"Gardening Tips" column in The Harrodsburg Herald
by Brenda Cashel, contributing columnist
February 18, 2010
Community Gardens provide common ground to grow food
There’s an alternative to home gardens for people who don’t have the space to grow food, or just prefer company and enjoy learning from others. Community gardens are plots of land, usually in urban areas, that are shared by a group of people. They are usually organized around a neighborhood, church, school, or even a business.
Many cities now have community gardens, and there are currently more than 10,000 of them across the U.S. There is even a two-acre “community farm” in New York City that produces 2,000 pounds of produce a year. There are several community gardens in Louisville, Frankfort, and Lexington, many of which have just started in the last year or two.
It’s been shown that community gardens in urban areas reduce crime, foster relationships, provide low-cost food, benefit psychological health, and also set aside much-needed green space. These are certainly benefits for any community, even a small town like Harrodsburg. There are several websites that give advice on how to organize a community garden, but here are a few general tips.
First, get together an interested and committed group of people. The group should decide on the garden’s purpose and whom it will serve. It should also be decided if the garden will grow food or ornamentals, if it’s going to be organic, what the members’ responsibilities will be, and whether the garden will be a group effort or if participants get their own plots, and who will take care of common areas. Some community gardens decide to donate their extra produce to a food pantry or shelter.
Next, select a site that gets six hours of sun and has a water source nearby. It could be a vacant lot, or land owned by a church, school, or business. Be sure to contact the proper authorities and get permission to use the land for several years. There are potential expenses to setting up a garden, such as bringing in top soil, installing a watering system, building raised beds, purchasing seeds, plants, compost, etc., so the group should decide how the garden will be funded. Neighborhood gardeners can pay fees, or the group can seek sponsors, grants or donations. It should also be considered whether insurance is necessary, and if the group should have bylaws or rules that everyone signs.
The next plan of action should be to organize and prepare the garden. Clean up the site, install irrigation, lay out beds, assign plots, decide if fences are needed. Once the garden is up and running, troubleshoot and tweak to make sure everyone is happy. As the bounty comes pouring in, the group should celebrate their success, taking pleasure in both the community and the garden.
School gardens are especially beneficial to a community because of the lessons it teaches the children. Students learn personal skills involved in garden care-taking such as patience, responsibility, leadership, confidence and environmental sensitivity. They also learn social skills such as working cooperatively and appreciating teamwork.
We have been fortunate to have been involved in starting several school gardens, one at the Danville Montessori School and one with the seventh grade science classes at King Middle School.
It was amazing to see the kids experience pride in growing their own food and trying new foods they might not otherwise have eaten. As the students learn to prepare and eat nutritious, fresh food, they learn, most importantly, that growing your own food is fun and it tastes good.
Another type of gardening organized around community is called Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA. In this model, members purchase a “share” of a farm and receive a weekly supply of produce grown by the farmers. It’s beneficial to the customers because they know where and how their food is grown, and they learn about eating in season and often get to try new things. Some CSAs even let their members work on the farm so they can gain some gardening experience. It’s beneficial to the farmers because they know in advance that their crops are sold, they receive a fair price because they are selling directly to their customers, and they have the pleasure of getting to know their customers. The community benefits because the money spent on food from a CSA stays in the community and contributes to the local economy.
There is a wonderful website, www.localharvest.org, which lists many CSAs, farm stands, farmers markets, and community gardens throughout the U.S. There are many ways to find fresh, local food, even if you don’t grow it at home.
February 11, 2010
Edible landscaping: think beyond the rectangle
To those of you who might be reading this column but don’t think they have room for a garden, I’d like you to “think outside the box”. While rectangular gardens with neat, straight rows work really well, they are not the only way to grow food. Edible plants come in many colors, shapes, and sizes and can become a beautiful part of your landscape. The art of incorporating food-producing plants and trees into landscape designs is called edible landscaping.
The great thing about edible landscaping is you don’t have to start from scratch. Begin by thinning out some plants and bushes, or removing some of your lawn to add to existing garden spaces. You can slowly transition into an edible yard by adding some vegetables or edible flowers to flower beds. A couple heads of leafy lettuce, some carrots and radishes, and some other attractive greens like kale or mustard can all be tucked into a flower bed, and all of a sudden you have a fresh salad growing right outside your door.
