DC Urban Gardeners

SharingYards DC Makes Gardens Happen

First I heard about Landsharing in the U.K. where people with land are pairing up with wannabee  gardeners without land, and I wished the service were available here.  Well, it's here and it's called SharingBackyards.com.  And I recently heard from Alex on behalf of Sharing Yards DC, urging me to "spread the word to friends, neighbors, and other interested parties - it's open to everyone in the DC metro area."   Happy to!

Here's my post about Sharing Backyards on GardenRant, where comments expressed approval.

Posted by Susan Harris

Vegetable-Garden Coaching - the Newest Ecobusiness?

The folks at Ecoprenist think so, according to this story:

A terrific ecopreneurial opportunity exists for people interested in helping others set up, maintain and harvest organic gardens.  And the industry is about to get a big shot in the arm from the Obama Administration.

We already have at least one veg-garden coaches in DC, that's Joshua Wenz of My Organic Garden DC.  I'll be following Josh's progress with his clients this season and posting here all about it.

Here's my post about veg-garden coaches on GardenRant, where it got the usual mix of interest ing comments.

Local Picks for White House "Farmer"

It's amazing the attention a little website can get, and I'm speaking of course of White House Farmer.com, where people across the country have been voting for their choice for "White House Farmer."  Over 100 farmers were nominated and 56,000 votes were cast in just 10 days, which I think speaks to the popularity of the very cool idea of food being grown again at the White House. 

The top three vote-getters are all women - gardeners at a community farm in Madison, WI, an 8-acre organic farm in Puyallup, WA, and a provider of home farming services in Davis, CA. In fourth place is the top male vote-getter, Will Allen.  Of course I want ALL the nominees to win something - recognition, kudos for their good work, more funding for their projects.  And how about a shout-out to the Brachman family (in S. Illinois, not Iowa as I previously wrote), whose White House Farmer website and make-believe election have brought even more attention to this idea whose time has come - on the heels of campaigning by Alice Waters, Michael Pollan, Roger Doiron and the WHO Farm guys.  The success of all these crusaders in raising awareness, drumming up excitement for the First Family raising food and getting this idea ALL OVER THE MEDIA has been phenomenal.

But as a D.C. local, with almost four decades inside the notorious Beltway, I propose a different contest altogether, and urge a different tactic for growing food at the White House:

• Instead of a large farm, why not a small kitchen garden, just right for a family of four and their friends. No big deal to install and maintain, no big security hassles, and lots of potential for showing Americans what they, too, can do with very little money or time.  Unlike the 5-acre farm imagined by Pollan and others, it wouldn't compete with local farmers.  And of course it would be beautiful.

• As kitchen gardener, whose services would only be needed a few hours every week, I suggest someone who not only knows how to grow vegetables but who also has experience teaching KIDS to grow them.  I'm not alone in suggesting that someone affiliated with the Youth Garden of the National Arboretum would be great for this part-time job (also not alone in thinking of a particular young woman who's a total delight and loved by kids.)  Oh, and is it TOO obvious to suggest that someone who knows veg-growing here in the Mid-Atlantic Humidity Belt might be better suited than those fine candidates from other climates?
  

• I also propose a White House kitchen garden adviser, and a very particular person to fill that role - Cindy Brown.  She's been the number one teacher of food-growing in the Washington, D.C. area for years now.  She spoke to the crowd at the Fourth Annual Washington Seed Exchange and floored even the geekiest of plant geeks with her knowledge of how the various vegetable varieties performs right here. That kind of knowledge you can only gain from growing for decades in one spot and trying every single variety there is.  Veg varieties mean absolutely nothing to me, but what bowled ME over was her enthusiasm - nay squealing excitement - for the taste of the vegetables she talked about, cooked a certain way and yum-yum-yum!  See, eating delicious food I GET.  Cindy just may turn me into a farmer after all (along with Ranter Michele).

So for staffers at the White House, if you're reading this (we WISH), here's Cindy's bio:

Cynthia Brown, Assistant Director at Green Springs Garden, started her gardening career in tandem with her passion for cooking.  Her desire to have specialty herbs and vegetables led her to experiment with edibles and test the climatic limits of the mid-Atlantic region. Cindy is a regular contributor to Washington Gardener magazine, appears on local TV and radio shows and speaks frequently at various horticultural venues.  She designs gardens with a mix of ornamentals and edibles for a gourmet garden that appeals to all your senses.

