The Edible Deck

2010-05-10T17:03:00.001-07:00

This is one of the kiddie pools in late March - these are the greens nearly five months after seeding! It took a long time but I don't regret having tons of greens in early Spring.

Catching Up

2010-05-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

Since that last post nearly half a year ago, a lot has happened. It took a long time for those seeds to grow. Planted in October, they chilled in the soil - hardly growing at best - for about four months. I don't know exactly how much the wooden/glass cold frame increases the temperature. While it seems significant, it wasn't until February that the seedlings started growing. Since then, the greens in the cold frame have produced wonderfully. It kick-started the season by at least three months and we've been enjoying plenty of spinach, arugula, kale, mustard greens and some chard.
The edible deck is nearly all planted and we've added a 400 square plot (at Hawthorne Growing Gardens).

Coldframe!

2009-11-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

Details to follow...I'm just too excited to wait.

Getting Ready for Winter

2009-11-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

Things with the garden have been interesting lately, especially since it has spent quite a bit of time under a layer of snow.
When Brian and I went to St. John for Brian and Jessa’s wedding in early October, the garden went through its first fall freeze. Anticipating the cold, Brian picked every last fruit (mainly the tomatoes and peppers) in the large, immobile containers. The entire week that we were away, temperatures hovered around freezing. Luckily, our friend Nathan stayed at the place and took care of our little ones like a good uncle would :)
He brought in the smaller containers – tomatoes, zucchinis, etc – and covered the larger ones with plastic every cold night. For light freezes, a tarp or blanket can make all the difference – even more so when your plants are snuggled in the ground instead of in containers. The fruits we picked have continued to ripen indoors, supplying us with wonderful tomato sauce ingredients well into November.
Since early October, most everything else outside has died – with a few exceptions.
The broccoli is better than ever. All season, we felt that we wouldn’t repeat broccoli, particularly considering our space limitations. The first round of broccoli heads was insignificant and slow to develop. However, since cutting off that first round, the broccoli has flourished, we’re now working on our 4th or even 5th round of broccoli and it is tastier than ever. The broccoli leaves – such a great way to beef up a stir fry – have lost their bitterness and are delicious. Even the arugula we planted half way through the season has taken off with the cooler weather. Kale, known to improve in taste with a light freeze, and chard are also still going strong.
We just had our second significant storm, and just the day after finally building our first cold frame. At the moment it is keeping our compost warm, I’m hoping to plant spinach and more arugula in it soon. People say that you can’t grow food in a Colorado winter without heat. I don’t believe them. More on the coldframe in my next post.

Aquaponics in Denver

2009-10-18T20:53:00.001-07:00

From the Denver Post...

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13586527

Denver's aquaponics project aims to turn "food desert" into an oasis of health
By Colleen O'Connor The Denver Post
Posted: 10/18/2009

A dilapidated greenhouse in Denver's Elyria-Swansea neighborhood could soon sprout one of the nation's newest trends: inner-city farming using state-of-the-art technology to grow crops and fish in a single symbiotic system that mimics nature's water cycle.
This would solve a problem for the neighborhood, which lacks a full-service grocery store — if the Denver City Council can hammer out a zoning variance to allow Urban Organics to set up its greenhouse- to-table operation at East 47th Avenue and York Street, north of Interstate 70.
"This neighborhood is a food desert," said Paul Garcia, who lives in the neighborhood and is deputy director of the Cross Community Coalition.
"There's no access to fresh produce — no nearby grocery store. The idea of being able to grow and distribute fresh produce in this particular part of town is so encouraging for the residents."
Urban Organics is the idea of real estate developer and broker Paul Tamburello and local food activists, including Ashara Ekundayo, a principal at Blue and Yellow Logic, a Denver startup focused on diversifying the green economy to include all races and income levels.
Ekundayo, founder of the Pan African Arts Society and a longtime social activist, became interested in the food-justice movement during a year-long fellowship at Green for All, a national organization that trains leaders in low-income communities or communities of color to bring the green economy to their neighborhoods.
During the fellowship, she learned of the work of Will Allen, a sharecropper's son and former basketball star who won a 2008 MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant for his Growing Power, a nonprofit urban farm in Milwaukee.
His concept is rooted in the belief that the unhealthy diets of low-income, urban people — linked to diabetes and obesity — can be tracked to lack of access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables.

For the rest of the story: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13586527

Ain't no power like the power of the people...

2009-10-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

Power Past Coal:

A Bike Ride for Clean Energy and Climate Justice

Date: October 24th, 2009
Location: Broadway and Canyon, at the Boulder Bandshell
Meet-up Time: 9:30a.m. for coffee and bagels
Ride Time: 10:00a.m. sharp!

October 24th marks the "350" global day of international climate action, which calls for reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere to 350ppm. Here in Boulder, we'll come together to celebrate bike culture and demand a decarbonized world, based on local solutions, sustainable economies and democratic communities. We'll move through town in a festive bike parade and bring people power to the Valmont coal plant in East Boulder. The ride will finish in downtown Boulder and join the main 350 rally. See you there and spread the word!

Bring Bikes, Banners, Boomboxes, Noisemakers! Your helmet and some water, too!

www.350.org

If you have questions or want to get involved with organizing, send an email to: bike4climateaction@yahoo.com

October Harvest Party

2009-10-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

Brian harvested the seeds from our sunflowers - they're delicious! While so many of sunflowers were sacrificed to the squirrels this summer, they were worth planting for just that reason - they protected the rest of the garden from that most persistent pest for most of the season. Several times we saw at least three different types of bees on the sunflowers' faces at one time (one variety I'd never seen before).

The garden is going through a tough transition right now - we've faced below-freezing temperatures for most of the week, and four inches of snow today. Luckily, the harvest hasn't quite ended. Speaking of harvests...

The next monthly Harvest Potluck will be on Sunday, October 25th at Betsy and Matt's house (2537 Bluff - near the corner of Bluff and Folsom) at 2pm.

Hope to see all the regulars! If you've never been - it's a local food potluck/party, join us.

September Harvest Party

2009-09-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

The third monthly Harvest Potluck is September 19th at Charlie's:

3605 Martin Drive
Boulder, CO 80305

If you haven't heard of the harvest parties yet, but want to come - Ask me!

Hope to see you all there.

Chez What?

2009-09-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

Ever tried making fresh pasta? As long as you're not in a rush (this is a *long* process), turns out it's pretty easy and you probably have the ingredients already. These directions describe how to make two types of egg pasta ravioli.

Making the Dough

First, start with the pasta dough. Here's an easy recipe which makes about a pound of fresh pasta:

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (semolina is a good choice, too)
3 happy chicken eggs

Yeah, that's it. Feel free to throw in some salt, herbs, spices, etc. I've tried a little olive oil. You'll need a big bowl, a clean countertop dusted with flour and a plate with a damp cloth. You'll also want your ravioli filling ready to go at this point - that recipe follows

Grab the big bowl, and pour in the flour. Form a pool in the middle of the flour and break your three eggs into the pool. (Save your egg shells for adding calcium to the garden.)
Slowly break the eggs, blending them into the flour until the forming clump is well mixed. Add a little water if it's very dry, add a little flour if it's really sticky. This is the time for adding those optional ingredients.

