Reconnecting Our Roots Garden

The first thing you notice when you enter the gate of the Reconnecting Our Roots garden is the peace.  Reconnecting Our Roots GardenEven though it is just a street or two off the Marietta Square, it is quiet.  There are raised beds for vegetables, an outdoor classroom, a sensory garden, and plenty of tables for seating.  For a brief video walking tour of the garden visit Reconnecting Our Roots Garden Tour.

The goal of this garden is unique.   The garden was made to offer a space for youth and families under court supervision.  Moms have an opportunity to visit with children who are no longer in their custody.   As Cobb County Extension Master Gardener Coordinator Renae Lemon says, “it is a happy place where Moms and children can connect with dignity.” Probation officers can meet with the youth under their supervision here as well.

Benefits of the Reconnecting Our Roots Garden

The vegetable garden part of this space is equally important.  Community members and program participants can learn how to grow good, nutritious food.  UGA Master Gardeners will lead the way in education here.  Also, the outdoor classroom can be used for cooking demonstrations and nutrition classes.  Food harvested here will go to the families that use the garden as well as other families in need.

Reconnecting Our Roots Garden
Renae Lemon and Debbie Ponder are champions for this garden.

Debbie Ponder of Reconnecting Families has put a lot of work into getting this garden started with the supportive Cobb County community.  The property is on two city parcels owned by Zion Baptist Church and the church is partnering with Reconnecting Families and Cobb County Extension.  With the full support of Cobb County Juvenile Court Judge Juanita Stedman, the garden has attracted many supporters.  The Rotary Club of Marietta, Food Well Alliance, Cobb County Impact, the Cobb EMC Foundation, BB&T, WellCare and Leadership Cobb have invested in this garden and are committed to seeing it succeed.  This garden will change families!

Reconnecting Our Roots Garden
Soil test showed the pH was a bit high so sulfur will be added to the soil before the blueberries go in.

Cobb Extension Agent Neil Tarver says of the garden, “Some obvious benefits gained from Reconnecting Our Roots Community Garden is using gardening to serve the clients of Reconnecting Families and supplying them with wholesome locally grown food. But by developing two previously barren lots they’re helping to beautify and stabilize an underdeveloped part of Marietta as well.”

Over the summer the gardeners will add blueberries and also an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant walkway with ADA compliant garden beds.  On Saturday, June 20th the garden will host a pollinator event.  Interested people can come and bring a pollinator plant which will be planted in the garden.  For more information about this event or the garden contact Renae Lemon at Renae.Lemon@cobbcounty.org.  This garden is off to a huge start!

Happy Gardening!

International Year of Soils: Raising Awareness of Soil’s Importance

International Year of Soils

International Year of Soils: Raising Awareness of Soil's ImportanceThe United Nations General Assembly has declared 2015 the International Year of Soils.  With this initiative the UN hopes to raise appreciation of the importance of soil for human life, educate the public about the role soil plays in food security, and promote investment in sustainable soil management activities.  Basically, the UN wants to raise awareness about the importance of soil.

Their website states “Soil is where food begins! It is estimated that 95% of our food is directly and indirectly produced on our soils. Therefore, food availability relies on soils. Healthy and good quality food can only be produced if our soils are healthy. A healthy living soil is a crucial ally to food security and nutrition.”  As food growers we already know how important our soil is to the overall health of our plants.  Their website lists the following reasons that soil is important:

  • Soils are the basis for the production of food, fibers, fuel and medicinal products.
  • Soils absorb, store, alter, purify and release water, both for plant growth and water supply.
  • Soils interact with the atmosphere through absorption and emission of gases (e.g. carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour) and dust;
  • Soils make up the greatest pool of terrestrial organic carbon (over double the organic carbon stored in vegetation).
  • Soils regulate carbon, oxygen and plant nutrient cycles (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, etc.)
  • Soil is the habitat of several animals and organisms such as bacteria and fungi and thus sustain biological activity, diversity and productivity.
  • Soil is the habitat for seed dispersion and dissemination of the gene pool.
  • Soils buffer, filter and moderate the hydrological cycle.
  • Soils are the platform for urban settlement and are used as materials for construction.

International Year of Soils: Free Workshops

In conjunction with the International Year of Soils there are events all over the world scheduled to

International Year of Soils: Raising Awareness of Soil's Importance
Healthy soil means more nutrition for the plants, less incidence of disease, and less water input needed.

educate people about soil health.  Closer to home a collaboration effort in Atlanta, Georgia, is providing 30 free workshops on soil health and composting.  The collaborative partners are UGA Extension, Terra Nova Compost, Truly Living Well, Global Growers, The Atlanta Community Food Bank and Food Well Alliance.