Top photo:  A lovely family-size kitchen garden - Robin Wedewer's  in Maryland.  Middle: Harvest celebration at the Youth Garden.  Bottom: Cindy Brown.

Posted by Susan Harris

Buying local food just got easier!

The University of Maryland says consumers can now buy directly from farmers through a new online farmer's market.  FoodTrader.org lets small, independent Maryland farms create listings of fresh foods for sale, as well the price and location.

The site, launched by the university's Environmental Finance Center, went live July 15th and has listings from more than 20 farms offering products that include specialty cuts of meat, fruits, vegetables, flowers, honey, dairy products and even soap made from goat's milk.

Kudos to U.MD!

Posted by Susan Harris

Veggie-Growing Video Now Online!

DC Urban Gardener president Ed Bruske's 12-part video about growing vegetables is up!  Below you see the first one, and all 12 are displayed here.  Thanks to Ed for what I heard was a grueling day of taping in the hot sun, with a few hundred interruptions to wait for traffic to quiet down.  But the result it worth it!

 

 

Overwintered Salad

Something inspirational is happening in the garden. The many greens I like to put in my salads have shaken off their winter stupor and our bounding back into a new season. As they revive, we begin picking again, putting a healthy assortment of greens on the dinner table.

Mustard greens are great for cooking. But if the leaves are picked while still young and tender, they make a great addition to a salad. I particularly like this red mustard for the rich color it adds to the salad bowl.

You may be getting the idea that I like sharp flavors in my salad. In fact, I love sharp peppery greens even as just an accent in an otherwise mild salad. Mizuna is one of my favorites. Its frilly foliage looks great in the garden as well.

I never seem to have enough arugula seed on hand. I don't ever want to be without arugula. It has a robust, spicy flavor and a great chew. Sometimes I just dress it with a little lemon and extra-virgin olive oil and eat it all on its own.

We even have some lettuces making a comeback. This "Red Summer Crisp," one of about 15 different lettuce varieties I planted last year, seems to be particularly determined to carry on. Before long, though, it's bound to go to seed.

Sorrel is a perennial. It loves these cool, early spring days. Its citrusy flavor is great in a sauce for fish, blended into a pesto or just torn up for a salad. Kids love to pick it right out of the garden.

Cilantro doesn't last long in the heat here in the District of Columbia. This plant came through the winter in grand shape. The flavor is the best I've ever tasted. I'm beginning to think overwintering cilantro should be a permanent part of our garden plan.

Parsley is a biennial, meaning it goes to seed in the second year. Already it is taking on a woolly appearance. It won't matter how furiously you harvest it--this parsley is determined to replicate. It's almost better just to dig it up and plant some new seed.

Winter Garden Miracle

   It's the middle of February and we've experienced some of the coldest temperatures of the season. The garden should be dead, or at least dormant, right?

Not so.

As I walk around our kitchen garden here in the District of Columbia, the signs of life are everywhere. Some of that is new: the rhubarb we planted last year has begun to send up new leaves. They are bright green, nearly flourescent, and crinkly fresh like a newborn these rhubarb leaves. One wonders what on earth the rhubarb plants are trying to prove, sprouting in the middle of winter. Obviously, this is what makes rhubarb a dish we look forward to in the spring.

But much of the greenery I see in the garden now was planted last fall. It has not gone away. Turnips, rutabaga, beets, Swiss chard: all are holding on, even thriving. There are mustard greens as well, and arugula, sorrel and parsley. I would have given them all up as a lost cost months ago, except this morning with the temperature just above freezing I plucked a mustard leaf and it exploded in my mouth with fresh, peppery flavor and a wonderful, icy juiciness. How can this be?

Certain plants not only tolerate cold temperatures but have an incredibly strong will to live. I've noticed these plants actively respond to the weather with their own coping mechanisms. When the temperature drops below freezing, the turnips and rutabagas and beets go supine. Their stems droop and the leaves fall to the ground. They will remain that way as long as the freeze continues. But then, as the temperatures climb, the plants reach for the sun and become erect again. The leaves regain their structure and glossiness. They look good as new.

