DC Urban Gardeners

Rooting DC Forum a HUGE Success!

In only its second year, the Rooting DC Forum expanded in so many ways:

• It FILLED its new venue, the glorious Carnegie library headquarters of the Historical Society of  Washington, D.C.
• It was an all-day event, with workshops, talks and panel discussions going on on three different tracks.
• Over 350 Washington-area residents attended this free event.
• Nonprofits and green for-profits were tabling their causes and winning converts.

And lots more people were involved in making the forum a success and I'll fail to mention some but everyone's thanks and praise go especially to Katie Rehwaldt at America the Beautiful Fund, Bea Trickett of the Neighborhood Farm Initiative, Kathy Jentz of Washington Gardener Magazine and Mandie Yanasak individually.

Plant Swap Details are Up!

You've heard the rumors and now witness the unveiling of the 1st ever DCUG Plant Swap!

 

What: A Plant Swap - bring and receive free plants to expand your garden

Date: Saturday, May 24

Time: starting at 9am bring your plants for sorting -- swap starts promptly at 10am -- do not be late - if you arrive after 10am, sorry, you will not be able to participate due to the structure of this event  - we will conclude well before 12noon

Place: H Street Farmers Market at H & 8th -- 624 H Street NE near Union Station on Saturdays 9am-12n

Who: anyone on the DCUrbanGardeners list is welcome as are any of your friends, relatives, or neighbors

Bring:

~ a name tag - home made or from work or school -- whatever works -- so that we know your name and we can all connect our emails, names and faces.

~ plants to swap - pot them up NOW -- the longer they can get settled in their pots, the better their chance of success and survival - (no plants to share? see note below)

~ labels - fully label all your swap plants with as much info as you have - optimally that will include: common and scientific name, amount of sun needed, amount of water needed, any other special care notes, and color of the blooms - if not currently in flower

How: be prepared to BRIEFLY introduce yourself and describe your plants (or other items - see note below)

What NOT to bring: common orange daylilies* and other invasive species - use this list (http://www.mdinvasivesp.org/list_terrestrial_plants.html) to screen your plant offerings

 

What if you do not have plants to swap? Come anyway! Bring garden tools, garden books, garden ornaments, etc. to swap or if you have nothing garden-related to share - bring refreshments - cold drinks and yummy snacks will pay your admittance fee :-)

 

*hybrid daylilies are fine and welcome

 

Do not worry if you cannot make this one - we plan to have these each spring and fall (or at least annually) and in a different ward of the city each time - so hope to catch you next time!

 

This event is rain or shine!

Partnering with the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. - Great News!

Out of the blue came a call from Dottie Green, the very can-do event coordinator of the Historical Society, asking: Could the DC Urban Gardeners create programs to teach gardening to the public, which they would host and publicize?  Oh, and they'd pay an honorarium, of course.  How fast can we say "You bet!"  (And a BIG thank-you to the U.S. Botanic Garden for suggesting they contact us.)

THE PEOPLE
Honestly, I didn't know anything about the HSDC that's newly constituted and focussed (after the closure of the DC Museum) on using their amazing building - the old Carnegie Library right on Mt. Vernon Square - as a community resource.  So I asked a few local historic preservationist types I happen to know and heard nothing but good reports.  Like one report that they're hosting events highlighting DC's cultural history - think churches and the Civil Rights movement - and even "bridging the racial divide" like no other history group has ever done here.  And the very fact that they contacted us to teach subjects like gardening and composting tells us their current vision reaches far beyond history to the very practical concerns of the present and confirms our excitement about this new opportunity.  Even the resume of Dottie Green herself is encouraging to us - with 14 years as an event coordinator for the Smithsonian, she's a pro, and these folks are serious.  Oh, and they seem to be well funded, too, something the DC Urban Gardeners most definitely are NOT.

