rose category: Tea

Growth habit: Medium shrub

Landscape uses: Georgetown Tea is an excellent landscape rose requiring full sun for optimum growth and performance. Plants may be used in mass or as a specimen in the landscape. The flowers’ starry shape provide a unique appearance in the garden. These upright, bushy shrubs should be planted in a well drained soil on no less than 3- to 5-foot centers. The Earth-Kind designation also ensures that Georgetown Tea is extremely resource efficient with outstanding landscape performance characteristics.

When planting Earth-Kind roses in the landscape be sure to plant with plenty of room around it to ensure air movement. This will aid in the reduction of diseases. It is always a good idea to plan enough room when planting your Earth-Kind rose that it will have at least one foot of extra space around the rose based on the mature rose size. Earth-Kind roses also need to be planted in full sun, as this will reduce disease problems on the roses as well.

Queen of the Nightshades

2009-08-10T00:23:00.001-07:00

Of all vegetables, tomatoes seem to ignite the greatest passion and generosity among gardeners, especially those who start their plants from seed. In July, as I contemplated the 20-foot-long wall of towering tomatoes, I decided I had tipped over into loopy excess. Then I met Angela Faulkner.

Faulkner is a graphic designer. During the growing season she devotes a good share of her waking hours indulging her fascination with growing unusual vegetables, especially tomatoes. This year, she is growing 65 varieties of heirloom tomatoes she has collected over the years from fellow breeders and enthusiasts she meets in her travels and on the internet. A native of Cincinatti, Ohio, Faulkner describes herself as a child of “Appalachian parents from Tennessee” who view gardening as a means of survival, not for creative experimentation. “They think I’m nuts,” she says.

Faulkner began gardening 18 years ago when she moved to Summit Point. A few years ago, friends invited her to use a spot on their farm near Kabletown, tucked a quarter mile down a dusty lane amid the corn and soybean fields. It is a huge garden, nearly 100 feet long and wide, with neat beds of tomato plants, each marked by plastic utensils saved from take-out lunches dug into the soil with the variety written on the handle. The tomato plants were sturdy and healthy.

With no steady water source, Angie collects rainwater in barrels and hopes for the best. She admits, “I bit off a little more than I can chew. I have to remember when doing a garden that you take on only half of what you think you can do.”

As we toured the garden, Angie stroked the leaves of the plants, reciting the name and story behind each variety. “My friend Patty’s sister-in-law in Toledo gave me this Tobolsk, a Ukranian variety. It’s the color of cantaloupe and it is so gorgeous in the can in the window, like a jewel.

“Potato leaf tomatoes are my favorite, The Paw Paw Tomato, named for the town, I got from James Rainey in Martinsburg. Tappy’s Finest and Acres WV are typical West Virginia sloppy juicy beefsteak types.“

Faulkner likes the WV 1884 tomato because “you know the year it was found, and I find it an endearing tale of fortitude.” The Ohio River crested its banks in 1884, flooding Friendly, W.Va. Later that summer someone noticed a seedling growing out of a sidewalk crack that turned out to be a pink beefsteak tomato.

International tomato breeds intrigue Faulkner. “Rouge d’Irak is a red oblate beefsteak type from a French collector. He got it in Iraq before the coalition authority imposed a law prohibiting seed saving, which caused the loss of a lot of varieties. Iraq’s national seed vault also was looted and destroyed in the conflict. (www.geneethics.org.) I’d love to be able to repatriate it!”

The list goes on: Negro Azteca, a black cherry tomato, Lithuanian Crested, wedge shaped, like a hatchet, the tasty Russian Malachite Box, an incredible emerald green inside, Joya de Oaxaca, pink on the bottom, yellow in the middle, with green shoulders, like a rainbow inside, and the pale green White Queen that makes a beautiful marinara sauce, “with the basil leaves floating in it looking like gems.”

Faulkener received her Master Gardener certification in 2006, and plans to teach a Master Gardener course in September in Berkeley County. She laughs, “The garden is full of sex and violence, so it gives me lots of stories to tell when teaching the course. I call tomatoes sluts because every seed comes from a different speck of pollen.”

Sixty-five tomato plants produce a lot of tomatoes. One year Faulkner found an outlet at the church parking lot on Mission Road in Shannondale. Soon she had a devoted following. “I’d just sit there and people would come by regularly for their favorites.” Since she bought herself a farm down in Somers County, she has less time and seeks a partner to help with the project.

This July, the USDA warned that a devastating and highly contagious tomato blight is sweeping the northeast and mid Atlantic. If our local farmers are not spared, tomatoes will be in short supply and very expensive. We can be glad for seed savers and tomato breeders like Angela Faulkner, who are keeping alive thousands of wonderful varieties and the genetic richness that insures our food supply.