Now on the countertop, knead the dough. Once it's consistent, form it into a mound and cover it with the damp cloth. Wait at least 15 minutes. One recipe recommended a full hour.

In order to press the pasta into sheets, you'll use a pasta press if you're lucky and a rolling pin if you want a work out. The press is worth it; it makes prettier pasta (including fettuccine or spaghetti cuts) and it cuts at least an hour out of the prep time. Use either the rolling pin or the pasta press to make your sheets. Dust the sheets with flour.

Ravioli Filling

Pesto-Squash-Goat Cheese filling
Mix the following:
- Cilantro pesto
- Squash puree. Saute squash with garlic and then puree it
- Goat cheese. Other cheese probably equally as delicious

Eggplant Puree filling
Mix the following:
- Pureed eggplant, garlic and onions. Lightly saute the vegetables first.
- Chopped arugula and/or basil
- Pine nuts
- Goat cheese.

Now you're back with your pasta sheets and your ready-to-go filling. Grab a basting brush (or something to smear egg batter) and a small bowl with egg batter - just one egg will do. Brush a manageable piece of sheet with egg batter. Drop *small* spoon fulls of your filling. While you're getting the knack for this, space the filling quite a bit to give yourself some room for error. Feel free to reapply some egg yolk around the filling (this will help seal the first sheet to the second). Brush a second sheet, equal in size to the first, with egg yolk and carefully place it (eggy side down) over the filling-covered sheet. Now, carefully press the top sheet around the mounds of filling, being sure to push the air out before sealing the raviolis. Cut your ravioli however you like and then dust them with flour.

Boil the ravioli for about 4 minutes and enjoy!

Before and After pictures

2009-09-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

Doing something right

2009-09-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

Be Inspired

2009-08-26T16:03:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry for the long delay since my last post - and I *really* appreciate the encouragement from several of you to keep on it. I will! The garden is looking wonderful. I'll share pictures with you soon. I promise!

In the meantime check out this post from the Denver blog, "Urbavore's Dilemma." It's a good one.

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2009/08/urbavores_dilemma_earthlinks_h.php

(Eggplant) Sex and the Garden

2009-07-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

Today's post comes from Brian...

Getting your first order of seed packets is pretty exciting and a little overwhelming. When our seeds arrived this past spring, we peeked inside some of them (who knew fava bean seeds were actually whole fava beans!?) and anxiously read the descriptions of others, promising us “sweet, tender leaves” and “intense, rich tomato flavor.” All we had to do was put the seeds in some dirt and sit back and wait.

Well, the seed packets also seemed to indicate that things would not be quite that easy. In addition to some basic watering guidelines, there were instructions for things I hadn’t even thought of. “Slightly acidic, calcium rich soil with a pH between 6.0 and 7.0”? “Control beetles with rotenone or pyrethrum”? As my confident optimism was quickly diminished, I began to wonder if we bit off a bit more than we could chew.

Fortunately, we put the doubts aside and went ahead with our experiment. However, from time to time problems arose that moved us to go back to the seed packet and learn about an unfamiliar term or process. We had such an experience recently. Our eggplant has been looking strong and producing lots of beautiful flowers. Those flowers – which ideally bear shiny, purplish black fruit – were looking pretty, but simply dying and falling off without the payoff. We fumbled for answers within our limited knowledge base, until a friend (thanks, Kacie!) told us it might be a problem with pollination and, alas, we would have to figure out what exactly that means.

While pollination can be quite complicated – when one is, for example, trying to create hybrid varieties – the basics of it are pretty intuitive and is something most of us know a thing or two about: sex. When one flower is very in love with another flower, something magical happens. This all should sound pretty familiar, except that plants, unlike humans, need the help of wind or birds or bees (pollinators), to move their special parts together. One good reason to have flowers in your garden – aside from looking pretty and making Kate happy – is that they attract pollinators. Some plants produce ‘perfect’ flowers that have both male (stamen) and female (pistil) parts. Other plants produce separate male and female flowers or even separate male and female plants.

For some plants and depending on your purposes, this is more or less important. Spinach for, example, produces separate male and female plants meaning that you need to have multiple plants – some of each sex – for pollination to occur. However, for many gardeners, pollination is not that important for spinach. Since we eat the leaf, we don’t need spinach to go to seed to harvest it. However, in the long run, pollination is essential to the survival of plants species and, ultimately, the non-human and human animals that eat them. For this reason, the disappearance of honeybees around the world (i.e. colony collapse disorder) is an especially troubling phenomenon.

In the case of eggplants (along with their brethren tomatoes and peppers), the plants generally produce perfect flowers that have both male and female parts. They are, in other words, self-pollinating. Because we are interested in eating the plant’s fruit and the fruit contains the plants seeds, pollination is necessary regardless of whether you are interested in saving seed.

So, what to do in the case of those pesky eggplants – the drama queen of the garden, according to Carolyn – that produce flowers, but no fruit. If the wind and bees aren’t playing matchmaker, then humans can step in and fill the role. Fortunately, being cupid for a stamen and a pistil is a little less awkward then between two people – all it takes (well, we’ll see if we actually get some eggplants) is moving a small clean paintbrush around the inside of the flower. If all goes well, the flowers special parts will touch and we’ll see some baby eggplants in the coming weeks.

~Brian

Harvest Eve

2009-07-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

The first of the monthly Harvest Parties is this Saturday! For those of you who haven't heard, a group of friends (and friends of friends) are getting together monthly to celebrate what bounty our Boulder foodshed can provide. The first is at Caitlin's beautiful edible garden at 5162 Holmes Place. It's a local food potluck: if you can make it, plan on making a meal with mainly local ingredients - from your own garden, a neighbor's or with food purchased at the farmers market. Colorado booze is also more than welcome :) Come ready to eat Boulder - the party starts at 5:30pm.

For some inspiration, I bring you a snippet from Barbara Kingsolver's story (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle) about growing her own food, with her family, for a year. I imagine her own motivations are not so far from many of those in attendance this Saturday...

"We hoped a year away from industrial foods would taste so good, we might actually enjoy it. The positives, rather than the negatives, ultimately nudged us to step away from the agribusiness supply line and explore the local food landscape. Doing the right thing, in this case, is not about abstinence-only, throughing out bread, tightening your belt, wearing a fake leather belt, or dragging around feeling righteous and gloomy. Food is the moral arena in which the ethical choice is generally the one more likely to make you groan with pleasure. Why resist that?"

I've included pictures of our garden. The Edible Deck will host the next Harvest Party in August - I hope it'll be ready!

Landfills or Gardens - A Post article

2009-07-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

Another great article from the Washington Post about urban gardens in reclaimed New Orleans...

Landfill Worries Cloud Hope for New Orleans Gardens
By Kari LydersenWashington Post Staff WriterSaturday, July 4, 2009

Urban gardens were key to helping New Orleans's Vietnamese population return and reestablish their close-knit community just weeks after Hurricane Katrina.

The gardens, which cover nearly every inch of open space in the Versailles neighborhood of eastern New Orleans, provided fresh produce long before grocery stores reopened and kept alive a farming tradition that residents brought from their North Vietnam villages more than three decades ago.