The workshops start June 2nd and go through October 29, 2015.  To see if a workshop is near you or to register for one check here.

Happy Gardening!

Strawberries in the Georgia Community or School Garden? You bet!

Strawberries can be a welcome addition to the Georgia community or school garden.  And, spring is the time to plant!

StrawberriesTraditionally in north Georgia strawberries are grown in a matted row system where initial plants are set two feet apart at spring planting.  That summer the runners are allowed to fill in the rest of the bed.  This set up is perfect for raised beds or bed plots.

Treat your strawberry bed as a perennial bed.  You will need an area that is in full sun and contains well drained soil.  Avoid planting where you have been growing peppers, tomatoes, or potatoes.  These plants are susceptible to verticillium wilt and so are strawberries. The UGA publication Home Garden Strawberries is a great resource.

Varieties of Strawberries

Varieties recommended for early fruiting for north and middle Georgia are Earliglow, Sweet Charlie, and Delmarva. For south Georgia look for Chandler, Camarosa, and Sweet Charlie.  Early season varieties are best for school gardens as you should get fruit before school lets out for the summer.  

For mid-season fruiting look for Allstar.  Purchase plants that appear to be disease-free from a reputable supplier.  This can be a local store or a mail order supplier.   You will probably have more varieties to choose from if you use a mail order supplier.

The placement of the plant crown is very important. Picture from Home Grown Strawberries by UGA.

Care of Strawberries

The most important part of planting strawberries is the placement of the crown.  The top of the crown needs to be above the soil line.  Otherwise, you will probably have rot.  Set the plants two feet from the bed edge and from each other.  Remember, runners will fill in.  Remove flowers the first year to encourage more blossoms, and fruit, next year.

Weeds are the number one problem with strawberry plants.  Mulch between plants and use hand pulling or hoeing to remove stubborn weeds.  Strawberries need 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water a week.

Birds and rodents love strawberries as much as we do.  Raised beds deter rodents.  Some gardeners use netting.  A problem with netting is birds and small animals getting caught in the net.   Some gardeners report success with loosely hanging aluminum pie pans around the beds to deter birds.  The best practice is to pick the fruit as soon as it is ripe, before other hungry eaters find it.

During the second spring, after you have picked all of your berries, get ready for next year.  By this point runners have filled in and if you don’t thin the bed you will have too many plants for that area.  You need to get rid of about two-thirds of the plants in order to have healthy plants for next year.  Pot up the extras and have a fund raising plant sale!

As always your local UGA Extension agent is a great resource for you.

Happy Gardening!

 

 

 

What Are You Doing for Earth Day 2015?

What Are You Doing for Earth Day 2015?What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day 2015?

By being part of a Georgia community garden you are already doing quite a bit.  Community gardens help the environment in several ways.

Pollinator Conservation

As a vegetable gardener you know how important those pollinators are to your food production.  You may have a special pollinator garden area and you are very careful about the use of pesticides.  This example teaches new gardeners and garden visitors to also protect pollinators.  The result is not only a healthy pollinator population in your garden, but in the surrounding community as well.

What Are You Doing for Earth Day 2015?
Bee on Zinnia – a great pollinator plant!

Locally Grown Food

Growing food locally in your garden means that a bit less food is shipped across country saving gas, limiting air pollution, and lowering  refrigeration energy.

What Are You Doing for Earth Day 2015?
NF Annex CG Composting System

Soil Health

Hopefully you have had a soil test.  You know what nutrients to add to your soil so that you are not over-fertilizing.  Overuse of fertilizers is a big pollution concern.  Unused fertilizer can end up in  streams and rivers.  By meeting just your soil needs you are cutting down on pollution.  Maybe you all have a compost system where you change garden waste into soil compost.  Talk about recycling!

Environmental Awareness

Just by having a garden in your community you have raised environmental awareness.  No doubt you have had people stopping by as you all are working to ask questions about the garden.  And no doubt you told those people, with pride, about your sustainable growing practices.   You probably gave them a tour telling them about the food crops you are growing.  Those people may not become gardeners but they are now more aware of where food comes from and what it takes to grow it!

However you decide to celebrate Earth Day today take a moment and reflect on what you are already doing for our earth on a daily basis.

Happy Earth Day!

Purchasing Potted Vegetables For Your Garden

When using potted plants in your Georgia community vegetable garden, start with healthy ones.  Visit quality nurseries or plant stores and choose plants free from diseases and insects.  You don’t want to bring home any problems.  Check where the stem meets the soil for soft spots.  Don’t choose plants that look wilted but have obviously been watered.  That could be a sign of a soil borne disease.

