Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Earth Day with the CCC
Thursday April 22nd was Earth Day, and the Ukiah California Conservation Corps (CCC) showed their love to Mother Earth by volunteering with The Gardens Project. 75 CCC members spent the day tackling large infrastructure tasks in five community gardens around Ukiah, including installing a new community garden located on 168 Washington Street. The site for the new garden had been covered with asphalt for the past five decades, and the soil just saw light and breathed fresh air for the first time last week when the asphalt was removed. The CCC dug, sifted rocks out of the soil, and moved compost to get the garden beds ready for residents of the surrounding area, most of whom live in apartments, to plant their summer gardens. The CCC also dug garden beds at the Ukiah High School farm, where community members are reinvigorating the agriculture program and will shortly be offering a CSA. Pomolita Middle School got their infrastructure needs taken care of so that they can focus on planting and harvesting, as did River Oak Charter School. Cleveland Lane Community Garden received help installing a much needed fence along one side of the garden to stop vandalism and the pilfering of vegetables.
A thousand thank yous to the CCC for all their hard work. What a difference they continue to make in community and school gardens around Ukiah!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Food Inc. available online
Food, Inc. is available for viewing online! Free!
If you haven't seen this academy award nominated documentary about the corporatization of our nation's food system film, take a look. You'll never look at dinner the same way again. And then you'll want to tell all your friends and family to watch it, too.
Click here to go to the PBS affiliated site that allows you to watch Food, Inc. online.
Enjoy! See you out in the garden.
horticulturally yours,
Monday, April 19, 2010
Gardens Project Human Race Team
You are cordially invited to join The Gardens Project Human Race Team!
The Human Race takes place on Saturday, May 8th at Mendocino College and is a community walk/run that benefits local non-profits. There are a number of ways you can get involved in The Gardens Project’s team:
• Walk or run with our team. Fill out a registration form, show up for the race, and hang out with us. If you choose this option, you may also want to collect pledges…
• Collect pledges: if you collect $150 or above of pledges from your family, friends, coworkers, or whoever for The Gardens Project Human Race Team, you will receive a Gardens Project custom batik t-shirt (and support a great cause!).
• Pledge: pledge a dollar or a whole bunch of dollars to the pledge collector of your choice. Every bit helps.
You do not have to collect pledges to run/walk with us, and you do not have to run/walk to collect pledges for us. You can do all three options, two of them, or just one. Whatever you choose, we sure appreciate it! Or donate online! Click here to donate to The Gardens Project online human race team.
If you have questions, click on the contact us page to send us an email!
Thanks,
The Gardens Project.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
New Community Garden
The idea of the garden started last year when Lynda Meyes, the property owner, approached The Gardens Project with the idea to turn her old asphalt parking lot into a community garden. Since then The Gardens Project has been busy testing the soil for contaminants, canvassing the neighborhood to see if there was interest in a community garden, and applying for permits with the city (This is the first community garden on private land in Ukiah!! woohoo!)
We are so excited that after all that hard work the asphalt is finally being taken out! Today is a day to celebrate the re-birth of that land- from a parking lot to a community garden! If you live in the Washington Ave/Observatory Ave neighborhood in Ukiah and you are interested in getting a garden plot come to a planning meeting this Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon. We will be discussing the garden design and taking a field trip to Grace Lutheran community garden for some inspiration.
Check out the pictures below for a slide show of what the land looks like now, and try to imagine the future as a garden!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
What To Do in the Garden This Month
by Suzanne Millard, Mendocino County Master Gardener
On my little slice of Mendocino County heaven, three hours of heavy snow fell in the first week of April! Despite Mother Nature’s final attempts to hold on to winter, spring is emerging as the victor. You can’t help but smile as beautiful green shoots of color peek out from the skeletal forms of previously dormant trees and out from the moist earth. Spring has sprung!
In addition to the beautiful new foliage that is blooming everywhere, the weeds are also taking full advantage of the sun, moisture and warmer temperatures.
As a reminder, here are some of the spring-cleaning & garden preparation tasks from last month that, if you are like me, you may not have fully completed:
o Turn-in winter cover crops (after rains have subsided and soil is no longer wet)
o Clean up raised beds and amend the soil with healthy compost
o Tune up irrigation systems, replace tired parts, and set up the system to accommodate the new season's garden plan. Remember to plant your vegetables and flowers together according to companion planting guides and watering needs
o Build new plant supports for climbing plants and to maximize your garden space (vining plants such as peas, cucumbers, beans are all great climbers)
o Perform soil and water tests for pH levels
o Fertilize trees for maximum fruit production
o Start your spring weeding routine
What to plant?