Now local church and development leaders are trying to launch a 30-acre urban farm to let elderly gardeners grow more and earn more selling produce at a popular Saturday market. The vision includes free-range livestock, aquaculture and playgrounds for gardeners' grandchildren. But leaders fear that their dream will be impeded by a legacy of Katrina: a nearby emergency demolition landfill that opponents think could release arsenic or other contaminants into the soil, water and air.

Officials with the state and Waste Management, which ran the now-closed landfill, note that air and water tests have found nothing above safe levels. Community leaders say that may be the case now, but they are upset there are no mandates or plans for ongoing testing to detect contamination that may emerge.

"This farm is part of the community's resilience," said the Rev. Vien Nguyen, pastor of Mary Queen of Vietnam, a Roman Catholic church that is spearheading the urban farm. "We fended for ourselves all this time, and if Katrina happened again, we could do it all again. But we want to know we have healthy conditions for the farm."

Check out the rest at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/03/AR2009070302436_pf.html

Harvesting Homegrown Salads

2009-07-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

The garden, now over fifty containers, is growing well. We’ve had a bit of bad luck, but for the most part it seems that our efforts are paying off.

After several attempts to grow lettuces, we have finally decided that the first batch of soil we used was no good. Unfortunately, it took success from the ground garden below the deck to convince us that our container lettuces weren’t going anywhere – nearly three months after our first attempt! We’re pretty sure that the problem was too much mushroom compost. Knowing that lettuces need lots of nitrogen, our first batch of soil was probably about 45% mushroom compost (it should’ve been more like 25-33%). It also might have been the poorer quality top soil we had been using originally.

Another big mistake was the late planting of our precious peas. Since the seed packet told us that peas don’t like soggy spring weather, we thought that meant we ought to wait until after the soggy weather ended. Oh, how wrong we were. Kacie broke the bad news to me last week – and since then we’ve found that everyone knows you plant your peas no later than St. Patrick’s Day! Bummer! I’m quite certain that peas are a plant-relative of elves – their shape, color and grace remind me so much of the magical race. They were a wonderful addition to our garden (when other growth seemed somewhat stagnant). They were growing tall, and green until about 10 days ago when they suddenly started turning yellow and drying up. We’ve learned our lesson: soggy weather is one thing (and a few peas did rot under the soil before germinating) but peas won’t stand for the heat. We’ll try again for a fall crop once the summer heat lets up, but in the meantime we’ll dig up the dying peas and replant with fava beans, which are more (although not incredibly) heat tolerant.

The other bad news is that the squirrels are still with us. Turns out, our sunflowers (now over two feet tall) are squirrel bait. They climb up the side of the deck, take a bite out of the top of the flower and leave the leaves on the deck wall – just to be jerks. The good news, is that the sunflowers (along with our hanging basket strawberries) seem to occupy the squirrels enough to protect our other plants.

Besides these few problems, things are going very well! We’ve had a few wonderful salads harvesting beet greens and the lettuces from the ground garden below. With a little help from our friends – thanks Laurie and Charlie! – we have enjoyed homegrown kale, chard, collards, arugula and other greens. Nasturtium leaves, too (pictured at left) are delicious! Somehow, they taste like blue cheese – who knew?

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

McMansion Farms

2009-07-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Check out this Washington Post article about farming among the sprawling mansions of Loudoun County, Virginia...

The Farmer and the Lawn

Ex-CIA Man Stakes New Career on a Few Acres

Small farmer Jim Dunlap grows fruit and vegetables in Loudoun County on an 11-acre enclave surrounded by suburban mansions. (By Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post)

He uses a wheel hoe for weed control at his Round Hill farm. To keep expenses down, he hasn't bought expensive mechanized equipment. (Katherine Frey - The Washington Post)

Dunlap bands together the top leaves of a cauliflower plant to keep the vegetable from losing its desirable white color. (Katherine Frey - The Washington Post)

By Jane Black

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Set among the rolling green hills of Loudoun County, Jim Dunlap's farm hasn't changed much since the 1780s. The original fieldstone farmhouse, designed by William Penn, is still there, albeit larger after two additions. So is the stone smokehouse and a spring house. There are peach trees, raspberry bushes and vegetables. If Isaac James, a former owner and the great-grandfather of outlaw Jesse, were to visit, he would see just one real difference: SnowBear Farm is now the only farm in sight. The property is surrounded by huge suburban mansions with wide, empty lawns.

Of course, these days it's more surprising to find a working farm than McMansions in Loudoun. But Dunlap, a retired CIA operations officer, wanted to farm here. His little piece of suburbia is perfectly situated for a small farmer just starting out: The land is fertile, and the location, just 55 miles from Washington, puts him within striking distance of lucrative urban farmers markets, where prices and demand are high for produce grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. "We need to take a lot of this land that's used for pet horses and giant lawns and find ways to grow food on it again," Dunlap said. "My work is an experiment to figure out how we can do it."

Local-food advocates salivate at the idea of creating farms near the city. So do small farmers, who can earn a good living meeting the growing demand for local products. But suburban and exurban farming remains an anomaly. Every year in the United States, more than 6 million acres of agricultural land, an area the size of Maryland, are lost to development, according to the American Farmland Trust, a nonprofit organization that supports conservation. The pop of the real estate bubble hasn't lowered home and land prices enough for new farmers to get into the market. Case in point: Though home prices in Loudoun dropped steeply in 2008, the average detached house still costs $482,000.

Dunlap didn't set out to turn back suburban sprawl. He just wanted to farm. Throughout his life, personality tests such as Myers-Briggs had told him that he was well-suited to the profession. He's analytical, content to work alone and generally an introvert (though he's not shy about discussing his mission). After retiring in 2005, he hiked the Appalachian Trail. On the path, Dunlap decided there might be something to the farming idea and decided to plant crops on part of his 11 acres.

Turns out the wiry 55-year-old liked it. An engineer by training, Dunlap sees every obstacle as a problem to be solved. Storage? He built his own 10-foot-by-17-foot refrigerated room. Celery? "It's the weirdest vegetable to grow," he said on a tour of his fields. "But I've never had truly fresh celery, so we'll try."

Check out the rest of the article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/30/AR2009063000924.html?hpid=artslot

Guerilla Gardening

2009-06-30T16:10:00.000-07:00

The Huffington Post called it, "the most adorable form of vandalistic rebellion ever.” No matter what you call it, the work of guerrilla gardeners just might be popping up in a street median near you. Guerrilla gardening is the process of transforming public, abandoned or otherwise underproductive plots of ground into edible gardens. Sometimes it’s the result of garden lovers finding themselves without yards of their own. Sometimes it’s an act of public service meant to beautify space while creating healthy, local food for those who need it. Most practitioners, however, consider their guerilla gardens a form of direct action. As opposed to other forms of political intervention – letter writing, protesting, etc – guerrilla gardening is much more than a symbolic gesture. Those participating in the act are not asking the city government to invest in local agriculture, they are growing local agriculture in the act itself.