Squash for all tastes

2009-08-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

Summer squash are fun. They have crazy names such as eight ball, tromboncino, flying saucer and Yugoslavian finger fruit. They can be big or small, long or round, white, yellow, green or any combination.

Some of them look funny, too.

Take the tromboncino, for example, also known as the zucchini rampicante. “Tromboncino” means “French horn” in Italian, and if “rampicante” doesn’t translate as “rampant,” it should. The voracious vines of this particular squash devour entire garages as if they were rowboats in the grip of a giant squid.

The fruit, if they develop on the ground, curl into large, circular shapes. If hanging, they can descend for more than 3 feet from their stem to their bulging blossom end. Most interesting of all, when you slice a larger tromboncino, the neck is pale green inside like a normal zucchini, but the interior of the bulb is on its way to becoming something more like a butternut squash, with sweet and rich orange flesh … yet the skin still is soft and tender.

Now that’s a neat squash.

The squashes of the scallop and pattypan groups are particularly fun too. With their round, flying saucer shapes and bright splashes of yellow and green, they are quite beautiful, are lovely ornamentals and are perfectly suited for stuffing and serving whole.

It’s true that squash need a good bit of room, and a small garden may become overrun with only a couple plants, but squash are also hardy and adaptable. That’s why the aforementioned tromboncino is doing fine planted along the back of the garage, next to the white scallop, a couple of yellow straightnecks, and, yes, two good old hybrid zucchini. They are all against a wall facing north, away from other, more modest plants, and they are perfectly happy.

One trait all summer squash share is flavor adaptability. One summer squash can be substituted freely for another in recipes. Although texture and flavor may vary a bit from variety to variety, one joy of a squash is that it is bland, and lends itself to whatever you do with it.

Add it to anything — stir fries, vegetable soups, minestrone, even chili. Bread or batter it and deep fry it. Roll it in seasoned flour or cracker crumbs and pan fry it in olive oil. Bake it, roast it, cut it in slices and grill it, marinate it and skewer it on kebabs. Have it raw with dip, saute it in butter or bury it in cheese and bake it in a casserole. Stuff it, steam it with onions, bake it into muffins. It’s all good.

It’s fortunate that there are so many things to do with squash, because they also are heavy producers, and once they get going, there’s no stopping the loads of fruit.

No wonder the squash has been a favorite vegetable for more than 8,000 years.

Originating in southern Mexico and Guatemala, squash was one of the crops taken to back to Europe by Christopher Columbus. Now it is one of the most popular vegetables in Italy, as can be seen by the name zucchini, which means “little pumpkin” in Italian.

How best to enjoy your own harvest of summer squash, or that of your gardening friends and family, who are certainly trying to give you as much as you will take?

First, pick most squash fairly small, before the interior gets stringy and the seeds become tough. Store it, dry and unwashed, in a plastic bag in the crisper of your refrigerator. Handle it gently, and don’t let the stem of one squash puncture the tender skin of another, or you’ll wind up with a whole bag of squishy squash in no time.

Second, relax. There are a couple of good ways to preserve summer squash. Blanch thickly sliced or cubed squash for 30 seconds in boiling salted water, drain, rinse with cold water to cool, and pack into airtight baggies for the freezer. It will be soft and watery when you thaw it, but it will still be fine for soups and casseroles. Shredded squash for zucchini bread and muffins does not need to be blanched.

If you have a dehydrator, try drying squash slices. It rehydrates nicely and adds a nutty flavor to winter vegetable stews. To dry in the oven, slice thinly and leave the oven on the lowest setting, with the door propped open, until the slices are uniformly dry and leathery. Store in airtight bags.

Heirloom tomatoes rich in history, taste

2009-08-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Eastern Shore tomatoes aren't just rich in flavor, they're rich in history.

During the canning era, the Eastern Shore was the tomato capital of the world, according to Jeff Bacon, a tomato enthusiast and volunteer at Sunday's annual heirloom tomato tasting at Furnace Town Heritage Museum in Snow Hill.

The fruit, often mistaken as a vegetable, is a favorite among the summer's locally grown produce, according to Sarah Meyers, museum director, which is why the museum devotes an entire day to its tasting. But the tomatoes aren't the kind that can be found in grocery stores or as the topping on a fast food burger. Bacon said heirlooms are different, delicate and delectable.

"They just have a better flavor," said Ron Buckley, an Ocean City resident who grows his own heirlooms. "Most of the time the ones you buy in the store just don't taste as good because people appreciate the size and look of a tomato, they're not thinking about the flavor."

While heirloom tomatoes may be smaller, can become more blemished due to their growing conditions or attractiveness to pests and just plain strange-looking, they pack a sweetness and depth of flavor the average beefsteak, hydroponics and early girls don't.

"They taste better. They're more interesting and they are older varieties," Bacon said.