A garden patch can be any shape or size and go anywhere in your yard that gets at least six hours of sunlight a day. Edible plants can border a pathway, fill a circle around a mailbox, or take the shape of a triangle tucked into an unused corner. Edible landscaping does not even have to be confined to the ground. Many plants can be trained to climb a fence. You can grow an entire herb garden in pots on the patio. Some types of tomatoes can grow in hanging baskets, and window boxes can hold more than just flowers.
Speaking of flowers, have I mentioned that some of them are edible, too? Nasturtium, violas, borage, and calendula are just a few that are not only beautiful to look at, but are great additions to salads and desserts. Vegetables like beans, peas, eggplant, squash, and okra produce beautiful flowers that would look right at home in a flower garden. Many herbs produce attractive flowers, also, such as rosemary, lavender, chives, and dill.
Some vegetables produce such amazing colors you won’t want to hide them in the backyard. Leaf lettuce, kale, and mustard can be green or multiple shades of “red” that vary from purple to burgundy. “Rainbow chard”, a combination of several varieties of green, yellow, pink, and red Swiss chard, really does remind you of the colors of the rainbow. Don’t even get me started on all the colors, shapes and sizes that peppers come in. Some of my favorites are “Islander” (a purple, yes, purple bell pepper), “Blushing Beauty” (a bell that displays every shade from yellow to red as it ripens), and “Lipstick” (a bright red, pointed sweet pepper). For those who like spicy food, there are several varieties of ornamental pepper plants that produce very beautiful, very hot little peppers -- one I like is “Pretty in Purple”.
Consider the different shapes and textures of edible plants, too. “Winterbor” kale is a gorgeous plant with curly, grey-green leaves. Asparagus produces fine, feathery foliage, carrot tops have a delicate, lacy look, and beet greens add a lovely dark green into the mix. Herbs come in all shapes and sizes -- from leafy, bushy basil, to grass-like chives, to low groundcovers like thyme or oregano.
If you are really intrigued by the idea of edible landscaping, consider planting a fruit or nut tree, or even a currant, hazelnut, or blueberry bush.
In past columns I’ve mentioned why you should grow your own food -- to enjoy the freshness and flavor of homegrown, fully ripened fruits and vegetables, to eliminate pesticides and herbicides on your food, to grow unusual varieties, and to get fresh air and exercise and have fun. Growing food instead of lawns can also reduce your carbon footprint, not to mention time and money spent on mowing grass.
There are other economic benefits to adding edible plants to your landscaping, like saving money on groceries. The amount of money spent on plant starts can be returned roughly four times in the amount of food those plants will produce, and just 100 square feet of garden space can potentially provide $600 worth of produce.
So think outside the box, beyond the rectangle, and find some places in your yard to grow some beautiful food.
February 4, 2010
Find good advice in catalogs and your notes
Ordering seeds is on my “to do” list for this week, and as I was looking through my favorite seed catalog, I realized just how much information is in there. You can buy seeds in many places, but I like catalogs because they offer a wide variety of seeds and good advice about growing each one. And who can resist those mouthwatering descriptions?
Most seed catalogs give you instructions on exactly when to plant the seeds indoors or outdoors. Timing is very critical for some seeds. Peas, lettuce, spinach, and beets will germinate in soil that is 45 degrees. Their seeds can usually go out as soon as the soil is dry enough to till. Some years we’ve sowed peas as early as February! However, other plants like sweet corn, beans, and squash take much longer to germinate or even rot if the soil is too cool. Pay attention to the temperature at which the seeds germinate and the temperature in which they like to grow. Sometimes this is indicated by which growing zone they prefer; here in Kentucky we’re in zone 6.
The “days to maturity” listed tells how long it will take from when the seed is planted until it’s ready to harvest. Some plants do better when started indoors and then transplanted to the garden; in this case the days to maturity is from when the plant is transplanted. Generally, warm weather plants that have a long growing season, like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, are started as transplants. Some others, like squash, melons, and cucumbers, can be started indoors to get a jump on the season but later are seeded directly in the garden.