I don’t mean to imply that all guerilla gardeners carry a confrontational approach to their hobby. In fact, it doesn’t have to be illegal: many people ask permission before they turn up soil situated on someone else’s property. Frequently, churches and other quasi-public institutions are happy to have someone volunteer their time to turn a lawn into a productive, aesthetically pleasing provider of food. It’s a no brainer, after all, that people tend to like gardens. The volunteer nature of guerrilla gardening, furthermore, fosters a sense of community and service. It’s hard to think of something more wholesome and goodhearted than neighbors getting together to turn a patch of weeds into something lovely and useful.

However, some gardeners do emphasize the political nature of the act. After all, even here in The Republic of Boulder (baaa!) the wait lists for community gardens are prohibitively long. Brian and I got rejected for a plot and if we weren’t able to spend hundreds of dollars on container materials we’d be out of gardening luck. As a result, many people feel that it is a civil responsibility to see that neighborhood and city space is put to good use. When so much land is dedicated to green deserts (read: pesticide-maintained lawns), industrial pursuits and roads, people have a right to some small portion of space for food-production purposes, no? Of course, we’ve heard appropriation defended on similar grounds of “public domain” before. If someone put an oil rig in my backyard (I’m looking at you, Garfield Country) and said it was the best way to ensure productive use of the land, I might have to plug that rig with a carrot (that is how you disable oil production, right?).

Once again, the (in?)justice behind guerilla gardening comes down to that fundamental question: Who owns the land? Who gets to decide what our neighborhoods and cities look like? Who gets to deny or permit access to productive land? Who gets to determine the nature of “productive”? While gardeners exclaim, “We do!” the victims of guerilla gardening – poor souls inflicted with vegetable gardens where their precious patch of weeds once flourished – are fighting back.

Last year in Boulder, one man was threatened with a $2,000 fine PER DAY for planting a vegetable garden in the right-of-way between his property and a public street. The threat came after a neighbor complained about the nuisance. Check out the Daily Camera article about the gardening ordeal at: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/10/boulder-man-faces-20.html

Speaking of guerrilla gardening, Brian and I gave it our first shot about three weeks ago. Behind our unit (the spot you see when you lean over the South side of the deck, and pictured below), there was a wonderfully sunny, horribly weedy patch just writhing for a bit of care and attention. We knew that turning this patch into a garden was a risk: at any time the HOA could demolish our hard work because we don’t own the land. However, we decided to give it a try. We wanted to feel our shovels dig into actual ground. We thought – once the garden starts producing – it would be a wonderful way to connect and share with our neighbors, who are encouraged to share the fruits of our labor. Our efforts have so far surpassed our expectations. We went about 8 months hardly meeting a neighbor and in one day we made friends with many of them! In the few hours we spent turning the soil, every neighbor that passed expressed enthusiasm and support for the project. Was the act vandalistic? I’m not sure, but it definitely was adorable!

To learn more about guerilla gardening, check out these resources:
- Google Image search for “Guerilla Gardening”: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&q=guerilla%20gardens&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
- Guerillagardening.org
- The Huffington Post article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/26/illegal-guerrilla-gardeni_n_179404.html

Happy Plants

2009-06-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

Gaining Ground

2009-05-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

On our return from Utah, Brian and I had two enormously productive days in the garden. It finally is a garden! Every last herb, vegetable and fruit has been planted - except for the zucchinis and squashes, which prefer at least 70 degree soil before planting.

The bulk of the work was making ground. Simply filling our three kiddie pools and 15 other large containers took forever! In addition to the soil we brought from Laurie's garden via last year's container-tomato crop and the soil Brian picked up from give-aways in Martin Acres, we have purchased well over 30 bags of top soil, mushroom compost and potting soil. Let's just say we visited McGuckin (a regionally-based hardware store) about 7 times in three days. According to the garden center employees, there has been an explosion of interest in gardening this season. McGuckin is having a hard time keeping supplies stocked. Let's hope people are growing something edible!

We started by planting the fava beans, snow peas and shelling peas. Peas and beans grow well together. They're not the biggest fans of soggy, cold spring weather. But this is Colorado. In my three years in Colorado, "soggy" doesn't happen - until this week. Since the evening after our big planting, the Front Range has been inundated with wet storms. There was even a tornado watch in Denver - just 3o minutes away; how bizarre.

Even though my plants are ready for some drier, sunnier weather, I'm grateful for the rain. I've been mindful of the fact that this local, "self sufficiency" project is limited by our location in a semi-arid environment, dependent on energy-dependent water distribution. Unfortunately, Boulder's natural environment and climate is not conducive to a 100,000-plus human community - one of the many reasons we eat, drink and buy "off trucks."

Our trip to the desserts of Utah reinforced this water dilemma for us. For one thing, it was just so damn hot and dry! In the middle of Utah we came across a very small town called Orangeville (it hosted the closest grocery store to our bouldering destination of Joe's Valley). This tiny town, which finds itself between the desert and Utah's arid mountains, appeared to be primarily an agricultural town. Next to orange cliffs and barren plains were bright green, irrigated fields. In place of rains, these farmers water their crops with the rivers flowing out of the mountains above. Even so, how can it makes sense to settle a desert and produce food which is obviously transported elsewhere? What sort of water use does make sense? While I'm trying to figure it out, I'll gratefully accept the gift of rain.

After our time in the desert, Boulder looked green and lush upon arrival. Deciduous trees are blooming and well-tended columbines and irises are everywhere. Even the fields of Chautauqua, which form the base of the flat irons - the focal point of Boulder's mountainous boundary - are coming alive and turning green. Especially when you catch a glimpse of snow-capped mountains beyond these views to the west, it's absolutely beautiful.

The pea/beans containers have certainly been drenched like everything else - with water pooling on top - so we'll see if they successfully germinate. We're tempted to bring some containers under shelter, but simply moving these containers is risky; our first transplanting of greens seemed to suffer from the constant movement. Cracks split the dirt right through the middle of these containers, which must have disturbed the germinating seeds and young seedlings.

Besides our 8 inch high Purple Cherokee tomato (which is covered by a cookie sheet to give it a break from the rain), everything else looks great! The kiddie pools seem to be draining effectively. As I've explained in a previous post, we filled all containers with a thin layer of rocks before adding the soil. This should help drainage while reducing soil loss through otherwise open holes.

Now that the first batch of planting is complete (we'll continue several planting of greens throughout the season), we have an optimistic idea of what our harvest just might deliver...

In one kiddie pool (measuring 5 feet in diameter), we focused on broccoli. We fit 6 broccoli, three dill and one mint plant. The dill and mint will protect the broccoli from some pests. We transplanted the mint from Betsy's yard. Thanks, Betsy! Mint is very, very hardy and spreads easily. Yay for Mojitos!

In the other large pool we planted six tomato plants and four basil plants. Right after transplanting the sun was very intense. In order to reduce scorching and shock, we shaded the pools with sheets, as you can see. We might have let the plants enjoy the sun if we knew about the clouds and rain which would soon settle in.

In our two other large, deep containers we planted the beets and carrots.

So far, so good! Now for a little sun...

"Urbavore's Dilemma" - Homegrown Food in the News

2009-05-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

Last week, Chris (yet another ENVSer) told me about a new series from a Denver newspaper, The Westword. The series, "Urbavore's Dilemma," features stories about homegrown food in Denver's urban environment.