The name heirloom refers to the way the seeds are preserved, according to Bacon, who said they're saved every year from generation to generation. Most heirlooms date back about 100 years, he said, but no further because before the 1880s tomatoes were largely thought to be poisonous.

"People thought they were poisonous because they didn't look pretty," Bacon said.

When varieties were developed that were "more pleasing to the palette," work largely done in England according to Bacon, the now-favorite fruit began to catch on and the Eastern Shore had the perfect growing conditions.

But this year, the weather hasn't been as kind as during the golden age of tomatoes, when Bacon said baskets of the ruby fruits were piled high to the sky across the Eastern Shore. Buckley said the tomatoes he tasted on Sunday didn't get enough rain.

"Everything isn't really, really ripe," he said. "It's been a bad year. The product is decent, but they don't have enough juice in them."

Without a wet summer, the fruit can lose its flavor, while too much rain can water it down, said Joan Filmer, an artisan at Furnace Town. Filmer tends the gardens on-site where 15 varieties of tomatoes were grown this year. She said she's had vegetable gardens her entire life and this year, everything was slow to ripen.

In Bivalve, the annual Mater Mania festival, usually sponsored by the Lower Eastern Shore Sustainable Organic Network in early August, was canceled this year. LESSON President Patty Ericson said she hopes to partner with Meyers next year for a large-scale event, making it an Eastern Shore attraction.

Meyers said she sees a niche in heritage tourism for local produce, especially tomatoes.

"Tomatoes are wonderful things," Bacon said.

Butterfly bush beckons colorful creatures

2009-08-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

The pleasures of late season flowers and butterflies are two reasons homeowners select butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii) for their perennial or mixed-shrub borders.

Hardy to Zone 5, in the Chicago area, butterfly bush is considered a die-back shrub. While its 4- to 5-foot gently arching stems usually die to the ground, the plant's crown is winter hardy and produces vigorous new shoots when growth resumes in the spring.

Butterfly bush needs full sun and very well drained soil. Regularly removing spent blossoms keeps the plant looking tidy and encourages new flowers to continue blooming through early fall. All stems should be cut to the ground in late winter or early spring.

Good varieties to consider planting next spring include 'Black Knight,' Nanho Blue,' and 'White Profusion.' The fragrant flowers of these and other varieties make nice additions to fresh flower bouquets, and will give butterflies searching for nectar colorful new reasons to visit your garden.
For your yard this week

••It is time to fertilize your hybrid roses for the third and final time. Be sure to continue your application of a fungicide every 7 to 10 days to prevent black spot. To avoid damage to the foliage do not spray on excessively hot and humid days. Remove spent flowers regularly to increase flowering. Cut back to a point where there are five leaflets when cutting flowers to bring inside.

••Branches that quickly wilt and die in your trees and shrubs could be infected with a bacterial disease called fire blight. Crabapples and hawthorns are plants that are commonly afflicted with this disease. Promptly prune out the affected branches, sterilizing your pruners between each cut with Lysol or a solution of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water. Make the cuts well below the affected area.

••Make sure the root balls of evergreen trees planted within the last year or two are thoroughly moistened when watering. Densely branched evergreen trees can shed water from rain or a sprinkler away from the root ball. Apply water to the base of these trees.

••The gladiolus produces a large, showy flower spike that lasts for several days whether in the garden or in a vase. To get the most out of a bloom for decoration inside, cut when the lowest blossoms have begun to show color.

••Mid-August to mid-September is a good time to seed bare spots in your lawn. Choose a seed mix that is appropriate for the amount of sun at your site. Grass grown from a mix blended for shade can look different than grass from a mix blended for sun. If your yard has adjoining areas of full sun, shade and partial shade, use a single mix of grass varieties for both sun and shade to give the lawn a uniform appearance. Prepare the site for seeding by removing weeds and loosening the soil. Low areas will need additional topsoil. Rake out large clods, stones or debris to create a smooth seedbed. Then gently rake in the seed. Keep the soil moist. On warm days this may require watering two or three times a day. A light layer of compost spread over the soil helps keep seeds moist. Bluegrass takes about two weeks to germinate. Continuing to water often is crucial to getting the grass established. Watering can be scaled back to less frequent but deeper soakings as the new grass fills in.

••It is important to identify the insects on your plants before treating with an insecticide. This allows determining whether the insect really is a problem. If it is, then try to assess whether the damage being done warrants control. The presence of insects feeding on the plants should not warrant automatic treatment. Some insects are beneficial and help control other insects naturally. If an identified pest is causing significant damage, it is important to use a correct control with proper timing. If a variety of treatments are available, use the least toxic control possible.

Hot weather vegetables

2009-08-09T23:38:00.000-07:00

Some vegetables grow well in heat and some grow well in cool. Many parts of the country have fluctuations in the summer that accomodate both. But some areas tend to get really hot in the summer. Here is a little information about hot weather vegetables -- and cool weather vegetables, too!

