Seattle Local news reports on Edible Landscaping

I got several messages today from friends telling me they saw this story about edible landscaping in Seattle. I am happy to see they are noticing... They said that it is not yet time to plant food in the garden, so the piece might have been filmed a month or so ago, but it is time to start planting now!!! That is why Seattle Tilth and others are having plant sales- not tomatoes and basil mind you, but kales, lettuces, chards, mustard, and other greens are actually being harvested in my gardens. Some are left over from last fall's plantings, but  I had salad from some lettuce under a hoop house on my farm on Saturday! My little pea plants will need thinning and I can stir fry those with garlic, ginger and butter!
peace-
Jayne

Strawberry Shortcake & Dried Fruit! Plan Ahead

I have been drooling over all the different varieties of Strawberries that Sakuma Brothers Nursery in Mt Vernon, WA have to offer. I think we are going to try the Seascape for the ever bearing variety, and Puget Reliance for a June bearing variety. I will distribute them among my clients, our community garden, my house & farm.
I like to make jam, and lately I have been drying fruit and saving it for camping trips and winter snacks. We do a lot of camping, hiking and snowboarding, so it is nice to have quick snacks with a burst of energy that don't have extra sugar. I am not sure how many of these will make it to winter if they are not in a canning jar! We tried making freezer jam from some of the plums, but they are still in the freezer whereas the dried plums are already gone!
We collected plums from the neighborhood, and pears from our yard and dried them last year and were convinced this is the best way to preserve for our needs.  This year, one of our goals is to collect cherries from one our friend's three trees before the birds or her dogs eat them all.  It is tricky on the timing, but I am determined (and watching) this year.
peace-
Jayne

Second Plant Sale of the Season!

Hurray, It’s Spring!!!!!

Backyard Greenhouse 

7939 28th Ave. SW

(between Holden & Thistle in West Seattle / zip 98126)

Cool Weather Veggies  /  Perennials  /  Herbs

Organically Grown

Sat., March 27, 9:00-4:00   /   Sun., March 28, 10:00-3:00

Bring neighbors, friends and family!—Come rain or shine!!

My friend Karen has this great business of starting plants from seed and selling them to local nurseries and to the Seattle Tilth for their plant sales. She started more than she needed for the Tilth Sale, and is having a sale in her backyard (in West Seattle). I helped her transplant last month and went over yesterday to pick out some plants for my garden. We got 4 flats of plants! That is quite a lot!!! I am really glad we had already prepared our beds. We mostly got lettuces, lots of different types of chinese greens, some cabbages and kales, and soooo many onions! We got most of the greens planted already, but only the Blue Leeks- Marc was amazed that each leek (about the size of a toothpick) had to be separated and put into the trench about 1 inch apart. We will thin them and eat the baby leeks and leave the rest to mature. I am not sure where I will put the red onions or the Walla Walla Sweets! We have one new bed this year already mapped out, but the soil needs to be turned again, and it probably needs to be amended before planting the hot weather plants like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants! There is a little room left in the back, and there is always space to squeeze them into the front among the herbs... Too much food, what a problem, huh?

Eat Your Broccoli! and Plant More!

I was at one of my clients' house yesterday, and noticed she had not eaten the beautiful broccoli  that was in her front yard, yet.  If you don't eat it while it is perfect, it will sprout! Actually, there was a lot to eat if you know what to harvest (and now she does).  I always leave the scraggly dinosaur kale in the garden to sprout anew in the spring and the sprouts taste great in a stir fry, but not as good if they flower (although if they were battered and fried they might). She has some purple cauliflower that looks like it might sprout, too. I told her to make cream of broccoli soup! Yum. The  the cilantro is a bit tough, but tasty. The lettuce patch is actually looking good, and will be ready to eat from in a few weeks- there is some lettuce that overwintered, but it is pretty bitter to eat alone. So, there is food that is ready to eat, in some gardens in the maritime Northwest at this time of year! That is one thing I love about gardening here.

I am going to work on getting my potatoes in the ground this coming weekend. We are going to use some cinder blocks we have around to make a potato skyrise (a variation on the potato condo's we tried to make last year at the community garden). We will be attempting those again at Longfellow Creek Community Garden as well. Last year I forgot to hill the row on the farm, but got quite a few (probably not quite what I paid for the seed potatoes though. Some of those are now sprouting, and I know people say not to replant your own seed potatoes, but I am going to try to do it in the condo's rather than buy more. We will see how it goes- I am sure I will keep you posted.
I came across this article at the new Kitchen Gardeners website about the springtime dearth of food and the relation to Lent- read it here.

Grow Your Own!