According to The Westword's website, "Something strange is going on around Denver. Home owners are replacing sod with vegetable beds and building chicken coops by their garages. A power player is turning prime downtown real estate into a miniature farm, and a developer is planning a subdivision based around farmer's markets. Citizens are fighting for their right to raise honey bees, hens, dwarf goats and pot-bellied pigs. The urban homesteading movement is re-imagining, yard by yard and meal by meal what it's like to live in Denver -- not just to save money but to help the environment and enrich the country's food-production system."

Check out the series at: http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2009/05/urbavores_dilemma_down_and_dir.php

Waiting Out the Down Time

2009-05-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the hiatus - it's been a busy couple of weeks.

In the meantime, the garden is slowly coming along. At this point, we have 7 long containers planted with greens (green and red leaf lettuce, mesclun mix, mache, arugula, kale and spinach). It seems that most of these didn't do well after being transplanted - especially the lettuces. Last week, Betsy and Ashwin helped me reseed, and those brand new little guys are just starting to pop up. Since they won't be transplanted, hopefully they'll do a bit better.

Some smaller containers are planted, too. After getting a strawberry seedling from our friend, Shannon, we were inspired to grab a few more: enough for three hanging baskets and some squirrel distraction (we're considering planting a strawberry or two down on the ground to sacrifice those to the squirrels who may fill up before reaching our garden). The garlic chives are looking good.

A good three weeks ago, we planted our whiskey barrel with some flowers. Ashwin and Amy (another ENVSer) seeded sunflowers well before the packet suggested (it recommended waiting until the last frost to plant sunflowers). Because it was a beautiful day and I generally sacrifice good, patient planning for immediate fun, we went ahead and tried. Finally, about two weeks later the sunflowers popped up (8 out of the 9 seeds, actually). A week later they're about three inches tall. The sunflowers should eventually reach 9 feet in height.

Pests are already becoming a major concern. I've already mentioned the squirrel problem. They've ripped out a kale plant and every few days rummage through our containers looking for seeds. A fellow gardener and scientist (so she knows what she's talking about!) told us that peeing in your garden can help keep squirrels away. As our garden is not so much a garden, I hesitated on this advice. However, after Betsy's, Ashwin's and my reseeding efforts were promptly destroyed by the damn things, I've since been trying this technique out. Yes, watch where you step! Since then, squirrel appearances have diminished but not altogether disappeared. As a secondary measure, every time I see a squirrel out there I run after it - with broom in hand. Sure, they'll leave, but they don't seem nearly scared enough. Still trying to work this problem out.

Wasps are trying to resettle the hollow, hot walls of our deck. Through the many holes you can see the remnants of last year's wasp cities. It's pretty spooky. Ashwin and Betsy and I went around duck taping every hole we saw to politely suggest that the wasps try a different location this summer.

Tomorrow, Brian and I are heading to Utah for some fun. We'll be moving the still-mobile garden over to Charlie's for safe keeping. By the time we return, we'll have passed the last average frost date and then things will really start progressing. We'll plant the three kiddie pools and every other container. I can't wait!

Since I'll be road tripping, there will be another break until my next post, but keep checking back because I'm going to continue the blog. For those of you who don't know, this blog was the idea of my science professor, Sharon, who suggested that I cover my garden deck via a blog for my final science project. In addition to being the coolest grad school final ever, it's been a lot of fun sharing the process with all of you. Thanks again for the great idea, Sharon! And thanks to everyone else for your enthusiasm and support. I also love, love, love to hear about everyone else's gardening efforts - keep sharing your experiences with me.

See you soon!

Charlie's Place

2009-04-23T14:04:00.001-07:00

Charlie's got more than cold frames going on. He also has a large, well established garden. While it doesn't look like much right now, in a few months this space will be full of life - and food. I've already mentioned that my favorite tomato came from Charlie's garden. He picks some interesting things to grow like Napa cabbage, many pepper varieties and tomatillos. I look forward to some swapping!

Charlie's seedlings are looking good, too (left: several varieties of peppers). He's kept them inside under a grow light which hastened their growth compared with our flats which experience less consistent, less intense light up in the loft.

These beauties (right) are the new generation of that favorite tomato. I think it's called a Purple Cherokee hierloom (corrections, Charlie?). Charlie showed me the cages he uses for these beasts. Form a circle with your arms with your finger tips barely touching - these little guys will overwhelm a cage that size in a few months - and not a moment too soon.

Fresh Greens in April

2009-04-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

Charlie’s harvesting spinach.

Last fall, Charlie built several cold frames for his garden in South Boulder. Cold frames are basic structures which are used to extend your season (with an early start or a later end). With four walls and a glass top, cold frames operate as green houses; heat from the sun becomes trapped in the box to keep plants warm through cold nights. They’re very easy to make. Check out a local used building material source (like the Resource Yard,) to build your own cold frame. Here’s a great guide for building cold frames: http://www.gardengatemagazine.com/main/pdf/coldfram.pdf. But, there’s no need to get too fancy.

While the last three days have been quite hot with intense sun all day long, cold winter nights might still threaten our plants. To protect them, Charlie added those gallon containers to snuggle up with his spinach. Painted black and filled with water, these containers retain heat which they release slowly as cooler temperatures settle in overnight.

Organic Gardening magazine warns cold frame newbies to make sure you don’t bake your plants. According to them, “The temperature inside the cold frame should stay below 75 degrees F for summer plants, below 60 degrees for plants that normally grow in spring and fall. The way to keep temperatures cool inside a cold frame is to lift the lid. A good rule of thumb: when outdoor temperatures are above 40 degrees, prop open the lid 6 inches; when the outdoor temps clear 50 degrees F, remove the lid. Be sure to restore the lid in late afternoon to trap the heat inside for the cool night” (http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s-5-19-106,00.html).

Unfortunately, this spinach has already been baked. Charlie had to pick through the patch to remove scorched leaves. (Scorching seems to be the theme of the week around here.) Despite that, his cold frames have served him well so far. He planted about a month ago and he’s been harvesting spinach for about 2 weeks. That’s a solid 45 days before Brian and I can expect to harvest anything.

As you can see, a good cold frame can be moved. Spinach is frost-tolerant, and hopefully the lowest temperatures are behind us, so Charlie moved the cold frame off his spinach.

If cold frames are considered season extenders, I take this to mean the season has begun!

Garden Beans

2009-04-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I checked out Betsy's seedlings. That's Lily Bean keeping close watch. After experiencing some rotting with her first flat, Betsy replanted for a second try. Unfortunately, after their first day in the sun, the new seedlings look really scorched. As already mentioned, the weather here has been very inconsistent: snow last week and seventy-degree weather this week. Further, the sun up here is HOT! I've been warned about the intensity of the sun at our mile-high elevation, but I didn't think it would be a problem until mid-summer.

I'm also not quite convinced it was too much sun that did Betsy's plants in. Brian and I have been moving our 4 just-planted containers outside since Sunday where they get baked in direct sun for most of the day. While transplants are particularly fragile at first, our plants don't seem scorched at all.
Don't give up, Betsy! They might recover after all. Either way, it's great as beginning gardeners to be able to learn from each others' successes and frustrations. Here's to sharing more of the former!