If you live where summers have both cool and hot weather, you can plant lettuce to grow all summer. But if you live in a hot summer area, you might want to wait until the end of the summer to plant it as a cool weather crop. In fact, lettuce seeds will not germinate once temperatures rise past the mid 70's. In high heat, lettuces will go to seed (send up flowering stalks) before they produce much edible foliage. Once those flower spikes start to form, the lettuce juice turns milky and the flavor of the leaves becomes bitter. Lettuce, like peas and cabbage, broccoli, and a number of other crops are best planted in the late autumn and grown as a winter crop.

Excellent vegetables to grow where summers are hot – or have mixed weather – are peppers, corn, squash, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, beans of all sorts (though many string bean varieties will not set fruit when temperatures go over 85’ F), garlic, eggplant and more. Try some of those less common vegetables that cost more in the grocery stores. Unusual colored tomatoes and peppers, heirloom varieties, pickling cukes, colorful winter squashes (grown in the summer), parsnip, multi-colored Swiss chard, pineapple tomatillos and many more are perfect to tempt the gardener.

By growing the best vegetables for your climate the easier it will be to have a successful vegetable garden. In mild climates grow hot weather vegetables in the summer and save the plants that don’t handle extreme heat for a second season of winter crops.

Gardening 101: What fall preparation tips get my Denver vegetable garden ready for spring?

2009-08-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

Fall comes every year in the Denver garden. Preparing for spring gardening can start in the fall after everything has been harvested. Why not save yourself a little work by taking care of these tasks in cool weather? Use these fall gardening tips to get your vegeatable garden spring ready.

Save seeds
Save as many seeds and bulbs as possible from this years' vegetable crop. Why waste money on seeds next spring when you likely plant the same vegetables each year? One ear of corn will yield enough seeds for the entire garden next year. The same is true for most vegetables. Just save the seeds from one piece of produce per vegetable type and variety.

Bring it in
There are some plants that actually survive quite well indoors and can regrow in the spring. Why not save a little cash by experimenting with potting up some vegetables to grow indoors this fall? I am told that tomatoes are actually a perennial plant when grown in warmer climates. Think about a greenhouse for winter storage as well.

Scrape it off and dump it out
Collect all that expensive mulch you purchased for the garden in the spring. Bag it up into plastic garbage bags to use next year. Dump out all the pots that held annuals right into the garden. These add to the soil and organic matter for the spring garden. Don't forget to remove the seeds to avoid unwanted spring growth.

Plow it under
Once any residual seeds are thrown away and bulbs are dug up, plow those garden plants under. Why waste this valuable organic matter by throwing plants in the trash? You can compost it, but I prefer to turn my entire garden into a compost pile over the winter months. Use a rototiller to chew up those plants and work them at least 6 inches into the garden soil.

Compost it over
Spread the entire compost pile over the garden and till it again. Work all that good organic matter in and chop it up as fine as possible. Add some leaves from raking the Denver yard. Then start the compost you will use in the spring after the last yard raking. By the time the Denver spring sun is upon us, this can be worked right into the garden. Go here for easy compost instructions.

Fertilize it
While the ground is all tilled for fall, how about adding fertilizer? Fall is the best time to take this step. I recommend using organic fertilizer in the Denver garden. This addition will save time as well. Just till it right into the garden soil. Now you are ready for the final step of fall preparation to ready the garden for spring.

Winter wheat
Once the garden is completely tilled, consider growing some winter wheat. What is winter wheat? This is not a crop for eating but one that makes fertilizer for the spring garden. Winter wheat is a mixture of seeds like rye that will grow in the winter. These grasses make great fertilizer when planted in the fall and tilled into the spring garden.

2009-08-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

Advertisements for pesticides always depict attractive homes with beautiful yards, suggesting that simply buying and applying herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, homeowners can solve all their garden and pest problems.

But before succumbing to flashy packaging and marketing promises, consider the true costs of pesticide applications. Every chemical pesticide is poison -- it kills living things. Beyond dollars, we spend several hours applying the pesticide and then extra water to complete the application. Worse, we may actually be compromising the health of pets and family, killing beneficial insects, and polluting downstream or ground waters.

Learn the answers to the following questions before buying and applying pesticides:

What is causing the damage? Applying pesticides without knowing the real cause of lawn or plant problems wastes time and money. If you suspect there are pests causing lawn damage, find them. Dig a hole and collect and count grubs. Swoop a bug net over the lawn as you walk across it and carefully inspect the insects you that have been caught. Find a trustworthy resource to help identify the insects. (See resource box above/below??) Only then can you select the most effective management method.