Before planting your new vegetable plants, check the roots.  Sometimes the plants can be root-bound or pot-bound.  The plant was outgrowing the current container and the roots had no where to go in the pot but around the perimeter of the soil.

The roots of this plant need to be disturbed so they will easily grow in the new soil.
The roots of this plant need to be disturbed so they will easily grow in the new soil.

Before going into the ground these roots need to be broken apart so that they will venture out into the new soil.  Otherwise, they may keep growing around the soil ball and the plants won’t thrive.   Even after weeks of being in the ground, the plant will easily pull out of the planting hole.  This is an unhealthy plant!

You can break apart roots with your hands or use scissors or a sharp knife (carefully!) to cut an incision into the root ball.  You will need to go about 1 inch deep and about 3/4ths the way up on the root ball.   After cutting gently pull the roots apart.

Cut about a 1 inch slit into opposite sides of the root ball.
Cut about a 1 inch slit into opposite sides of the root ball.

 

Gently separate the roots using your hands.
Gently separate the roots using your hands.

 

Put the plant in the ground spreading the roots into the soil as much as possible.  This may seem like tough love for an already developed root system but, your plants will be healthier and more productive in the long run.  Remember, your local extension agent has all sorts of information on the correct way to plant just about anything!

Happy Gardening!

Hybrid vs. Open Pollinated vs. Heirloom

As we think about purchasing plants for our Georgia community gardens, especially tomatoes, there are choices to be made.  Is a hybrid the best choice?  What exactly is a hybrid?  What about heirlooms?

Today we are going to think back to our high school genetics class and discuss a bit about plant breeding.  Pollen is located on the anther part of the stamen (male part).  It is transferred by insect, wind, human hands, or other means to the stigma part of the flower (female part).   This is pollination.  There the pollen grows down the style to the ovary. That is fertilization.  Any of that sound familiar?

 

9.4.2

A hybrid vegetable is created when a plant breeder deliberately controls pollination by cross-pollinating two different varieties of a plant.  The parent plants are chosen for characteristics like fruit size, plant vigor, or disease resistance.  The hope is that the resulting offspring will have the positive characteristics.

Millionaire Eggplant Hybrid
Millionaire Eggplant Hybrid

The parent designated as the female has the pollen-bearing anthers removed from the flowers.  Pollen from a carefully chosen partner is moved to the female plant’s stigma by human hands.  The chosen pollen is the only pollen that female receives.  This is all very time consuming and carefully monitored.  Scientifically it looks like this:

Parent 1 (P1) + Parent 2 (P2)  —-> Hybrid (F1)

The resulting hybrid (hopefully) has wonderful characteristics like disease resistance, early maturing fruit, larger fruit, or whatever the plant breeder was trying to achieve.  Before a hybrid is available to the consumer, it has gone through many field tests and trials.  All this is why hybrids are more expensive plants.

One negative to hybrids is that you can’t save the seed.  Seeds grown from hybrid plants do not provide plant types true-to-type.   You need to purchase new hybrids year after year.  Big Boy and Early Girl are examples of hybrid tomatoes.  Millionaire and Early Midnight are popular hybrid eggplants.

Arkansas Traveler tomatoes ready to go in the ground.
Arkansas Traveler tomatoes ready to go in the ground.

Open pollinated vegetables are pollinated in the field by wind or natural pollinators to self or cross-pollinate.  Plants that cross-pollinate need to be isolated from other varieties to produce seed that is true-to-type.  Crops like tomatoes and beans tend to self-pollinate so saving useful seed is not difficult.  Arkansas Traveler, Abraham Lincoln, and Cherokee Purple are popular open pollinated tomato varieties.  Black Beauty is a popular open pollinated eggplant variety.

Heirlooms are generally open pollinated plant varieties that are over 50 years old.  Traditionally the seed has been carefully saved and handed down from gardener to gardener.  These are the plants most treasured.

So whether you choose hybrids, open pollinated plants, heirlooms, or a combination of these…

Happy Gardening! 

 

 

Crop Rotation in the Georgia Community Garden

manageing-crop-diseases-in-high-tunnels-2015-23-638Crop rotation is a huge part of integrated pest management (IPM) in Georgia vegetable production.  It is an inexpensive tool in disease and nematode management.  Correctly using crop rotation can cut down on pesticide use and result in healthier plants.  Growing Vegetables Organically has some great information on this type of IPM.