Kale

2009-04-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

A casualty of transplanting: this kale isn't looking too good. Luckily (and mainly because of space limitations,) we only transplanted 4 of our 5 kale seedlings. We'll try again, hopefully with more luck.

Kale should be spaced about 18 to 24 inches apart - hard to believe when they're still so small.

We got greedy and packed three seedlings in the 36 centimeter-long container.

Outside Bound

2009-04-19T19:16:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, Brian and I transferred and seeded a bunch of greens. Kale, spinach, mache and arugula all went into their new homes. We transplanted the seedlings which had already been started and seeded a bunch more to fill the containers. For most of these, we left room for more seeds, anticipating more plantings. The spinach, for example, should be planted every two weeks for continuous harvest.

We brought the newly planted containers in for the night - but we'll start hardening them off tomorrow (leaving them outside for increasingly longer periods of time so they adapt to their new environment).

We used about an even mix of potting soil and mushroom compost, adding a few shovel fulls of our own soil left over from last year. We weren't too sure about this mix, but wanted plenty of mushroom compost (which is mainly manure) to make sure all our nitrogen-hungry greens were satisfied.

True Leaves

2009-04-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Boulder is recovering from a big, messy storm. Forecast to dump ten to twenty inches of snow, we instead were inundated with slushy precipitation. It was a nasty few days, but the sun is back and as the snow melts the green of spring emerges. Unheard of in my nine months on the Front Range, the streams and canals around town are flowing. It’s a beautiful day!

While my own ground-less garden won’t directly benefit from the weekend’s downpour, it’s refreshing to see Boulder respond to this much belated drink of water.

Still inside, the seedlings look great! We transferred two garlic chives into small pots – their final home. They stayed inside through the snowy/slushy weekend, though.

Just about all of our seedlings have their true leaves now and are beginning to look like distinguishable plants. Yay!

Dealing with Drainage

2009-04-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

Last week, Charlie dropped off a bunch of wood pallets and more cinder blocks. The wood pallets will go underneath the kiddie pools – otherwise, water wouldn’t be able to drain out of the pools, which might lead to rotting.

I was hoping to have people over Thursday afternoon to paint the cinder blocks – Betsy’s idea – but that’s when the winter storm set in. Hopefully next week…
Also, when Charlie returns from Austin, I’ll visit his garden to take a look at his cold frames.

Local Food Event

2009-04-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

WHAT? Around the Table: "Exploring the Spiritual and Psychological Aspects of Food Politics"
WHO? Guest Speakers: Dave Wann, David Georgis, Kipp Nash & Amy Telligman, Facilitated by Rev. Stanley Adamson
WHEN? Saturday, April 25th, Noon to 3 p.m.
HOW MUCH? $15 (Includes Lunch)
WHERE? Hosted at: St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 3700 Baseline Road, Boulder, Colorado 80303
REGISTRATION? Yes: http://www.interfaceboulder.org/food.html

I thought this was pretty neat as I haven't seen many signs of the faith community participating in the local food movement.
I posted this event because Amy Telligman is a fellow grad student in CU-Boulder's Environmental Studies program. She's very involved in the local food movement and otherwise super cool!

Whose Trade Organization?

2009-04-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

"Going local does not mean walling off the outside world. It means nurturing local businesses which use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages, and serve primarily local consumers. It means becoming more self-sufficient, and less dependent on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations, and back to the community, where it belongs." Michael H. Shuman, from Going Local

Going Local makes a great case for local economies by, among other things, demonstrating their potentially democratic nature as opposed to an unaccountable, non-transparent supranational government, via the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO considers many democratically developed laws, which ensure minimum safety standards for workers or protect the environment, barriers to "free" trade - and thus illegal. Like national sovereignty? Forget UN black helicopters. This organization has already challenged even U.S. laws.

For more information:
Anti-WTO perspective from Global Exchange: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wto/OpposeWTO.html

Pro-WTO perspective from the WTO itself: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/utw_chap1_e.pdf (may want to jump to page 11)

And, of course, Going Local

What's Local Where You Are?

2009-04-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

Check out Local Harvest, an online resource for local eating in your area (not just Boulder):

http://www.localharvest.org/

This picture comes from one local food force in Boulder: the Cultiva! Youth Project. According to their website, Cultiva! "is a youth-operated organic 2 acre market garden, which teaches at-risk youth sustainable agriculture, leadership, entrepreneurial and life skills" (http://www.growinggardens.org/english/programs/youth/cultiva/index.html). Cultiva!'s produce - which is actually grown within city limits - is sold at the farmers' market here in Boulder. Awesome!

"Eating Off Trucks"

2009-04-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

Getting bogged down in the details of this project – what do to about those green bugs, that marauding squirrel – it’s easy to loose sight of what got it all started.

I guess it started with personal responsibility. Brian and I feel a deep commitment to freedom and opportunity. Of course, it is the way we conceptualize these principles that define our politics. While so many of our perspectives are similar and have coevolved over the years, I’ll try to speak, here, only for myself.

The usefulness of labels is surely limited, but for the sake of brevity I identify my ideological home among social justice advocates. For many people with this perspective, we look at the institutions which might expand or limit people’s opportunities. As opposed to many on the Right, we don’t think the state is the only source of unjustified coercion. Economic systems, among other things, do much to determine the range of choices available to people all over the world.

As I began to understand, as a younger woman, how my choices impact people on the other side of the world, I came to see how the personal is political. Our own daily choices (…Do I hop on my bike or drive the car to work?...Do I buy that sweat-shop made gap sweater – it’s sooooo pretty – or wait for Kristie to give me her hand-me-downs?...Do I buy that mocha even though the espresso beans weren’t fairly traded?...) shape the world we share with our global neighbors. But so many of these choices – which amount to important decisions about our world – aren’t decided democratically. Many of them, which determine the environmental and occupational conditions of millions of people, are decided by the design and practice of our economies. That puts a lot of pressure on us consumers.

The rich world’s massive consumption of fossil fuels underscores the impact of our daily choices. It’s no longer just left-wing crazies claiming that our culture won’t stop at war to secure our access to cheap, climate changing fuel. It’s becoming increasingly clear that if the market captured the full cost of so many of the seemingly cheap things we’ve come to like, the price would be prohibitively high. (NOT that many of these costs could ever be compensated for with any number of dollars.)

So what to do? First, we hopped on our bikes. (“Look ma, no gas!”) Man, what a fun way to feel self-righteous. Despite taking a huge chunk out of our direct gas consumption, we knew that we’re still consuming fossil fuels through the transportation requirements of everything else we buy. So we bought less.

Food, however, I couldn’t cut out. Moving to Carbondale, Colorado last year, I met Brook LeVan. Brook is the director of Sustainable Settings, a whole-systems learning center. Brook, too, thinks that our standard of living shouldn’t come at the cost of other people’s ability to live safe, healthy lives. I suppose this is part of his interest in local food systems. Brook wants us to stop, “eating off trucks.”