I notice that the turnips are swelling. The rutabagas, too, but more slowly. Even the lettuces that I thought had expired some time ago appear to have some life in them yet. And the chard are absolute champs. They keep coming back and coming back, although more slowly. I have already harvested them more than once.

I am not alone observing this phenomenon. Each week I look forward to a detailed e-mail from our farmer friend Brett who also provides our winter CSA box. Brett was a pioneer, one of the first in our area, I think, to grow and provide fresh produce throughout the winter. He has spent years breeding winter-hardy arugula and other greens. He seems to love nothing better than suiting up in his Carhartt overalls to pick greens in the depths of winter.

Every once in a while we receive a notice like this in one of Brett's e-mails: As indicated in last week’s email, there will be NO farm delivery this week. The crops need time to recover from the bitter cold of 8 days ago, so I am using this as an off week.

Notice Brett's use of the term "recover," for when the temperatures have been dropping to 14 degrees overnight, the plants do eventually recover and are harvested--even in January and February--for our CSA box. Brett recently wrote that he is beginning to plant fava beans and peas and carrots for harvest in June. In other words, life for the produce farmer continues straight through the winter. This is no time to turn out the lights.

So I am keeping a close eye on our own garden greens. The turnips appear to be ready for another Dark Days meal. Likewise much of the chard has grown large enough for one of our favorite braises. There is plenty of mustard and arugula to add to the salad bowl.

Even in February, the garden soldiers on.

Posted by Ed Bruske

Mission - Eating Off the Grid

Most people in the Takoma Park area know Dr. Nazirahk Amen and his family as the Purple People who live in a bright purple house on Carroll Avenue, our main street.  Some know the good doctor as the practitioner of naturopathy, acupuncture and other healing arts, or as the teacher of meditation and vegan cooking.  But what I only learned recently is that they're in the forefront of the growing movement to eat locally, popularized by Michael Pollan in his bestseller "The Omnivore's Dilemma".  Food that is merely organic makes way for the growing legions of "locavores," and what's more local than growing your own food?  That's exactly what the Amens do, though not because they  read Pollan's bestseller.  It's all part of their spiritual quest to live sustainable, holistic lives.

THE GARDENS
To learn the secrets of their sustainable food operation, my first stop was behind that purple house, where I found raised 2-foot-tall vegetable-growing beds filled with  compost (9 years' worth) and coconut core.  And everywhere are containers of all types - even old tires - planted with food-to-be, many of them discards from Whole Foods ("wasteful!").  An 85-gallon compost tea brewer is nearby, and inside the house is a kitchen compost bin and the worm composting operation. Nothing is wasted.

Then it's only a short drive to the nearest community garden - on Blair Road in D.C. - where the largest part of their suburban farming operation is located - a 50 x 30-foot plot bursting with sweet potatoes, okra, tomatoes, eggplant, pepper, okra, cucumber, corn, summer & winter squash when I visited in September.  (They pay only $30 a year for this double plot, which generously covers all the water used!  Incredibly, plots went unused this year. To reserve a plot for next year call Howard Williams at 202/529-3683.) 

BIOINTENSIVE GARDENING
According to Dr. Amen, a family of four can feed themselves on a quarter-acre lot, or a 30x30-foot plot, which includes space for crop rotation.  And what makes it work are the techniques of biointensive gardening, which produce maximum yields from a minimum of land while leaving the soil better off. (See Growbiointensive.org and PolyfaceFarms.com.) The raised beds are intensively planted, meaning with different plants in the ground, on the ground, and vertically in air space above.  Okra is grown on top of sweet potatoes in the same spot.  Cukes are grown under corn.  Different crops are grown in the same spot at different times of the season, as well.  The plants grown include good compost crops, too, so that the gardens produce their own fertilizer, too. Using these and other techniques of biointensive gardening, the Amens produced over 700 pounds of sweet potatoes alone.