THE PLACE
If you haven't seen the inside of the fabulous Beaux-Arts Carnegie Library, we hope to change that.  You'll see that despite the age of the building, the facilities are state-of-the-art, with all the spaces video-ready and WiFi-wired.  There's even a fabulous 145-seat stadium-style movie theater.

OUR FIRST EVENTS (And they're all FREE)
Saturday, April 26, 10:00 a.m. 
Spring Menus from an Urban Kitchen Garden, by Ed Bruske
City gardeners have one of the world's best-kept secrets: the wonderful food they bring to the table from their home and community gardens.  Gardens provide a vital connection to the soil for urbanites.  In spring, the earth comes alive again, providing the basis for tantalizing dishes: asparagus frittata, grilled bruschetta with peas and fava beans, rhubarb and sabayonne parfait, classic strawberry shortcake.  Here's proof that the world's finest ingredients can be just a few steps from your door, even in the heart of the city.

Saturday, May 17 at 10:00 a.m. 
Creating and Maintaining a Beautiful AND Sustainable Garden, by Susan Harris
Working WITH nature, not against it, is the easiest way to have a beautiful garden, and this talk will show you how it's done. Slides and commentary will cover design that mimics but improves on nature, the easiest, healthiest plants for our climate, and the earth-friendly, gardener-friendly way to take care of it.

WHAT ELSE?
We hope these two events are just the start of a series of monthly events throughout the year, covering gardening - both ornamental and edible - and a slew of other subjects.  Maybe organic lawn care, composting, water management, tree care, pruning - I could go on but why don't you tell us? We're thinking of not just talks but also hands-on workshops and even movies - let's fill that gorgeous theater of theirs.  Leave your suggestions for topics and/or speakers right here in a comment, or via email.

Posted by Susan Harris

D.C. Gardeners Unite

What do you call 150 D.C. Gardeners jamming the Josephine Butler Parks Center?

A good start.

Until the day of the event, it was unclear exactly what the response would be to the first citywide gardening "forum," called "Rooting D.C." A year earlier, folks from the 7th Street Garden and the America the Beautiful Fund (ABF) conceived of an event where community-oriented gardeners from around the city could meet and network. Bea Trickett, a 7th Street volunteer working with grant funds under the aegis of ABF, had spent months contacting every known gardening group in the city.

The response was at first a trickle. But the trickle turned into a flood. Everyone seemed to be a bit astonished--overwhelmed, elated--to see so many gardeners gathered with so much energy under one roof.

The National Park Service's Glenn Engster gave a keynote address on the Metropolitan Washington Green Infrastructure Demonstration Project, after which the assembled crowd broke into workshops. Judy Tiger, former executive director of Garden Resources of Washinton, was giving tips on starting gardens along with teachers from City Blossoms. Jenny Reed, or Natural Resources Design, led a session on gardening with native plants. Food educator Kim Rush, along with Liz Falk and Susan Ellsworth of the 7th Street Garden, held forth on gardening for nutrition. Grace Manubay of D.C. Schoolyard Greening led a session on working gardening into school curricula. The Women's Garden Cycles showed a trailer from the forthcoming video on their remarkable bicycle/garden trek to Montreal and back. Fanny Hamilton discussed herbs and Parisa Norouzi of Empower D.C. gave a rousing presentation on the need to agitate for keeping public spaces green.

And if you read the following post by Susan Harris, you know that one of the visitors who stayed for the entire event was Washington Post garden columnist Adrian Higgins, who used the forum as basis for a new assessment of the growing involvement of young people in the city's community gardens and the movement toward gardening for local food and the environment.

Well, isn't that what D.C. Urban Gardeners is all about?

As Adrian Higgins has said, the gardening community in the District of Columbia is fragmented. If nothing else, this forum served to show gardeners of all stripes that they are not alone. And like many others who were present, we want to know, When can we do this again?