Be sure to plan your garden so that it produces throughout the growing season. Choose varieties marked "early" or "fast-maturing” for the earliest harvest. You might also choose a variety of the same vegetable that is slower to produce, and plant both at the same time. That way, when the first one is finished the next one will be coming on.
You can also plant in succession, which means planting the same crop every few weeks. Most crops won’t produce all summer long, but if you plant a little bit throughout the summer you’ll be assured of a long harvest. Some crops we always plant in succession are beans, beets, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, and summer squash. A garden is a lot of work, so don't be satisfied with a single harvest when you can reap the benefits from spring on into the fall.
Seed catalogs often give detailed instructions for planting, also. They may tell how many to place in a hole, how far apart to make the holes, and how far apart to make the rows. How deep you plant the seed is important, too, and a good rule of thumb is to cover the seed to a depth about equal to the diameter of the seed.
Don’t throw away that catalog after you’ve placed your order. You’ll probably want to refer to the information when you’re ready to plant. Some catalogs describe organic methods for dealing with insect pests or diseases, give hints on when and how to harvest each vegetable, and some even include recipes and tips on saving seed.
There are plenty of places to find gardening advice, but one of your best resources will be your own experience. Each garden is different depending on it’s location, soil type, and some factors that you may never figure out. Keep a log of everything you do in the garden, and when you see the results make a note of how it worked out. You might find that some seeds that you started indoors got too big or leggy before you could plant them outdoors. Make a note to start them a little later next year. You can also record varieties that did well so you can try them again next time.
One thing I have learned is to never trust your memory. I often like to plant several varieties of the same vegetable to see if one does better than the other. I always think I will remember where I planted each one, but when harvest time comes around -- usually about two months later -- I don’t have a clue which was which. Draw a little sketch of your garden when you plant it and take good notes throughout the season, you’ll thank yourself later.
Some recommended seed catalogs:
Johnny’s Selected Seeds, www.johnnyseeds.com
Territorial Seed Co., www.territorialseed.com
The Cook’s Garden, www.cooksgarden.com
John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, www.kitchengardenseeds.com
Abundant Life Seeds, www.abundantlifeseeds.com
Pinetree Garden Seeds, www.superseeds.com
January 28, 2010
Start planning now what you’ll harvest later
January is the month when the seed catalogs start piling up in my mailbox, and even though it seems like the gardening season is far away, it’s not too early to start the planning process, to envision your garden space and what you’ll grow in it.
The first thing you should think about, if you don’t have an established spot already, is where the garden will be located. The best location is well-drained, has a source of water nearby, and gets at least 6 hours of sunshine per day, usually on the south or west side of a house. Consider also, what size you will realistically be able to take care of. It’s better to start small and add on than to get overwhelmed and give up. Planting a small bed of salad greens and herbs within easy access to the kitchen will make it easy to include fresh ingredients in your meals.
Whether your garden plot is new or old, it’s a good idea to mix organic materials such as compost, humus, leaf mulch, old straw and well-rotted manure into the soil. This can be done anytime in the fall or winter, as long as it has at least a couple months to break down. Don’t do it when the soil is wet, though, as digging in wet soil will ruin the soil structure.
A lack of space or sun in your yard doesn’t have to prevent you from gardening. Many vegetables, such as lettuce, onions, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, and peppers will grow very nicely in containers. It’s important to use as large a container as possible, and choose plants like dwarf varieties that are suitable for containers. Tomatoes actually benefit from being transplanted into larger pots as they grow, because each transplanting makes them stronger. If you have containers you’ve used before, be sure to replace the potting soil each year, as the soil nutrients do get depleted by the growing plant, and the soil could contain diseases.
But I think I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s not really time to start planting, but it is time to start planning. What are you going to grow this year? Well, once you’ve decided where and how big your garden will be, consider what you want to grow. If you don’t have a lot of room you may want to decide against vegetables that take up a lot of space like squash, pumpkins, melons, and most vine plants. Another option is to grow climbing plants on a trellis or fence. Cucumbers do especially well when they’re trained to climb. Be careful about planting too much in a small area as crowded plants will be less healthy and produce smaller fruits.