FORAGING FOR DINNER
I love this part.  Turns out there's plenty of free food around town for the picking - literally - and the Amens supplement their gardening by foraging for the unwanted food around town.  Like wild persimmons, berries, figs and apples.  Even bamboo shoots are good eating, stir-fried.  Those messy droppings from mulberry trees that everyone complains about are sweet and great for pies and muffins - just get them before they drop.  And speaking of freebies, the Amens estimate that half the greens they eat are either weeds or volunteers, like the squash and tomatoes that grow from seeds in their compost.  The weed amaranth (aka pigweed) is a grain that's complete protein and a popular food in the Caribbean, "like spinach but more nutritious". So the Purple People will tell you they're not just gardeners but "gleaners" or "freegans."

THE RESULTS
From June through October the Amens feed their family - equivalent to four or five adults - entirely from the garden. Winter is trickier but greens can be grown all winter using a high tunnel or a greenhouse.  Other winter crops include squash and sweet potatoes and everything they've canned, dried, frozen or stored from the previous season.  So the key to eating in winter is "intensive kitchen prep", like drying herbs and sun-dried tomatoes, making and freezing gumbo, making and canning tomato sauce. Carrots and beets are simply stored for eating during the winter.  So year-round, the family grows about 85 percent of all the foods they eat, with only such items as oils, nuts, flour, peanut butter, and sweeteners remaining to be bought.  Their diet is vegan, primarily whole grains, with seasoning making up for the lack of "meat taste."

Not bad for suburbanites.  At their monastic headquarters in the Ozarks, even greater success in sustainability has been achieved through the practice of extreme conservation, and there's almost zero waste.  For more information visit ThePurplePeople.org.

TEACHING HEALTHIER EATING
Fortunately, Dr. Amen isn't satisfied with having the healthiest family on the block.  His mission includes setting an example for others, especially his patients.  They come to him as individuals with problems like arthritis or overweight and leave with 3-week detox diets that he hopes become lifetime diets for their whole families.  "It's hard to change in isolation, so whole families have to change," he explains.

Judging from my own brief exposure to the biointensive, vegan lifestyle of the Amen family, I can report that it's hard not to be swept away by the sheer wholesomeness of it all.  The sweet potatoes and sweet potato greens that they cunningly sent me home with tasted so good that they changed my own thinking about food, even about how I garden (which for me is a bigger deal than how I eat).  Okay, maybe it wasn't the taste alone that was so compelling but the awesome experience of eating food that's just been pulled food from the soil - just as awesome as my online veggie-growing friends have been saying all along.  So you see what finally convinced me to rip out my front lawn and turn that patch of unproductive monoculture into an edible landscape.

For more information about growing and preparing foods, Dr. Amen recommends:

• How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons
• Staying Healthy with the Seasons by Elson Haas
• Designing your Edible Landscape Naturally by Kourik and Creasy
• How to Store your Garden Produce by Piers Warren

Posted by Susan Harris

Healthy Soil, Happy Plants

This Saturday, DC Urban Gardener President Ed Bruske teamed up with Environmental Specialist Lorin O’Toole from the DC Dept. of the Environment to discuss Integrated Pest Management (IPM) at the Rosedale/Kingman Park Community Garden, an event organized by the Rosedale Citizen’s Alliance .

If you didn’t make it, you missed out on scoring some awesome garden toolkits from the DDOE, and also some terrific information from Ed. Since we can’t give you shovels over the Internet, here are a few things to think about when you consider IPM.

What is IPM? It's using an integrated approach to managing out garden pests, so we can control the pests that bug our plants without harming our soil, watershed, earth, air, micronutrients and those good buggies that make the world go round.  Integrated Pest Management is all about creating an environment that is well balanced.  Here’s IPM in 5 steps:

1. Healthy Soil.

To manage pests, we need to start at the root of our problems. Ensure your soil has the nutrients plants need and the healthy nematodes that create a good ecosystem by adding compost. “Soil is like your plants’ immune system,” pointed out one participant.

2. Happy Plants.

If your plants are weak, then the pests attack. Select varieties of plants that are well adapted to your conditions and are disease-resistant, and fertilize with compost tea.

3. Identify the Pest. 

Don’t just start spraying pesticides. Take the time to figure out what, exactly is all over your tomato’s leaves. (Anyone have a favorite pest id site? Here’s one of mine for vegetable garden pests.)