How much control is needed? Catch pest infestations before too much damage is done. Once you see signs of pest infestation, watch carefully and note whether the pest is causing minimal damage or serious problems. Pest tolerance varies; stem galls or leaf-cutter bees, for example, may cause aesthetic problems only, so treatment is not recommended. Stem galls on roses, however, might need to be treated. Weeds in the lawn may be a nuisance and treated rarely, but weeds in a vegetable garden can reduce crop yield and should be controlled.

What is the best method? Nearly all pest-related plant problems, whether insect, weed, or fungus, can be prevented or minimized by keeping plants healthy. Once infested, use a control method with the least off-target effects first. Use harsher chemicals as a last resort. Weigh the benefits of using chemical pesticides against the potential risks. Many pesticide labels downplay the product's toxicity. Always read and follow label directions carefully. Learn more about the toxicity of common pesticides through the National Pesticide Information Center at http://npic.orst.edu; or the Extension Toxicology Network, http://extoxnet.orst.edu

Did the control work? If a poison didn't kill a pest with the first application, it may not work after a second application, either. Re-diagnose the problem; there may be a better solution.

Maggie Wolf is a Certified Professional Horticulturist.

High school's fruit, vegetable garden offers students opportunities for year-round lessons

2009-08-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hammonton High School culinary arts teacher Lou Caruso's idea to create an organic and environmentally sound fruit, vegetable and herb garden at the school became a reality for two reasons.

First, the Hammonton Education Foundation provided $1,500 for materials and equipment. Second, Hammonton residents Don and Rhonda Maimone donated $800 worth of starter plants.

The garden offers a year-round activity that involves several departments and enhances students' learning.

During the winter, students from several science classes grow plants in the high school greenhouse and transfer them in the spring and fall to the garden, which was designed by students in computer drafting and design classes.

A picket fence -- built by woodworking technology students using recycled lumber from discarded pallets -- surrounds the garden.

Students in food and nutrition classes and the Culinary Club use the garden produce in their cooking and canning lessons. Students in the Enrichment and Pride programs also take part in the project.

"I've been using the garden to teach students in both the high school and the middle school," Caruso said. "The students are very excited, and until we started this project, many didn't realize just how much agricultural activity occurs in Hammonton."

A system that will collect rainwater and recycle it to irrigate the garden is planned as a student project for the upcoming school year, Caruso said.

Millers create park-like setting 'little by little' on what was once a muddy slope

2009-08-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

When Bill and Paige Miller moved into their Paris Mountain home in November of 2007, the view out the back door was nothing more than a muddy downhill slope.

Now, less than two years later, paths weave back and forth between banks of flowers, trees and a vegetable garden, and even connect with their neighbor's garden, creating a park-like setting.

“When I was starting out here, (my next door neighbor) said, ‘Why don't you blend it with ours, and make it like a park?'” Bill Miller said. “So that was the motivating thought.”

Miller said the neighbor, Bill Bradshaw, has a more established garden, started a couple years before he and Paige began tinkering with their own garden. Paige Miller said neither of them had any gardening experience to speak of, but they are learning as they go.

“You put some things in the ground, then you go back and it's like, that died, that didn't make it, didn't do something right,” she said. “And you just try something else.”

The first year, Bill Miller said, they leveled out the paths, planted about 60 trees, started planting on the banks between the paths and started a vegetable garden at the back of the property.

“I thought, if we're going to grow something, let's grow something we can eat,” Miller said. In the first year, he and his wife planted tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, cantaloupe and seedless watermelon. This year they've added okra and green beans, along with some herbs. Miller said his goal is to continue expanding the garden each year, one terrace at a time.

That goal reflects the Millers' general attitude when it comes to gardening, which is basically “little by little.”

“We're easing into gardening, and trying to let it be something we and others can enjoy, but not be driven by it,” Miller said.

Miller said he once considered putting a pond in the garden, and even had the hole dug. But then his neighbor built a pond next door, and he saw how much work was involved and decided to fill the hole back in and plant it instead.

“I saw what a pain they are,” Miller said. “I don't want to be a slave to this place. I just want to be able to have it as something to enjoy.”

One of the things the Millers particularly enjoy about the beautiful setting they've created in their yard is being able to share it. They have frequent guests, Miller said, many of them missionaries who are accustomed to living in much more rugged environments.

“For somebody who's been out in Cameroon, for them to be able to come out here and it be a peaceful setting, that's what we were hoping it would provide,” Miller said. “They've lived in rough, rough, rough conditions.”

The Millers find their garden refreshes their own faith, as well.

“You don't know how all of this works until you get to fooling with it yourself,” Paige Miller said. “How the Lord grows things, how each one has their own unique design. And they let you know when they're thirsty or hungry.”

Their fledgling garden was featured on the Greenville Council of Garden Clubs' 2009 Garden Tour, but the Millers expect the garden to look even better in a few years as the current plants fill out and new ones are added. Some plants are already thriving, though, such as the honeysuckle vines that are native to the area. Paige Miller said that's her favorite plant in the garden.