Another consideration for choice of vegetables is what grows best in this area. Here in central Kentucky we are very fortunate to have a long growing season and different periods of cool, warm, and hot weather, so we are able to grow a wide variety of plants. All you have to do is learn what to plant when, and fortunately the UK Cooperative Extension Service publishes a free booklet that takes away all the guesswork. The booklet is called “Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky” and it has a lot of great information about timing your plantings. Even as an experienced gardener I refer to it every year.
Of course, your personal taste will largely determine what you decide to grow. You’ll probably find some “tried and true” favorites, but I think it’s a good idea to try at least one new thing each year. Remember, fresh picked veggies taste nothing like canned or frozen ones, and you may find something new to love! Although, I have grown radishes for years (to sell) and still do not care to eat them.
One more thing to consider when choosing vegetables to grow is what your experience is and how much time you’ll be able to devote to your garden. Some vegetables are definitely easier to grow than others. Among the easiest are beets, bush beans, collards, leaf lettuce, mustard greens, radishes, peas, summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, and Swiss chard. The more difficult ones include cauliflower, celery, eggplant, limas, and melons.
Not only are there many kinds of vegetables to grow, there are also many, many varieties of each vegetable. Did you know that carrots, cauliflower, and peppers can be purple, beets can be orange, and beans can grow a foot long? There are so many choices, it takes me hours to go through a seed catalog. Funny how those seed companies know that January is a good time to dream about your future garden.
January 21, 2010
Gardens provide a variety of health benefits
This is the time of year when many of us are trying to make healthier choices. If you want to exercise and eat right, it just so happens that gardening can help you do both. I thought I’d share a few facts and figures to get you inspired and excited about gardening this year.
One health benefit of gardening is obviously the physical exercise. Working in the garden develops strength, mobility, flexibility and can be a good cardio workout. It also helps increase range of motion, develops eye-hand coordination, improves motor skills and increases self esteem, which is especially beneficial for people with special needs or those recovering from illness. Of course, you’ll be burning calories too – planting, digging, and weeding are activities that can burn about 200 calories in 30 minutes.
Gardening won’t be good for your health if you overdo it, so remember a few simple precautions. Do some simple stretches and start out slow, use a garden seat if necessary, and always consult a doctor if you have concerns. It may be wise to invest in some good tools (long handled ones are easier on the back), or consider building raised beds.
Gardening can do even more than tone your body. Spending time in the sun allows your body to make vitamin D, an important vitamin for preventing diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis. Sunlight is the best source of vitamin D since your body only takes what it needs (too much ‘D’ from dietary supplements may cause the body to overprocess calcium). So enjoy some time in the sun, but protect your eyes and never allow your skin to burn. If you garden without chemical weed and insect killers you’ll enjoy an added health benefit. The American Journal of Public Health has reported that children who live in a home free of these chemicals are four times less likely to develop cancer.
Gardening can be great for your mental health, too. When your body is busy doing a repetitive task it frees your mind to daydream or meditate. I get some of my best ideas when I’m out in the garden pulling weeds or picking beans. Spending time with your plants and connecting with the rhythms of nature can help relieve stress. Nothing teaches you how to slow down like watching plants grow. It’s also important to stop and take the time to enjoy the results of your hard work. Studies have shown that just viewing a garden or nature has healthy psychological benefits.
Growing healthy food has it’s benefits, too. Most people, especially kids, are more likely to eat vegetables if they grow them themselves. We’ve seen this firsthand where we’ve helped start school gardens. Can you imagine 5 year olds munching on raw radishes and spinach, or seventh graders enjoying kale, collard greens and turnips? They’ll do it when they can pick the veggies from their own garden!