Gardener's Tips - What's going on in the garden this Month? (Please click Greater Hopland Planting Guide for Peter Huff and Kate Frey's Monthly Planting Calendar for Inland Mendocino, also found at the "How To: Grow Food" page on The Gardens Project Website)
During the month of April you can directly sow vegetables and fruits such as beets, carrots, chard, kale, lettuce, potatoes, celery and turnips outside. Inside, you'll want to start lettuce, chard, cucumbers, melons, zucchini, summer squash and pumpkins. At this time you can also transplant lettuce, leeks, onions, brassicas, chard and kale.
In May, you can directly sow vegetables and fruits such as beans, carrots, chard, corn, lettuce, cucumber, squash, melons, pumpkins, potatoes, turnips outside. Inside you can start heat tolerant lettuce and chard. During this time you can transplant lettuce, chard, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumber, melons and squash.
In April for flowers and herbs, you can directly sow dill, cilantro, and cold sensitive flowers such as Nasturtiums, Morning Glory and Alyssum. Parsley and basil may be started from seed indoors to be transplanted later.
Flowers and herbs appropriate for May direct sowing are dill, Lobella, Alyssum, Limonium, Zinnias, Amaranth, Petunias, Marigolds, Cosmos, Tithonias, Ageratum, Strawflowers, Calliopsis, Cleome, Celosia, Sanvitalia, Morning Glory, Nasturtiums, Dahlia, Heliotrope, Gomphrena, Geraniums, Sunflowers, Impatiens, Nicotiana, Thunbergia. Again in May, parsley and basil may be started from seed indoors and parsley can be transplanted outdoors.
In addition to finishing up those leftover tasks and planting all those good veggies, herbs, and flowers, you’ll want to weed, weed, weed and mulch, mulch, mulch! Here is some great information and guidelines from the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources website for mulching to prevent weeds in your growing spaces…
Mulches
A mulch is any material placed on the soil to cover it. Mulches suppress annual weeds by limiting the light, moisture, and gas exchange required for weed establishment. They can improve water penetration, regulate soil temperature, and prevent soil erosion.
For best weed control, use a coarse-textured mulch with a low water-holding capacity. When used alone, mulches rarely provide 100% weed control. To improve the level of weed control, apply preemergence herbicides at the same time as the mulch. Supplemental hand-weeding or spot spraying may also be needed. There can be problems associated with mulches. Some perennial weeds such as nutsedge often have sufficient root reserves to enable them to penetrate some mulches, such as a black plastic. Some annual weeds will grow through mulches; others may germinate on top of them. Applying mulches at depths of greater than 4 inches may injure plants by keeping the soil too wet and limiting oxygen to the plant's roots. However, lesser depths may have less weed control benefits. Disease incidence may increase when deep mulches are maintained.
Organic mulches
Organic mulches can conserve moisture, prevent surface crusting, improve water penetration, and cool the soil, but also can harbor invertebrate pests. Mulches include compost, very fine wood chips, grass clippings, sawdust, leaves, clippings, chipped and shredded prunings, wood products, and hardwood or softwood bark chips or nuggets. Plan to replenish landscape mulches periodically because of decomposition, movement, or settling.
Inorganic mulches
Natural inorganic mulches include sand, gravel, and pebbles. They do not provide organic matter for soil, but do conserve moisture. If using a rock mulch, consider placing a landscape fabric underneath to create a layer between the mulch and the soil and prevent rock pieces from sinking into the soil. Black plastic has been used to improve weed control, but it restricts air and water movement. Synthetic mulches, which are manufactured materials that are called geotextile or landscape fabrics, have been developed to replace black plastic in the landscape. Geotextiles are porous and allow water and air to pass through them, overcoming the major disadvantage of black plastic.
Did you know?
… That there is a tremendous body of knowledge about gardening in California which is provided by University of California Cooperative Extension? This site, geared toward the home gardener can be found at http://cagardenweb.ucdavis.edu/.
On the site you will find information on:
• Gardening Basics (Did you know you could find information here on how to practice sustainable gardening?)
• Your Climate Zone (Did you know the Sunset zone maps, considered the standard gardening references in the West, are more precise than the USDA's, since they factor in not only winter minimum temperatures, but also summer highs, lengths of growing seasons, humidity, and rainfall patterns?)
• How to find your local Master Gardener (Did you know that Mendocino county has two groups of Master Gardeners; Coastal based out of the Mendocino Botanical Gardens and Inland based out of Ukiah?)
• Pests, Diseases and Weeds (Did you know that you can find a multitude of Pest Notes for not only household pests but plant diseases and weeds?)
• Vegetables (Did you know the chief methods of vegetable garden weed control are cultivation, mulching, and hand weeding?)
• Nut and Fruit Trees and Vines (Did you know it is best to plant apple trees during January, February, or March?)
• Landscape Trees, Shrubs and Vines (Did you know that you can find guidance on the right place to plant a tree?)