As we are all planning our warm-season gardens crop rotation is something to consider.  However, it is a whole lot easier to rotate crops around a 3 acre farm than it is to move them around a 32 square foot garden plot.  How do we practice crop rotation in the community garden?  It is even necessary?

Crop rotation has been around for centuries.  Simply it is changing what is planted in a particular area each year.  Planting the same crop year after year in the same location causes disease pathogens to build up and become a real problem. Rotating crops helps break this disease cycle.  Also, since different crops use varying amounts of plant nutrients, crop rotation is a wise use of the nutrition in your soil.

Plants can be divided into families.  Learn those plant groupings because many pathogens infect crops in the same families.  The basic rule of crop rotation is:

Don’t plant crops from the same plant family in the same place every year. 

Crop families:

Onion family (Alliaceae):  chives, onions, garlic

Cole family (Brassicaceae):  lettuce, collards, cabbage, broccoli, spinach

Squash family (Cucurbitaceae):  pumpkins, watermelon, squash, cantaloupe

Bean family (Fabaceae):  beans, peas

Tomato family (Solanaceae):  tomatoes, peppers, eggplant

Since tomatoes and peppers are in the same family (Solanaceae),  don’t plant tomatoes where you have been growing peppers.  And, don’t follow squash with pumpkins (same Cucurbitaceae family).  Many farmers follow a four year or even longer rotation plan.  Their lettuce won’t see the same piece of soil for several years.  This helps lower disease pressure and cuts down on fungicide use.  Many Master Gardeners usually try for a three year rotation for a large garden area.

We know that crop rotation works to help create healthier plants but how does that translate in a Georgia community garden plot?

The best way is for the community gardener to choose plants from different families each year.  This isn’t always practical.  A gardener wants to grow what his/her family likes to eat.  That may mean beans every year.   The #1 vegetable grown in community gardens is tomatoes – year after year!

So, maybe you work with your fellow community gardeners and rotate who grows tomatoes and you all agree to share the tomato harvest.  This may not always work, either.  Some gardeners want lots of tomatoes every year.

Move your pole beans to the other side of the plot this year.  Buy your tomatoes from the farmers market this year and try growing squash.  Better yet, try growing and eating something entirely new.

An old fashion mattock may be your only tool for some modified rotation in your community garden plots.
An old fashioned mattock may be your only tool for some modified rotation in your community garden plots.

At the very least Bob Westerfield, UGA vegetable specialist, recommends turning your soil over.  Dig deeply bringing  up soil that hasn’t been exposed to the sun.  Go as deep as you are able.  In a small way you are not rotating your plants but rotating your soil.  Your UGA Extension agent can help you come up with a plan for crop rotation that will work for your situation.

Happy Gardening!

 

Soil Temperatures Important in the Georgia Vegetable Garden-A Guest Post by Sharon Dowdy

The air temperatures may be warm but the soil temperatures are still cool.
The air temperatures may be warm but the soil temperatures are still cool.

Georgia’s recent warm daytime temperatures have home gardeners itching to dig in the soil and plant summer crops. But University of Georgia experts warn gardeners not to be tempted. Soil temperatures are still far too low for seeds to germinate and transplants to survive.

“In Georgia, we may have a warm front come in one day and a cold front a few days later,” said Bob Westerfield, a consumer horticulturist with UGA Cooperative Extension. “It may hit 75 degrees outside, but the air temperature isn’t important when it comes to gardening – the soil temperature is.”

“That soil’s not ready for tomatoes. Summer crops need from 60 to 65 degrees.” he said.

Green beans can handle temperatures of about 55 degrees, but it is still not quite warm enough for them. If gardeners ignore his advice and seed their gardens, he says the seeds won’t germinate.

Gardeners who cannot resist the temptation can still plant cold season crops like asparagus, beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, collards, kale, lettuce, mustard, onions, peas, potatoes, radish, spinach and turnips.

To track the soil temperatures in your area of the state, Westerfield recommends two different strategies. Buy a soil thermometer or use a meat thermometer to test the soil in your garden plot or rely on UGA’s Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network at www.georgiaweather.net.

Soil temperatures “creep up slowly” and Georgia soils should be ready to sow in seed by early-to-mid

Use www.georgiaweather.net to check soil temperatures in your area. The current soil temperatures in Griffin are in the 40s.
Use www.georgiaweather.net to check soil temperatures in your area. The current soil temperatures in Griffin are in the 40s.

April, Westerfield said.

“And don’t be swayed by the vegetable transplants lining the garden center shelves,” he said. “Just because plants are in the stores doesn’t mean it’s time to plant them.”  Contact your local UGA Extension Agent for more information.