“I love the vines, the way they just grow and flow and go,” she said. “To me they just look very pretty, and add lots of character.”

Bill Miller said he likes to soak in the beauty of the garden in the early mornings, with a cup of coffee and his Bible, from a back deck that overlooks the terraces. But most of all, he said, he likes to share that beauty with others.

“This is a beautiful place the Lord has given us, and we just want to share it with other people,” he said.

Vegetables on Vacation

2009-08-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

My vegetable garden may be growing on me, but it’s still not family. That’s another way of saying that when my clan—nine strong—takes a two-week beach vacation to Rhode Island, the starter garden will be stuck at home.

I don’t mind if my plants sulk, but I suppose I’d rather they not die. (I feel the same way about a number of people.) More than that, I don’t want to allow two bumper weeks of summer vegetables to rot on the vine. What, I wondered, would become of my nutritious lettuce while I was gorging myself, Ocean State-style, on fried clams, Portuguese sweet bread, and the curious coffee syrup called “Autocrat”?

According to Mary Hockenberry Meyer, a professor and extension horticulturist with the University of Minnesota, the lettuce would bolt in the August heat. I had momentary pictures of a little green Lassie crossing the country to find me, but Dr. Meyer soon explained what the word “bolt” actually means.

“Instead of producing all these leaves down at the base,” she said, “a big stalk is going to develop, and at the top will be the flowers and seeds. You have small leaves and they’re often bitter. Bolting pretty much ends your lettuce harvest.”

The healthy lettuce heads that had already developed could wait out the swelter, she said, but the leaves might become strong and bitter. “Some people might like that,” Dr. Meyer said.
Prospects were better for my root crops, she said: the beets, carrots, and turnips. These vegetables had a bureaucrat’s talent for waiting, and the carrots and turnips wouldn’t strictly need to be picked until the ground started to harden. Contrary to rumor, even in Minnesota, that date does not arrive in mid-August.

Between the bolting lettuce and those patient turnips, there were a number of vegetables whose behavior would be harder to predict. “Heat plays a big factor in ripening tomatoes,” Dr. Meyer said. Cherry and pear tomatoes would likely split, then drop off the vine and rot. Such behavior struck me as a little operatic, but that’s a tomato for you. The Roma cultivar, Dr. Meyer suggested, with its “thick cell wall on the outside” and its lower water content, could linger a little longer without spoiling.

My pickling cucumbers would also ripen fast, going from preemies to post-terms in a fortnight. But where the brooding, cracked tomato would spill its guts out on the earth, the neglected cucumber would just gain a little weight around the middle. “They tend to become fatter and have more seeds on the inside,” Dr. Meyer said. Even if they were to become “a little larger than you may like,” she added, “they’re still edible.”

Similarly, the broccoli wouldn’t grow any more appetizing for languishing in the yard. In no time, Dr. Meyer said, “those little tiny florets that we like to eat will turn into yellow flowers.” The heads would stretch out and elongate, too, which conjured up some very disturbing images from the gross-out cinema of David Cronenberg.

Yet it would probably be rash to change my vacation plans. It occurred to me while I surveyed the garden that my broccoli plants are about ten inches high. They show no signs of producing florets or yellow flowers. Before I start worrying about the hypothetical problems in my hypothetical garden, I’d be better off pulling a weed, here and now.

So was Dr. Meyer saying that I could abandon my starter garden for two weeks and expect to come back to a flourishing garden fit for a seed catalog photo shoot? No, she was not. “To be two weeks without water at a critical time for vegetable development is a big concern,” she said. “If you’re going to be away I’d ask a neighbor to water.”

And how might I entice my neighbors to squander an hour or two dragging a hose around my yard, while I waltz through the glamorous mansions of Newport’s rich and dead?
Dr. Meyer, it turns out, had an answer. “Pay them with the vegetables,” she said.

Cost-effective gardening: The economy is changing what people plant

2009-08-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Tough economic times seem to have touched every part of our lives — including our gardens.

According to Marilee Paver, who owns Moore’s Western Nursery in Atascadero with husband Bob, the recession has helped gardeners cultivate a more patient approach to their pastime.

“It’s like a younger generation is going back to the way I was raised as a youngster,” said Marilee.

For some, this means forgoing the quick gratification of the supermarket for the slow but infinitely more satisfying approach of growing your own produce. Marilee attests that sales of vegetable plants and fruit trees have been brisk at the nursery this year.

For others, patience involves bypassing showy but expensive annuals in favor of low-maintenance perennials that don’t require yearly replanting.

Marilee reminds people that perennials may need a few years to reach their full glory and need to be spaced accordingly.

“The first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap,” she said.

Such old-fashioned, no-nonsense plant advice is commonplace at this no-frills nursery that has serviced North County gardeners since 1953. The Pavers purchased it in 1983.