We create a beautiful vegetable garden in your yard, and help you learn to grow nutritious food and herbs while building the soil fertility and conserving our resources.
In our great grandparents time, every household had a kitchen garden that was planted with hearty greens, salad fixings, and herbs. They were usually situated in the backyard, near the kitchen so the cook could quickly step outside to pick fresh food and herbs to liven up the meal. Our aim is to recreate those kitchen gardens and help you eat healthy vibrant food from your own yard, and eventually get you growing on your own.

Join Good Food Gardens and keep it real local- your backyard!

What do you get from Good Food Gardens?

You enjoy fresh, vibrant veggies and herbs weekly.
Your farmer comes to you.
You receive recipes weekly.
You know your food source intimately.
Your household can learn as we go.
You get a cool, back yard retreat.

What Good Food Gardens provides:

We use crop rotation and improve soil nutrition.
We provide the appropriate plants and seeds through the season.
We provide the expertise & hard work.
We tend and harvest the farms weekly.

We do all the work, you enjoy your Good Food!

We have different plans to choose from:

The Full Meal Deal- Installation & Weekly or Monthly Maintenance:
Once a week (or month) we tend your yard, harvest your veggies and healing herbs, and leave them in a basket on your doorstep ready to eat. You and your family are encouraged to harvest from the garden the rest of the week, picking the freshest possible vegetables for every meal. At the end of the season, we will leave your yard in a cover crop to enhance next year's soil.

Help Yourself! Consulting: Maintaining a garden takes skills, time, and organization. Many people have the time and energy to maintain a garden, but don't know when to start and how to plan for the full season. This is the service for you! You do the work, and learn different aspects of farming in your unique ecosystem each month. We will provide the plant starts, or we will help you start them yourselves! Everyone in the household can join in the consultation. Eventually, our goal is to teach you how to plan for and create a system that works in your garden, and for your household.

Stephen Colbert promotes Grow Your Own

Check out this funny video from Stephen Colbert about growing your own herbs on the Grist webpage- it is a reaction to an ad for "Survival Seeds" that was being advertised. I agree with the Grist writer who prefers organic seeds from a supplier like Territorial Seed Company or Seed Savers, or Horizon Herbs- all can be found at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply.

Start a Community Garden in your Yard!

We are very passionate about helping people grow food for themselves, and locally sourcing other foods they can't produce on their own.   Even though we create gardens for personal use in your backyard, we are also interested in developing community projects for people to share their food and gardening experience.  Jayne helped start Longfellow Creek Community Garden in her neighborhood, and so far we have grown a lot of food there.  Jenn planned and supervised the planting of the Food Bank garden and farm space on Vashon Island.

Today I (Jayne) came across a great site at communitygarden.org  that shows you step by step how to create a community garden. This year, I am planning the plot (on Longfellow Creek) and I hope it will be even easier to grow and harvest food there. Since we already have the site already prepped and some of the seeds, we have a head start. I plan to use the site through the season to ask questions of veteran community gardeners about the plan, the food, organizing community members, and whatever else comes up for us. I think it will be useful for inspiration this year. We have been wanting to grow food specifically for the food bank, and to grow enough to put some away for the winter. I hope this is the year we can make all of that happen- My winter food bills are way too much!
I hope to be included in a grant to create 4 more community gardens for low income folks in the Delridge area of Seattle. The criteria for having the garden at your house depends on the grant, but you have to share the produce, and maybe the work with your neighbors. If you have a large, sunny garden that you would be willing to transform, please contact us at goodfoodgardens@gmail.com so we can look at your space, decide how many people it could feed, and give you a quote on the hours/ money it would take to transform it into a Mini Farm or see if you are eligible for participation in the grant!

Seedlings in Frosty Weather

I started some seeds on a heat mat inside the house a couple of weeks ago. I was keeping them under lights, but off the heat mat once started.   I went out of town last weekend (to snowboard at Crystal Mountain!) and I didn't have anyone to watch them. I could not get the automatic timer to work correctly, so I decided to put them on the porch for the weekend. They are doing much better than I expected. The lettuce in the original pot is hanging on, but not thriving- the ones I transplanted into the garden bed are gone (either to the birds or slugs). The herb seeds, however, seem to be doing fine in this cool weather. They like to come up naturally, I think.  The beets, onions, and pre-sprouted peas, that I planted outside are not even poking up out of the ground yet. I keep reminding myself that they know what they are doing. We will see how they do as they grow through the season. I will start more seeds next week when this crazy night time frost is over. I like to check Cliff Mass' blog, Cliff is a UW professor and meteorologist and he always has something interesting to say relating to weather and lately he is on a crusade for better math books and teaching in Washington Schools.