The answer to that question is, we are working on it. Several cosponsors, including D.C. Urban Gardeners, 7th Street Garden, D.C. Schoolyard Greening and America the Beautiful have already met and have begun drawing up tentative plans for a forum next year. Could it be bigger? We think so. Could it reach out more to home and apartment gardeners? We hope so. Could there be a greater variety of workshops? That certainly would be our aim.

What we envision is a place where environmentally-minded gardeners of all stripes can gather, share experiences and be inspired to join in the greening of the District of Columbia. This should be a big tent where we can address the specific concerns and informational needs of our city gardeners.

Have any suggestions? Like to help? Just leave your comments below.

Posted by Ed Bruske

D.C. School Garden Week

Last year after building a big container garden at my daughter's charter school I got involved with a group called D.C. Schoolyard Greening. The organization, composed of several non-profit and government entities, is doing great things to promote gardens in D.C. schools as resources for learning, recreation and nutrition.

This year for the first time, Schoolyard Greening is sponsoring a week-long focus on gardening called School Garden Week. Modeled after a program in California (which gets millions of dollars in funding, by the way) this week of activities encourages teachers, students and parents to get outside and work in the soil. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has even issued a proclamation declaring the week of Oct. 15 - 20 as being devoted to school gardens.

The week kicks off Oct. 15 with a wetlands planting and garden tour at La Salle Elementary School. We're hoping the mayor will join several other city officials in attending.

On Oct. 16 there's a panel discussion on how to start and maintain a school garden. Several folks with long experience organizing gardens and community groups in the District of Columbia will be taking part.

On Oct. 18, Casey Trees is holding a "walk among trees" at Murch Elementary Schools. Casey Trees, which has worked with parent volunteers to plant dozens of trees on the Murch campus, is one of the prime movers behind D.C. Schoolyard Greening.

Oct. 19 has been designated "volunteer work day" at D.C. school gardens. We have dozens of volunteers looking for ways they can help with local gardens.

Then on Oct. 20, the fourth-annual bus tour of D.C. school gardens takes off, lunch included.

Also on Oct. 20, for the first time, there will be a "bike hop" of school gardens sponsored by the Women's Garden Cycle Project. I'm especially excited about this event because our garden at the Children's Studio School is one of the stops on the hop, and the women cyclists are just now on the homebound leg of an incredible tour of vegetable gardens and farms all the way to Montreal and back. (You can read about this marathon cycling adventure at their blog.)

Last but certainly not least of the garden week activities is a photo contest for all D.C. school children. Any child of school age, through high school, can enter favorite garden shots (no faces, please) and win a prize for herself and her teacher. I am working on this particular project with my garden partner at Children's Studio School, Elizabeth Wyrsch. So do by all means send us your garden photos. The deadline for entry is Oct. 1. You can go to the Schoolyard Greening website for complete details.

Oh, and we are scouting places where we can display the winning photos if you have any suggestions.

--Posted by Ed Bruske

Treebox Research is Under Way

WHO, WHAT AND WHERE
It seems that no research has ever been done to determine which plants perform best in DC's treeboxes while, at the same time, not endangering the trees themselves.  Tricky!  So Casey Trees, ANC 3/4, Chevy Chase Citizens Association Garden Club and DC Urban Gardeners have embarked on a research project in which treeboxes along Connecticut Avenue in front of the Avalon were planted in five different designs of these plants:
    - Aegopodium podagraria 'Variegatum', aka bishop's weed
    - Ajuga reptans var. 'Bronze Bugle', aka bugle
    - Alchemilla mollis, aka lady's mantle
    - Armeria maritima, var 'Bloodstone', aka thrift
    - Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, aka hardy plumbago
    - Chrysanthemum hybrid 'Sheffield'
    - Coreopsis verticillata var 'Moonbeam', aka tickseed
    - Echinacea purpurea, aka purple coneflower
    - Euphorbia amygdaloides var 'Robbiae,' aka Mrs. Robb's spurge
    - Festuca ovina glauca, aka blue fescue
    - Geranium cantabrigiense var. 'Biokovo', aka hardy geranium
    - Hostas, various
    - Hypericum calycinum, aka St. John's wort
    - Lamiastrum galeobdolon var 'Herman's Pride', aka yellow archangel
    - Lamium maculatum var. 'White Nancy', aka dead nettle
    - Monarda didyma var. 'Petite Delight', aka Serbian bellflower
    - Phlox stolonifera var. 'Bruces White', aka creeping phlox
    - Rudbeckia fulgida, ak black-eyed susan
    - Salvia superba var 'Mainacht', aka meadow sage
    - Sedum hybrid, var 'Autumn Joy', aka stonecrop
    - Stachy byzantina var. 'Silver Carpet', aka lamb's ear
    - Thymus serphyllum coccineum, aka red mother of thyme
    - Verbena hybrid 'Homestead Purple'