In the early years, the nursery had a Western theme (hence the name) where employees wore gingham shirts and walls were bedecked with ropes and saddles. The Pavers have long since abandoned gimmicks and embellishments. You won’t find a lot of lavish fountains or fancy garden art. What you will find is a good selection of plants that grow well in the North County, including natives; drought-tolerant, freeze-tolerant, and deer-resistant bedding plants; shade plants; fruit trees; and shade trees.

The Pavers have turned the nursery into a full-service garden center. They carry pottery, chemicals and amendments, and they sell and deliver bulk landscape products like bark, rock and sand. Marilee handles landscape design, and Bob and his crew provide landscape installation, maintenance and tree removal. They also own a complete lawn-spraying company with business partners Larry and Tina Wysong. Four Seasons Lawn Care operates out of the nursery and handles both weed and insect spraying.

Of course, Marilee, a seasoned gardener herself, is always eager to dish out gardening advice. She believes that a patient approach to gardening reaps rewards far beyond fresh produce or handsome garden beds.

“Having a home vegetable garden and perennial garden is so rewarding,” she said, “I love to go home and work in my own yard. It’s how I relax.”

For gardeners, fall’s harvest starts with today’s work

2009-08-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

August is a month to be endured.
It’s hot. It doesn’t have a national holiday or even a good party day like St. Patrick’s or Cinco de Mayo. It’s very hot. School starts back again (OK, that one’s for the kids).

And did we mention August tends to be beastly hot?

Even in the garden, there’s not much happening, producewise -- though if you’re tuned into the growing calendar, August is the month to get your garden ready for an autumnal bounty of beets and broccoli, peas and potatoes.

“I like to say the stuff you plant in September will be on your Thanksgiving table,” says David Holmes, director of the Marion County Extension Service.

But wait too long to plant some things, adds Alachua County environmental horticulture extension agent Wendy Wilber, and you could be heartbroken “if we get an early freeze.”

But first, as in any other worthwhile endeavor, preparation, preparation and, um, preparation is key.

“Hopefully, you will already have been solarizing your garden,” Holmes says. This is a process of clearing the garden of all vegetation, moistening it and sealing it beneath a sheet of four-ply clear plastic for a few weeks.

“This helps kill off fungal spores, weed seeds and helps reduce nematodes,” Wilber says. “What’s best is if there’s no roots at all for nematodes to live on.”

So why not black plastic instead of clear?

“Black absorbs the heat, while the clear lets the sunlight in,” Wilber says. Holmes adds it can get up to 140 degrees under the plastic.

While the garden is cooking is a good time to craft a garden plan, notes Norma Samuel, Wilber’s counterpart in Marion.

“Lay out what you want to plant where, and how you’re going to rotate your plants,” she says. “If you had tomatoes in one section last year, put in cucumbers or something different.”

What should you plant?

Among the cool-season veggies are beets, carrots, cabbage, radish, English peas, lettuce, onions, spinach and turnips. Some of the heartier varieties such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and greens can be planted as late as October, Wilber says, though that might be pushing it.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture lists Gainesville in growing zone 8B, described as “a temperate climate with relatively mild winters and a long growing season.”

A complete list of hot- and cool-season veggies and when to plant them is in “Vegetable Gardening in Florida,” a book by James Stephens available at the Marion Extension office in Ocala and the University of Florida/IFAS bookstore in Gainesville. The list includes yield and days to harvest.

A full list also is part of the “Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide” that can be downloaded free from the UF/IFAS Web site, at www.edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021.

The first week in September is the target date for planting most cool-weather veggies, Holmes says. And it’s a fairly short window -- about two weeks. “When the soil temperature and night temperature drop, the growing slows,” he adds.

“About a week before you plant, add some supplemental fertilizer. We usually recommend a 6-6-6,” he says. It generally comes in a 50-pound bag. “Use about half of it for a 25-foot-by-25-foot garden. That’s a good size; if it gets too big, you can get discouraged. And a garden produces more than you might think.”

Wilber is a fan of raised garden beds. “You can customize your soil, rather than working in our sandy soil, which is nutrient-lacking.” Also, she recommends Alachua gardens be at least 30 feet from laurel oaks to avoid root competition.

Wilber suggests August is an excellent time for a soil test. A pH of 6.5 “is ideal for growing vegetables,” she says.

The test can be arranged through either extension office. In Marion, the Master Gardeners will test pH for free; the same test costs $3 in Alachua because it’s sent to a lab at the University of Florida. A more extensive soil test by UF is $7 in both counties.

So it’s time to plant.

Seed depth depends on the size of the seed, Holmes says. Once the seedlings break about an inch or so above ground, “side-dress them,” Holmes says. Essentially, this is adding a small bit of fertilizer -- remember that half bag left over from earlier in the month? -- along the side of each plant. About five ounces per 10 feet of row is recommended.