• Lawns (Did you know that you can diagnose your lawn or manage a lawn pest?)
• Flowers (Did you know that you can manage pests on your flowers?)
• Indoor Plants (Did you know you could find out what your indoor plant needs?)
• Classes and Events (Did you know you could search for events and classes by county?)
So don your wide brimmed hat, dust off your favorite gloves, feel the beautiful combination of the spring breeze with the warm sun as you dig in the earth – Enjoy the season!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Potter Valley Starts Community Garden
Out at Potter Valley we are starting to get really excited about our Community Garden. What was just an idea several months ago is now finally starting to look like something. During the Spring Garden Blitz we used our wonderful volunteers to rip up some nasty crabgrass that was in a bed in front of the building so that we can plant some wonderful vegetables and herbs. The work proved to be really taxing, because our shovels had a hard time penetrating the tangle of crabgrass that we found, which was made worse by the black plastic we discovered underneath the grass. But through hard work we cleared the space, and now have a nice bed set up in front where our kids have begun to plant. Unfortunately, the weather we’ve had the past 2 weeks has prevented us from marking out beds in our big space, but now that it’s nice again, we’re hoping to move forward quickly. You know what they say, April Showers bring May Flowers…so we are hoping we’ll have some nice flowers to show for it by May. Thanks to all of our great volunteers who came out to help for the Garden Blitz!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sharing The Bounty
The evening started out with violin music by Mary Carnevale and Holly Fagen as well as appetizers which included green garlic crostini and tulip petals with chive cheese. Who knew you could eat tulip petals?! Then came a mixed green salad with Miner's lettuce wrap (we will never look at Miner's lettuce as a weed again..) where Mendocino Organics generously donated fresh baby chard and kale, and Green Uprising Farm at Blackberry Bend Farm donated baby salad greens. The main entree was lamb from Magruder Ranch in Potter Valley, or amaranth wrapped with chard from Nokomis and South Ukiah head start. The evening ended with a Meyer lemon curd made from Lemons from Dave's back yard, as well as Douglas Fir ice cream.
To say the least - we had a blast, and we hope you did too. The wine was great, the food was beautiful and tasty, and the company was the best!
Thank you to the staff at Patrona as well as Craig and Bridgette. Many of the staff donated their time to help with this event and Craig and Bridgette donated the space, their energy, and their time to make this event happen.
A huge thank you to Trinafour Cellars, Magnanimous Wine Group, Husch Vineyards, and Paul Dolan who supported us by donating wine. Thank you to Mendocino Organics, Green Uprising and Blackberry Bend Farm, Magruder Grass Feed Meats, Dave from Dave's bike shop, and Huckleberry Hollow Gardens who donated or contributed food for the meal.
And finally, we want to note that the a lot of the food for this event was grown locally in our community gardens! All the chard was from South Ukiah and Nokomis Head Starts, as well as the parsley and chives. About half of the green garlic came from Jack Simpson, the thinning vegetables came from Grace Lutheran, and the Kale came from Talmage.
Check out the photo slide show for some pictures of the fun.
And thank you again to everyone who is working to make Mendocino County a more healthy and self-reliant community.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Fresh
Fresh profiles the farmers, thinkers, and business people across the nation who are at the forefront of re-inventing food production in America. With a strong commitment to sustainability, they are changing how farms are run, how the land is cared for, and how food is distributed. Their success demonstrates that a new paradigm based on sustainable practices can be profitable and a model for our food system, if people choose to support it.
See Fresh at the college on Earth Day, Thursday April 22nd starting at 12:30.
Join us for the Northern California Premier!!
Earth Day, April 22, at Mendocino College
When: Thursday, April 22, 2010
12:30pm
Where: Room 1220, MacMillan Hall
Mendocino College
“FRESH is more than a movie, it’s a gateway to action.”
Worm Bins at Local Preschools!
Worm bins were delivered last week to five Head Start Preschools: two in Willits, one in Lake County, and two in Ukiah. The inspiration for these worm bins came from a LifeLab Preschool Garden training that 25 Mendocino County preschool teachers attended in January, sponsored by The Gardens Project, First 5 Mendocino, and the Head Start Child Development Program of NCO. The worm bins were brought to fruition largely thanks to the advice, passion, and initial worm supply of Mendocino Master Gardener and worm-woman extraordinaire, Lydia Feltman.
The worm bins will provide an engaging interactive experience for preschool students to learn about the garden, small critters, and where their food scraps can go. Thanks to everyone involved for getting this little project going.
If you would like a worm bin in your home to dispose of your food scraps in an easy, sanitary, odor-free manner and produce excellent vermicompost for your house and garden plants, check out these resources on the web
or buy the excellent book on the subject, Worms Eat My Garbage, by Mary Applehoff and available at Mulligan Books in Ukiah, among other places.
yours truly,