For one thing, peak oil is threatening our ability to count on trucks in the first place. Two winters ago, massive storms closed I-70, isolating Carbondale from the rest of the world. The trucks that usually brought food to the Roaring Fork Valley couldn’t get there. During the holidays, grocery store shelves were sparsely stocked if not empty. This time, it didn’t become a crisis. The snow was cleared and the trucks eventually came. Nonetheless, the event underscored the dependence Carbondale had – for its very survival – on good weather, operating trucks, ample supplies of cheap gasoline and food distributors willing to trade their life-giving goods for an affordable price. If just one of these factors, among many others, isn’t fulfilled, Carbondale is in big trouble. Minus the severe winter weather, most of the rest of the country is in the same shape. So what happens when we run out of oil? When I asked myself this question, I realized that petroleum doesn’t just “keep America rolling.” It’s much more powerful than that. Our food system, and its infrastructure, requires petroleum – without it, we don’t eat. On that happy note…

…It’s time to play, I’ll continue in an upcoming post. Thanks for reading!!

Farmers' Market

2009-04-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

The farmers' market has resumed in Boulder. Find out what you can get, when, here:

http://web.dailycamera.com/food/2009crop/2009cropcalendar.html

In the picture: Carbondale, Colorado's farmers market.

Buddies

2009-04-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

We're starting to plan out the garden. It's a huge task. Plus, it'll only bring us closer to realizing we can't fit nearly as many plants as we want...

Nevertheless, we looked into companion plants so that we can take advantage of the benefits our plants can offer each other. While most plants will be relatively isolated in smaller containers, we do have plans for two very large containers. To get the depth and diameter we want for the lowest cost, we plan on using two kiddie pools. More on this later.

The most famous companions are a trio called the Three Sisters - corn, beans and squash. Native Americans made the combo famous.

"Tall corn stalks provide support for pole beans to climb. Beans, through their symbiotic association with a type of root bacteria, fix nitrogen from the air into a form that plants (especially nitrogen-hungry corn) can use. And large, ground-hugging, prickly squash leaves shade out weeds and may deter critters," the National Gardening Association tells us (http://www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/projects/mar03/pg1.html#sisters).

While the science between companion planting (also called intercropping) is debated. More and more gardeners are using knowledge of potential synergies in their garden planning decisions. Once used almost exclusively in smaller farms and gardens, the National Sustainable Agriculure Information Service (NSAIS) offers information for larger-scale farmers to incorporate intercropping into their systems as well.

The "scientific foundations" behind intercropping are broken down by the NSAIS into seven categories: trap cropping, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, biochemical pest suppression, physical spatial interactions, nurse cropping, beneficial habitats, and security through diversity. More information about intercropping is available at their website (http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/complant.html). This website also has a MUCH more comprehensive listing of companion plants than the one follows.

Plants which are particularly assisted by certain companions will find themselves in the kiddie pools. Bearing this in mind, we came up with a list of companions for our plants. In the following list, the plant listed first is benefited by the plants which follow it.

Peas -> beans
Green and Red Leaf Lettuce -> carrots and radishes
Mesclun mix -> carrots
Tomatoes -> basil
Broccoli -> dill, peppermint and beets
Kale -> dill, peppermit and beets
Zucchini and Squash -> nasturtiums (we don't have any yet)
Beets -> broccoli, tomatoes
Carrots -> peas, lettuce and tomatoes

Also good to keep in mind: Swiss chard does not like living with beans. Bearing this information in mind - as well as space requirements for different plants - we have relegated zucchini, squash, broccoli, dill, mint and possibly some tomatoes to the kiddie pools. Though admittedly tacky, these pools will be the closest our deck comes to an actual garden.

The garden is mapped. I'll unveil the plans in an upcoming blog - I'm sure you're as excited as I am :)

Growing Calendar

2009-04-06T15:51:00.001-07:00

Here's a link to a handy vegetable gardener's calendar:
http://growingtaste.com/calendar.shtml

The calendar is based on the growing season and climate of Washington State. Some of the estimates are clearly not right for Boulder - which can have late spring and early fall frosts. But, it's still a helpful calendar which also includes information to keep in mind when planning seeding, transplanting and direct-seeding.

As far as frosts, the Victory Seed Company estimates Boulder's first and last at May 15th and September 20th, respectively.

More Space

2009-04-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

The snow is melting. Flashes of green are showing up around semi-arid Boulder. I'm ready for spring but, I know there are a few more frosts in my future.

Sheltered from the cold, our seedlings are growing strong. Only one Chocolate Bell Pepper slot never germinated. After our second planting last week, the greens are looking great - except the Spinach and Mache. No signs of germination there, yet.

The broccoli and kale have been getting spindly and tangled. So, Brian and I moved them into the larger flat (with 18 instead of 72 slots). I used a kitchen knife and small spoon to pry the plants out of their narrow slots. While my technique improved, I hope my sloppiness didn't cost the fragile plants too much.

When transplanting - whether outside or into a bigger flat - remember to water your plant immediately after transplanting it. Prepare the new spot before you take the plant out so that you can put it back into the soil right away. This way, you can reduce exposure to young roots which might otherwise be scorched in the sun.

Gardeners' guides recommend that you start broccoli seeds about 5 to 6 weeks before the last frost. Transplants should move to the garden about 4-5 weeks after they start. Kale is also often transplanted after 4-6 weeks indoors.

When they are moved, it's best to "harden" the plants for about 4 days. Hardening a plant gives it a chance to adapt to a changing environment. By bringing seedlings outside for increasingly longer periods of time each day (and eventually overnight), plants can more gradually transition to their new home outdoors.

5 week old broccoli plants can usually survive frosts, with temperatures as low as 20 degrees for more mature plants. Kale is even more cold-hardy. “Kale not only withstands frost, its flavor is improved with each chill,” says Linda Tilgner in her really great gardening book: Tips for the Lazy Gardener (page 114). The book is full of accessible advice and interesting facts.

This picture shows the newly tranplanted broccoli and kale plants.

Building Foundations

2009-04-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Today, Brian and I made some serious progress. At Charlie’s suggestion, we went with Betsy to the Resource Yard, a source for “reclaimed,” affordable building materials (http://www.resourceyard.org/abtboulder.php). In order to maximize our space and fit as many veggies as possible, we’re planning on building some levels against the walls of our deck. As you can see in the picture to the right, if we’re not creative our deck walls will block crucial sunlight.

We’ll be able to make better use of the space right against the wall (since the wall makes this space too shady) by bringing those plants up closer to the angle of the sun.

While this is a space saving technique, I’ve also read about it as type of permaculture design. Edges and layers are valuable in permaculture as they create unique ecosystems with synergistic effects which might not occur otherwise. The tallest plant in a layered edge may provide wind protection to smaller, more fragile plants. Edge plants might also serve as first defense against feeding insects. “An ecological garden has many layers, from a low herb layer through shrubs and small trees to the large overstory…Together the layers provide diverse habitat, many products and plenty of visual interest,” says Toby Hemenway in his book Gaia’s Garden.

As a cheap and easy way to build layers, we decided on 2 X 10 pieces of wood balanced on cinder blocks. Everything for one wall’s “2nd story” cost us $13 bucks for reused material at the Resource Yard.

We decided to start small and see how this project turned out…

We’ll replicate the process on the east and west side of the deck (the south side is seen in these pictures).

Still doesn’t look like a garden, but some signs of progress nonetheless!

Organic Seeds

2009-04-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

Back when we were buying seeds, we noticed that there were organic and non-organic seed options. Betsy and I were talking the other day about what this might mean. If “organic” refers to a growing method, what exactly is an organic seed?