WHEN
Volunteers devoted lots of their Memorial Weekend time, on Sunday and Monday mornings.

PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS
Included removing oak sprouts, loosening soil with trowel, mixing in organic topsoil and slow-release fertilizer ("just a sprinkle" in each planting hole), mulching and watering.

KUDOS TO:
    - Casey Trees for project design and implementation, especially the work of landscape architect Meredith Upchurch, who helped choose the plants.
     - ANC 3/4 provided the topsoil and mulch.  This is a continuing beautification commitment by the ANC, which purchased the Tanks a Lot water-carrier you see - vital to any planting project in late May!
    - Chevy Chase Citizens Association's Garden Club, especially Barbara Baldwin and Steve Zipp, for planning, implementation and the all-important maintenance (aka keeping plants alive).
    - DC Urban Gardeners - because Barbara Baldwin is also one of our VPs.  Good job, Barbara!
    - And because Barbara's savvy about acknowledging contributors, the Exxon station across the street is to be thanked for their vital contribution of WATER.

Photos: From top: Barbara Baldwin, Judy Goodman and unidentified volunteer, Avalon Theater, the Tank a Lot.  Workers not shown: Mary Ellen Fernandez of Yankee Clippers, enjoying a busman's holiday.  Andre Ponze of Casey (possibly the first male Clipper) and Steve Zipp, among others whose names I'm didn't catch (sorry!)  Click to enlarge photos.

The Georgetown Garden Club weighs in on tree box issue below:

Teaching Teachers to Garden

  Bringing gardens into schools has become the wave. Think Alice Waters, famed chef and proponent of eating fresh local foods, and the Edible Schoolyards program she started out of Berkley, CA.

Gardens open whole new vistas for school children. They can learn about biology through seeds and the way seeds turn into plants. They can learn about science through photosynthesis and the way the sun changes its position in the sky according to the seasons. Children can learn about nutrition by growing vegetables and learning how to prepare them in the kitchen.

And in an urban environment such as the District of Columbia, where many children may not have access to a garden or even a yard, these can be valuable, even life-altering lessons.

Horticulture can easily be woven into the school curriculum, especially if the school starts its own garden. But who teaches the teachers how to garden?

That would fall to a group called the D.C. Schoolyard Greening, a program of the D.C. Environmental Education Consortium.

I first heard about Schoolyard Greening last year when I was building a large container garden at my daughter's school, the Children's Studio School at 1301 V St. NW. We had received a $900 grant from Garden Resources of Washington. Pretty soon I was being invited to a fascinating clinic at a local elementary school.

I, the parent volunteer in the group, along with a room full of teachers from schools all over the city, learned about grant opportunities for starting gardens, about composting, about growing and using herbs.

It wasn't long after that I learned that our Studio School garden had been selected as one of five stops on the annual Schoolyard Greening garden tour. A whole bus load of teachers arrived with cameras and tons of questions.

Pretty soon I was showing up at Schoolyard Greening's planning meetings and then was asked to lead one of this years workshops. My assignment: weeding and garden maintenance.