For more information on vegetable gardening in Georgia, see the UGA Extension publication, “Vegetable Gardening in Georgia”.

Sharon Dowdy is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.  Growing her own tomatoes has been beneficial for Sharon’s heart. She met her beau five years ago while buying tomato stakes at Home Depot.

Happy gardening!

Cooking with Georgia Kale and Seth Freedman

Chef Seth Freedman at work.
Chef Seth Freedman at work.

Chef Seth Freedman is a Southern man with New York chef training.  That can be the best of both worlds!   He still cooks with his grandmother’s cast iron skillet but using advanced culinary techniques.

Owner of Forage and Flame, Seth specializes in catering for groups large and small.  He enjoys educating people about cooking locally grown food.  In addition to Forage and Flame, Seth is a partner at Peach Dish where you can order fresh ingredients with recipes and have them delivered to your home for preparation.  And, Seth loves his greens!

Recently he shared a kale recipe at the Georgia Organics conference.  For those of us who are not kale lovers, we were impressed.  I asked Seth if I could share the recipe and tips and he happily said “YES!”.

Kale and Apple Salad

1 bunch of kale

2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tsp honey

2 apples (crisp and sweet)

salt and pepper to taste

1.  Remove stalks from the kale and discard them.  Wash leaves and slice them thinly.

Massaging the kale is the most important step in the recipe.
Massaging the kale is the most important step in the recipe.

2. Dice apples into 1/4 inch cubes.

3. In a large bowl, mix vinegar with honey and ground pepper.  Drizzle in the 1/4 cup of olive oil while whisking.  Pour dressing into another container.

4.  Add kale and a small sprinkle of salt to the large bowl.   Using your clean, bare hands massage the kale with the dressing left on the sides of the bowl. Seth says to squeeze them so that you are actually bruising or breaking the greens a bit.  Squeeze, mash, massage – really get in there.  This helps take some of the bitterness out of the greens and is the secret to this recipe!

5. Pour the rest of the dressing over the kale and add the apple dices.  Adjust seasoning, toss and serve.

Seth says that really any Georgia grown green will work in this recipe – mustard greens, collards – whatever you have growing in your garden plot.  Remember the squeezing, mashing, massaging is the key!

image copyLet us know if you prepare this recipe and what you think of it.  If you would like to contact Seth you can reach him at seth@peachdish.com.  Thanks again, Seth, for sharing your expertise!

Happy eating!

 

 

 

For the Love of Georgia Kale

Kale plants are loose leaves and do not form heads.  Photo courtesy of Purdue University.
Kale plants are loose leaves and do not form heads. Photo courtesy of Purdue University.

Kale seems to be the vegetable of the year.  The nutritive properties of kale are legendary.  It is high in vitamins A and C and loaded with fiber.  You can find it raw in salads, sautéed in stir-fries, fried into chips, steamed in to a side dish and pureed into smoothies.  The good news for community gardeners in Georgia is that kale is easy to grow.  It is a cool-season crop and March is the time to plant kale transplants outdoors.

March weather in Georgia can be tricky.  If you have grown your own transplants from seed indoors, it is imperative that you harden off your plants.  Give them a chance to acclimate to being outdoors by setting them out in a protected area, like on a porch, during a sunny day with no wind.  Leave them out only during the day at first.  Gradually expose them to a less protected area and then let them be out overnight.  Once they are in the garden, protect them from wind.  Wind can dry out the plant and damage the plant tissues.

Add compost to the kale bed before planting or add high nitrogen amendments such as blood meal or cottonseed meal.  Nitrogen is important since you are growing the plants for the leaves.  Space the transplants 18 to 24 inches apart since the plants will get large.  Mulch helps keep soil temperatures and moisture even.

Many gardeners say the key to tender kale is the watering.  Keep the transplants well watered.  As they grow make sure they get about 1 inch of water per week.  During the cool temperatures of spring, it is easy to forget to water.

When the plants are ready for harvesting, start with the outer and lower leaves.  Remember the smallerimage copy 2 leaves will be more tender and would probably be better in salads then the tougher, larger leaves.  As the soil temperatures warm up you will find the plant grows faster.  As it approaches really warm weather and longer days your established plants may bolt sending up a flower stalk.  This is your cue to replace the kale crop with a warm-season vegetable.

Varieties such as “Vates”, “Dwarf Siberian” or “Red Russian” are popular with Georgia gardeners.    If you don’t have room in your early spring garden for growing kale, consider putting it in your fall garden.

Next week we will have a kale recipe from a famous Georgia chef.  It is a good one!

Happy Gardening!