After some research, I’ve concluded that the somewhat ambiguous term refers to seeds that have come from plants which were organically raised. Exactly how many generations must pass after the use of non-organic inputs is unclear. For example, what if the seed came from an organically grown plant which wasn’t itself an organic seed? A farm can only be certified organic after three years of being organic – so the same might apply to the certification of organic seeds. I’m still not quite sure. However, the precise cutoff is simply important as a matter of policy and certification. As far as I can tell, an “organic” seed and a seed from a plant which was itself grown organically are the same. Some recommend marking the cutoff more stringently in order to support organic growing methods in general.

I’d appreciate any comments from someone who can clarify this issue more thoroughly – thanks!

Greenhouse Flat

2009-04-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Seedlings about 10 days after planting seeds. The top of the flat operates as a green house and is propped up on one side so that the taller tomato seedlings can grow unobstructed. After seedlings sprout it's a good idea to prop open your top to allow air flow to deter mold.

Making Progress

2009-03-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

Three weeks after our first seeding, all have germinated successfully. We kept the flat upstairs in the loft – moving it into direct sunlight once the first few seedlings sprouted.

A week after planting the seeds (on March 14th), Brian and I went to Moab and Betsy came over twice over 5 days to water the flat. Thanks, Betsy! The last things to sprout (out of the first batch of plantings,) were the jalapeño peppers around March 28th. Most seedlings sprouted between 2 and 10 days. We’ve been careful to keep the flat very moist. I was concerned we might be watering too frequently – setting ourselves up for mold – until Kacie told me that water should soak through the flats every time you water. We water enough for very small puddles to form under the slots.

On March 31st, we thinned our flat, snipping the stems of all by the best looking seedling in each slot. It seemed like such a waste! But, we planted way more seeds than we can possibly house expecting much more loss than we’ve experienced. Unfortunately, not 2 hours after we thinned out the flat, Brian sat on it, crushing a good 1/3 of the flat. Ha! He pointed out that I left the flat on the couch. Opps.

After some reseeding to replace the worst-off plants, our flat is looking clean and healthy. We seeded a few more greens, too: Red and Green Leaf lettuce, Spinach, more Arugula, Mache and the Mesclun mix.

So it Begins

2009-03-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

The seeds have been planted!

This Spring my partner Brian and I are undertaking a grand experiment: we will attempt to transform our large, south-facing deck into an organic, edible vegetable and herb garden. Armed only with our one-season experience apprenticing with Laurie Loab in her beautiful garden in Carbondale, Colorado, Brian and I intend to produce as much food as possible in a space approximately 25 by 20 feet.

After being turned down for a plot at the closest community garden (all of Boulder's publicly accessible community gardens have significant wait-lists), we decided to take a shot at a garden on our own space. Unfortunately, this limits us to containers. While the obstacles we'll face are manifold, this approach provides some benefits.

The fruits of our labor will be much closer: only 2o feet from our kitchen and dinning room table! Easier access will certainly increase our attention and care for our edible little ones (expect me to refer to my vegetables often as babies).

Our location at the base of the glorious Rocky Mountains severely limits the extent of our natural growing season - especially in comparison to my home state, Virginia. Our container garden, however, will be somewhat mobile, allowing us to bring our plants into the safety of our cozy home in the early and later parts of the season - not to mention those random frosts in June.

The mobility, too, will allow us to mooch off our wonderful, supportive and local-food loving friends. When we head out to Moab for a mtn biking trip we can drop off our more fragile plants at other homes for more convenient safe-keeping.

However, in regards to this mobility potential, conflicts are already emerging among us gardeners. Brian wants smaller containers that can be moved around easily. In addition to the reasons mentioned above, it's important that we safeguard the wooden planks of the deck below. We are but lowly renters. I, on the other hand, am finding it difficult to part with the idea of a rich, full garden which resembles, well, a garden. Besides the aesthetic beauty, I want to maximize the benefits of companion planting. Kacie, a food hero currently planting the roots of a better society in Washington, DC, tells me this technique is properly referred to as "interspersing." I'll get back to the science of interspersing eventually. In the mean time, I wonder, how can my basil benefit my tomatoes when they're living in separate containers!?! At least the nitrogen which my legumes fix will stay in the soil for next years lucky nitrogen-needer.

Luckily, these problems can be resolved "mañana". Always, mañana. Today, I will relish in the progress made so far: despite our loaded grad-school schedules, commitments to plan a beyond-coal community bike ride (Wooooo!) and the routines of being humans, we have managed to procure our seeds, a flat, compost and potting soil.

The seed list is massive, courageous, wonderful and a sign of our naivety - there's no chance in hell that we'll be able to fit all these plants. Looking through the catalog of our seed source of choice, The Seed Trust (http://www.seedstrust.com/), we were like kids in a candy shop. We picked the Seed Trust on the recommendation of our friend and fellow gardener, Charlie. Thanks, Charlie!

Charlie's beautiful, diverse garden served as sufficient reference for his advice. The Trust specializes in seeds intended for high elevation - an important factor considering our 5,400 foot high elevation here in Boulder, Colorado. It also features organic, heirloom varieties (although, I must confess, we allowed a small number of non-organic seeds to enter our virtual shopping cart). We're also hoping to add a few more seeds to our collection from a local farm and CSA, Abbondanza (http://www.eatabbo.org/). One of Charlie's tomatoes last season was an heirloom variety from Abbo - it was the most delicious tomato I could ever hope to eat.

The winners include:
-3 different tomatoes - a beefsteak slicer, a cherry tomato variety and romas for tomatoes sauce
-Herbs: mint (to help protect our cabbage-family plants), cilantro, Italian basil, garlic chives and dill
-Broccoli
-Kale
-Arugula
-Swiss Chard
-Carrots
-Beets
-Zucchini
-Winter Squash
-Green and Red Leaf Lettuce
-Spinach
-Romaine
-Mesclun Mix
-Mache
-Jalapeños
-A beautiful chocolate-colored Bell Pepper
-Fava beans
-Two types of peas: snow peas and regular peas

Last Saturday night - totally to Brian's credit and basically against my will (I was being lazy) - we started seeds, filling 60 slots of our flat with 3 or 4 seeds per slot (expecting some seeds not to germinate). After some research, we concluded that the flat should be covered by the plastic greenhouse top that came with it untill each seed sprouts. The flat should not be exposed to direct sunlight until some of the seeds start to sprout. We put the flat up in our loft, the highest and thus warmest spot in the house.

We started the tomatoes, basil, broccoli, kale, cilantro, dill and arugula. We expected even the quicker little guys to take a week to sprout - but tiny little leaves of our newborn arugula emerged just 2 days later! The broccoli and kale followed within the next two days. Hardly five days after starting the seeds, the arugula, broccoli and kale plants are nearly two inches high. Each slot with any sign of growth, furthermore, holds 3 or 4 baby stocks which means we've had 100% success with our seeds - so far.

Though this might sound silly to most, I can't overstate the excitement of climbing up to our loft to check out the progress our plants are making. It's magical. Except that, apparently, it's not. In the next few months, I hope to unlock the science behind this magic.