Much of the planning and administrative work for Schoolyard Greening is done by Grace Manubay of Casey Trees, the non-profit group dedicated to planting and nurturing trees in the District. Grace also has been instrumental in identifying science standards that can be taught outdoors in D.C. school gardens.

On the government side of the consortium is Gilda Allen at the D.C. Department of the Environment, Watershed Protection Division. Gilda is a irrepressible gardener and organizer who also presides over a considerable grant program for school gardens called Greener Schools, Cleaner Water.

The program is aimed at school conservation sites and gardens with an emphasis on creating teaching areas that also help reduce storm water runoff. This year Gilda's program awarded several $3,500 grants to D.C. schools to help start garden projects. Gilda wears yet another hat at Schoolyard Greening clinics: master composter.

Meanwhile, another prominent member of the group, Marti Goldstone, is a science teacher at Horace-Mann Elementary School in Northwest D.C. Marti and her teaching partner Louise Hill were instrumental in turning asphalt into a garden at Horace-Mann, and they teach a dynamite tag-team course on growing and using herbs.

Also directly involved is the Washington Youth Garden at the National Arboretum. Jenny Guillaume, the garden coordinator at the Youth Garden, now sadly departed for another job in Brooklyn, NY, was an active leader in Schoolyard Greening and is shown in the picture above teaching teachers how to plant celery.

Courtney Rose, educational coordinator at the Youth Garden, loves to teach about composting with worms.

The teacher clinic is a two-day affair. This year we kicked it off with a Powerpoint show and tour at the U.S. Botanical Gardens. There was also a bit of a brain tease for the 20-plus teachers who attended. We divided into groups and were handed a diagram and 40 minutes to solve a complex of landscaping design issues for an imaginary school.

Now that will get your mind focused.

For the second leg of our clinic we moved outdoors to the Washington Youth Garden, a perfect setting and on a perfect day for gardening. There were lessons in seed starting, growing and using herbs, composting and of course my spiel on organic maintenance using fun tools such as a stirrup hoe and a Japanese weeder that looks like a chef's knife on a stick.

In between, we served a pretty scrumptious lunch, including a pasta with pesto made out of chickweed (that would have been the chickweed out of my own garden.)

Now Schoolyard Greening is on to other projects, such as taking an inventory of school gardens in the city and creating master lists with contact information so people can more easily learn about their local school gardens and lend support.

Do watch for more news about Schoolyard Greening. This is an organization worthy of your support. And you can learn more about it by visiting the website here.

You can check out the D.C. Environmental Education Consortium here.

By Ed Bruske

A Garden for Marigold Place

It's time for a follow-up on the outstanding community service event that we announced here.  Click to enlarge any of the photos.

ACCOMPLISHED
Let's let the before and after shots speak for themselves.  The site is Marigold Place, subsidized housing for people with disabilities, especially those living with AIDS, on 12th Street, N.E. in the Brookland neighborhood. The project was just one of many sponsored by Greater DC Cares as part of their annual Servathon.

THANKS TO
    * Greater DC Cares, which provided the volunteers, lots of tools, and all of the plants!  Then their volunteer Project Manager Kimberly Rankin knew how to create a good work experience for the 35 volunteers, so they'll keep coming back for more good works.

    * Steve Seuser, executive director of Building Futures (they manage this and one other subsidized housing project), a GREAT GUY with good taste in plants.  He made it all happen.

    * Judy Tiger, recruited by Building Futures to manage the gardening side of the project.  The moving force behind the late and much-missed Garden Resources of Washington, Judy put out a call for help and I volunteered to act as designer and extra gardening instructor.

    * Kevin John Richardson of Pogo Organics also responded to Judy's call - with a truckload of compost and mulch, plus a half-day of hard work teaching everyone how to move and plant trees, even in hardplan.  The "soil" was what might be called  a potter's dream and a gardener's nightmare. 