If you grow using organic methods then you are reducing your exposure to harmful chemical pesticides. Six of the top twelve crops found to have the highest contamination of pesticides -- strawberries, bell peppers, spinach, cantaloupe, green beans and cucumbers -- can all be grown here at home in our Kentucky gardens. Here’s another interesting fact: when you have a healthy soil fertilized by compost, your food will contain more vitamins since plants absorb some vitamins from the soil. Also, produce that travels long distances loses much of it’s vitamin content. So growing food in your own garden can provide you with the freshest, most nutritious food possible.
Gardening may seem a long way off when there’s snow on the ground or freezing temperatures outside, but it’s not too early to get excited about how great it’s going to feel when we can finally get out there and dig in the dirt.
January 14, 2010
A gardener feeds the soil, soil feeds the plants
Since I’ll now be contributing a gardening column to the Herald, I thought I would start off by giving some background about myself. I began serious gardening about sixteen years ago when I moved to Mercer County and started growing organic produce with my husband. We did not have a lot of previous experience growing food on a large scale, so we learned a lot by doing, making mistakes, and trying new things. We also attended conferences on organic production, subscribed to magazines, and read books. But the best lessons come from experience and I hope I can share many of those lessons with you.
One of the most important lessons I have learned in the last sixteen years is how much our physical and mental well-being is tied to working the land. This is true at every level – from farming hundreds of acres to growing a few pots of herbs on your kitchen windowsill. The simple act of planting a seed in soil, watching it grow and caring for it, then reaping your harvest, I think fulfills a very basic need as a human. There is a pride like no other when you pick that homegrown tomato, or watch the first bloom of a rose begin to open. When I work in my greenhouse in the spring I tend to my baby plants like a parent cares for a child, carefully nourishing them and proudly watching them grow stronger each day. Okay, maybe that sounds a bit sappy, but I think anyone who gardens knows what I mean.
Another lesson I have learned since I began gardening for a career is what “healthy” food really is. In this business you can’t help but absorb many details and facts about the advantages of growing food without chemicals and the health benefits of eating fresh, “whole foods” (basic fruits, vegetables, meats and grains that are not overly processed). I plan to share many of these facts with you in future columns, along with basic gardening tips. My main focus will be on growing food, since I have the most experience with growing vegetables, although I do grow some edible flowers – yes, you really can eat some flowers! Only certain kinds though, don’t start tasting that bouquet on the table until you know what’s edible!
Throughout our years of growing organic produce we have often been asked what “organic” actually means, so I think it’s a good idea to explain this term. The simple answer is that an organic garden is grown without using synthetic (chemical) pesticides or fertilizers. But growing organically is much more than that – it’s also about learning from nature and using the natural cycles as a guide for caring for your plants. For example, in nature when plants die their organic matter is returned to the earth. This is nature’s way of fertilizing the growing plants. In our gardens we often remove crops from the garden so we have to add organic matter back into the soil. We can do this by adding mulch and letting it break down, and by adding compost. Compost is basically decayed plant matter along with billions of micro-organisms that feed on the plant matter and turn it into nutrients that living plants need to grow. You can buy compost, or even better, make your own. Many gardening books and websites have instructions on composting, and I’ll write more about it in a future column. Composting is a way of recycling your garden waste and is one of the most important aspects of organic gardening because adding compost is the best way to feed the soil.
It’s important to realize that good garden soil is not just rock particles, minerals and organic matter. Healthy soil is actually full of living things, like the micro-organisms mentioned above, earthworms, plant roots, insects, bacteria and fungi (some of these last three are actually beneficial to plants). The soil must be managed to provide the best possible environment for these living things to survive. A general rule is that it’s the gardener’s job to feed the soil and the soil will feed the plants. If you’re starting a new garden plot or having difficulty growing things, the soil should be tested to see which nutrients are lacking. The extension office will do these tests for free, but be sure to mention that your garden is organic. It’s always best to add natural minerals to adjust pH and nutrient levels; chemical amendments can kill the living organisms.
For most people, myself included, soil science is probably the least interesting part of gardening. It’s much more fun to focus on planting the seeds and watching them grow into amazing, beautiful, bountiful plants. But if you make sure to start with a healthy soil you’re much more likely to have healthy plants. Just keep in mind that gardening is all about growing plants in a way that mimics as closely as possible the natural balance of nature.