Or you might opt for seedlings, Samuel says: “Just make sure you start with healthy seedlings.”

They can be purchased at most garden supply stores.

Holmes agrees: “The advantage of seedlings is somebody else has already put in about four weeks on them, so you get a four-week jump.”

Then, it’s just daily watering -- “A quarter-inch a day is about right,” Holmes says -- and watching for pests before harvesting.

Samuel adds that, should your garden produce more than you can use, can, freeze or share the extra with a neighbor or a food bank “so it doesn’t go to waste.”

Some like it cold: It's not too late to get your fall veggie garden growing

2009-08-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

If you haven't yet joined the "grow your own vegetables" craze, it's not too late to join in. You can produce a bounty of vitamin-rich veggies from plot (or pot) to plate this fall, plus you'll save a bundle by growing them yourself.

You may be surprised to find that with just a little attention and effort, growing fall vegetables in the backyard garden and in planters is even more enjoyable than planting a vegetable garden during the spring and summer seasons. Why? Cooler autumn temperatures make it a delight to spend time outside in the garden and also provide an advantage when it's time to harvest your crops.

You'll spend less time caring for your fall crops because of the favorable cool weather growing conditions. Plants will grow rapidly at first and gradually slow as the days become shorter and colder. Destructive insects won't be as numerous in autumn as they are in summer months. Weeds germinate less frequently and grow slower than they do during the warmer seasons. Compared to hot and dry summers, fall usually brings an increase in the amount of precipitation, eliminating another time-consuming chore - watering.

What you need to know:

1. Let the sunshine in. Most vegetables need full sun - at least six hours of direct sunlight per day. They also require a steady supply of moisture and nutrients from the soil. You can help ensure your plants get both by mixing a 2-inch layer of compost into the soil (bagged compost is available at garden centers). Or spread a balanced fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, according to labeled instructions. Plants will need an inch of moisture per week, either through rain or supplemental watering.

2. Start with transplants. Transplants buy you lots of time. Plants are six weeks or older when you put them into the ground, so you will begin harvesting much sooner than if you start from seed. Bonnie Plants transplants in biodegradable, environmentally friendly pots make planting easy and spare the use of much plastic. Just cut off the bottom of the pot, water and plant ... pot and all. Garden centers typically supply optimum fall varieties for your geographic region.

3. Don't fear frost. When frost threatens, cover plants with a floating row cover, cold frame or a cloche. Or, you can grow fall veggies in a container and move the pot to a protected location on frosty nights.

Essential, preliminary planning tips for fall vegetable gardens include:

* Before planting any new plant make sure that you clear the area of summer and spring crops planted previously, as they may decay and encourage bacterial infection.

* Spread a few inches of mulch or compost over the area. Make sure that you turn up the soil's top layer and water well. Allow the soil to rest for a day before planting new fall plants.

* During the fall season most areas experience rain and even frost, so make sure that your soil is well drained and doesn't get soggy.

Vegetables best suited for fall gardens:

After following the essential preliminary steps for fall vegetable gardening, it's time to select vegetables for planting. Here's a list of fast-growing, cold-hardy crops that are ideal for fall vegetable gardening:

Winterbor Kale - This nutritious leafy green is a vigorous producer that endures winter easily, even in very cold climates. Cut the outer leaves so that the center can continue growing. Space transplants about 12 inches apart

Georgia Collards - Another leafy green similar to kale, collards offer a larger, stronger, sweet cabbage-like flavor. Leaves taste best when young. Space transplants 36 inches apart.

Romaine Lettuce - Romaine packs more vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytonutrients than other popular types of lettuce. Rich in fiber, vitamin C, and beta-carotene, romaine is an especially good vegetable for heart health. Space transplants 18 inches apart.

Early Dividend Broccoli - Popular, productive and easy to grow, this broccoli is high in fiber and calcium. Set transplants 18 inches apart

Mustard Greens - Offering spicy hot leaves, this is a very fast-growing, nutritious vegetable. Mustard greens always taste sweeter when nipped by frost. Space plants 12 inches apart

Bonnie Hybrid Cabbage - Bonnie's best cabbage. Grows large, round, blue-green heads. Cabbage is especially high in beta-carotene, vitamin C, K and fiber.

Arugula - These fast-growing leafy greens are great for salads or gourmet recipes. This peppery-tasting green is a super food for your bones. The leaves are "nutrient dense" and low in calories. They are especially high in vitamins A, C, and K.

If you put these practices into place this fall, you'll get your garden off to the right start and set it up for a fruitful season. Preparation is key, but the reward is a healthier, more productive garden - and fresh food that tastes better than anything you can buy at the store.

To learn more about vegetable and herb varieties as well as gardening tips, visit www.bonnieplants.com.