    * The handsome group of 12 in this photo below are from Social Franchise Ventures.   Their CEO Ben Litalien was the horticultural captain for the entire front landscape.  It's SO nice when someone who knows how to garden (not to mention how to manage workers) volunteers their valuable time.

   *KCIC brought the other large group of volunteers - kudos to everyone -  and a few individuals found their way to the event on their own.  A great group!

   * Robert Ryan Riddle donated daylilies, liriope, and a redbud tree from his very own garden.

PHOTOS:  Top: Great Workers! Left center:  Kevin unloading all that gorgeous compost and mulch.  Lower left:  the gang from Social Franchise Ventures.  Right center: Jeff Becan, Judy, Kimberly awaiting the volunteers.  Lower right:  Steve Before the makeover.  You should have seen his smile when he gazed on the results, shown in the After photos on the right.  Remember they all click to enlarge.

 

Vermont Avenue Triangle is Transformed

That is one ugly "Before" picture.

First, who wouldn't be seriously impressed by the announcement of this "Garden Party" to make gardens out of a traffic island at Vermont, Florida and V Street, N.W.?  Plus 6 blocks of median strip stretching down both Vermont and 9 1/2 Street.  I WAS seriously impressed, so I visited the gang last Saturday to see the site and the transformation in action.  And here's the result - that long-dreamed of "After."

Ah, that's better.  And just imagine how it'll look a couple of years from now.

CREDIT goes to the Westminster Neighborhood Association and the East Enders, plus their many donors, including Councilman Graham and ANC Commissioner Spalding and a major contribution from UrbanLand for the Floridian condos - "Thanx" Gerard!

The Cardozo Shaw Neighborhood Association provided funds (up to $500), helped solicit additional donations, volunteers and secured the grant from the ANC. 

THE PLANTS
Project Main Man Jeff Willis tells me the volunteers planted junipers, ornamental grasses, "Happy Returns" daylilies, "Knockout" roses and Wave petunias (all my favorites). Excellent sustainable plants, Jeff. Clearly the folks who chose the plants knew a thing or two.

So what's left to do?  Maintenance!

LANDSCAPE CARE-GIVERS NEEDED
Proud gardeners are needed to "adopt" a section near their home to water, weed and clean throughout the year.  They don't have to do all the work, just be sure it gets done.  Andy, Barry, myself, Tania, Matt, Valerie & Margie have agreed to be Care-givers.  Neighbors living in the northern end of the 1800 VT block or the middle of the 1900 VT block, would you be a Care-giver? Call Jeffrey at 202.518.9446. or via email.

People in photos:  ANC Commissioner Phil Spalding, in the green hat with other hard-workers; on the right, James Rawlings creates his fourth brick path for this multiple-year project; lower left, 2007 D.C. Master Gardener graduate Mandie Yanasak (in green T-shirt) with friends.  Another 2007 D.C. Master Gardener, Martin Mounton, was on the scene wearing his I heart Shaw t-shirt and I wish I'd gotten a post-worthy photo of him.  Just take my word for it.

Posted by Susan Harris

Help Create Garden for Families Living with AIDS

Thanks to Judy Tiger, president of the recently and dearly departed GROW (Garden Resources of Washington) for telling us about this terrific project, and for her continued good works in greening D.C.  Looks like another excellent volunteer opportunity for Master Gardeners and other urban gardeners with the yen to help.

WHAT:  An ambitious all-volunteer planting project on the grounds of Marigold Place*, 2635 12th Street NE -- one of many projects in the one-day Greater DC Cares Servathon.

WHEN:  Sat, May 5th, 8:30am-12:30pm

WHO'S NEEDED: What help is most needed? Knowledgeable gardeners to guide/supervise  other volunteers on the whole "how-to" of:

• planting trees (right size and depth of hole, amending soil, placing tree properly, mulching, first soak, etc.)

• planting perennials & shrubs (right size and depth of holes, amending soil, spacing/placing plants, mulching, etc)