4. Is Action is Needed?

If a tomato plant gets a fungus late in the season – do you spray it?  Consider taking action only if you can’t live with the situation. Who cares if your tomatoes go a little wilty after giving you 50 pounds of fruit?

5. Use the least toxic approach first.

The best thing is sometimes to pull it up and start over, or pick off the bugs and squish ‘em.  Research various methods of attack online, in books or at a local Extension office. Try various methods of control before you spend money on expensive fertilizers and pesticides that can threaten the health of your garden, soil, water and air.

Posted by Mandie Yanasak.

Yes, people have gardens here in the city - And no one steals the tomatoes

By Guest Blogger Christa Carignan of Calendula and Concrete

It was the sidewalk less traveled that led me to the community garden. I usually took walks in my neighborhood by heading eastward, but one day I decided to break the routine and head west. I turned a new corner and found myself enthralled by an expanse of cobbled-together fences that enclosed dozens of gardens in all shapes and sizes. My eyes grew wide at the sight of towering sunflowers, lines of leafy lettuces, and bent-over plants dripping with ripe tomatoes.

People have gardens here in the city? And they grow food? And no one steals the tomatoes?

I signed my name to the waiting list and eventually got a plot at the Newark Street Community Garden. I really wanted a flower garden, and my husband, who firmly asserted he wanted no part in daily gardening chores, agreed to help me at least put up a fence. Then He-Who-Loves-to-Cook soon caught on to the idea of growing fresh herbs and vine-ripened tomatoes. We decided to divide the plot equally for edibles and ornamentals.

My gardening experience was virtually nothing up to that point, except for tending to a few houseplants. I grew up in a family of gardeners, though, and I think they cultivated my spirit to grow things all along. I was captivated at a young age by a swath of lacy pink Sweet Williams that grew outside my grandmother's front door. My dad grew a row of raspberry bushes and my brothers and I had the unpleasant task of helping him pluck away the Japanese beetles that invaded them before we could get our hands on any berries. I learned early on that there were beautiful and delicious things to be had from a garden, but they didn't come effortlessly. In the same vein, I recall the oddball chore of having to deliver the bucket of food scraps from the kitchen to the compost heap; I was sure no other kids in my entire school had a compost heap.

Ah, but now… compost. Give me compost!

Our first vegetable bed at the community garden was literally a pile of dirt we mounded into a semi-rectangular shape. In the first major rainstorm, we had beet seedlings tumbling over the side and washing away. We laugh at it now, but it was clear we needed a little help.

We have since met so many fellow community gardeners – young and old – who have inspired us and helped us along the way. I recall the day when our new friend, Juan, gave us a few stems of oregano. "Just push this into the ground", he said, "and it will grow into a new plant." We looked in disbelief – as the stems didn't appear to have roots – and we shoved them into the ground just as he instructed. Now, three years later, we have a beautiful and thriving oregano plant. We also have delicious sweet onions and a fledgling grapevine from our friend Albertino. We have a patch of the most extraordinary strawberries grown from transplants left "up for grabs" by the shed. And we've grown our own garlic, peas, squash, cabbage, and much more.

Growing some of our own food has been nothing short of an extraordinary learning experience. I look at food differently now. I am more in tune to what's in season. I think about where our food comes from and what it takes to get it to our table. I am more open to trying new things. Every harvest, however small, is immensely gratifying because we grew it ourselves. How incredible it is to witness the journey of a tomato – from a single seed started in a pot on our apartment living room floor in February, to the final juicy slice enjoyed between two slices of bread on a sweltering day in July. Or to go to the plot after a long day indoors and pop a few fresh peas in my mouth; I am awed to think that just moments ago, those peas were pulling sun from the sky and water from the depths of the earth. My garden nourishes me in more ways than just the physical.

On my blog, Calendula & Concrete, I share my gardening discoveries and newfound appreciation of fresh-grown food. Online, I've found a community of generous and thoughtful people around the globe who are eager to share their own experiences and enthusiasm for growing things. It's a community garden that's grown well beyond these cobbled-together fences.

Photos by Christa Carignan