Other Gardening/Food Information

The Grist Food Page is always good for some hard core information about the food we eat. I read it as often as I can. I especially love to see what Garden Girl is up to next. She has a cool set up for her chickens in a video posted last year sometime, She has beds that are all the same size, and a coop that sits on top. When they are done in one area, she moves the whole coop to the next bed. I would make the roost higher- chickens like to fly and be up high, and this works because she has so many beds (you can see them in the background of this video if you look for it).

Soil Nutrition Equals Food Nutrition

I came across a great article about the loss of food nutrition from food grown using conventional practices.  This is a great reason to build your soil's fertility and regenerate the nutrition lost from overworking the area! So get your worms growing by eating all your food leftovers, and add all that great compost back to the soil to complete the circle.  Cover cropping with clover in the fall,and tilling/turning  them 2-3 weeks before planting allows them to bring up the nutrients from below the topsoil. Leave a few clover plants in the ground to harvest from. After you harvest the flowers, you can chop in the leaves back into the soil for more plant available nutrition. You can get a few batches of clover flowers through the season, and just adding 3 or 4 of the flowere (fresh or dried) makes a delicious, vitamin enriched, sweet tea without sugar. The article is at Kitchen Gardeners International, check out their other great resources while you are there.

Herbal Landscaping Class at South Seattle Community College!

Herbal Landscaping
6pm to 8pm Tuesdays - 3 sessions starting April 13, 2010, ending April 27, 2010

I will be teaching an herbal landscaping class at South Seattle Community College starting Tuesday, April 13 through April 27th. I will give info about some useful & decorative herb plants that grow well here, as well as some of the benefits of leaving your "weeds" in place so you can harvest them. We will draw out a plan of your garden and make a unique design that fits into your space and your lifestyle using herbs you can harvest and make home remedies from in the future. We will make plant divisions and start seeds for you to take home and plant in your garden. Hope to see you there, or if you are interested in a private consultation, please call me, and we can work together to make your yard a beautiful healing space.
Valerian:

Year of Urban Agriculture in Seattle

Finally the city is catching on: Mayor Mike McGinn, Richard Conlin and other council members announced that 2010 is officially The Year on Urban Agriculture! They plan to "promote urban agriculture efforts and increase community access to locally grown food". They will be supporting the expansion of city P-patch programs, giving away fruit trees, helping to create community gardens, along with opening up the zoning for parking strip gardening.  Check out the Seattle City Council Announcement and thank them! I hope to be building gardens at the Spring into Bed event to build garden beds all over Seattle in one day! It will be held one week before the second Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sale, so everything will be ready for those plants you buy, and hopefully you will know how much you have room for, and where in the garden they go! There is an early sale this year to benefit Seattle Tilth: March 20th at Magnison Park from 9-2.  Volunteer if you can and you will get first dibs on plants without waiting in line- there are always cool people volunteering, so you might just meet a new friend!
*On Tuesday's Weekday show on www.KUOW.org, Steve was talking to a woman about the fact that the city is promoting both Urban Ag and density with the new Mother-in-Law apartment ruling. It sounds like he wanted to have a good debate with her - I would say that people should consider roof top gardens to lower their energy loss through the roof, and to warm up the beds a little? I hope this show happens, I think a lot of gardeners will be happy to see that there are some green builders who embrace this solution.  Write to the station and request the show!
peace-
Jayne

Save the Bees!

Along with soil nutrition, Bees are the most important part of gardening of any type. We can have extremely fertile soil, but without them, we would be out there in the garden with a paintbrush (or a pigtail) moving pollen around on our own! Lots of work on top of tending plants and amending the soil. This is a great blog The Honey Phamplet about urban beekeeping from a guy who does it in the city of Seattle. I am going to get a beehive for my gardens as soon as I can, and sign up all my friends and clients who love honey for his services! He will take care of the hives, and they taste like your flowers- it is amazing. I tasted Lavender and Mint from one hive he has in a friend's yard. He has reviewed a book: A World Without Bees, Benjamin, A. and McCallum, B., Pegasus Books, New York, NY, 2009
It is now on my list to read, but I am afraid of what I will find out! I may have to stock up on those paintbrushes after all.... Another great source for all things about honey and bees is this blog from The Daily Green Beekeeper.

Peas are in the Ground!

I have planted sugar snaps in the ground in three sites so far, and I am hoping the warmer, weather we are supposed to get is going to help them grow. I have more peas to plant if those don't work out, but I am hoping they will! Just remember when you are planting to always plant  more than you need so you can share the bounty with the wildlife (slugs included). You can always thin them by cutting them back with scissors if you have them too close together (2").
I also planted some lettuces in various places, but nothing has grown more than 1/4" tall even in the hoop house. I will continue to plant lettuce seeds every two or three weeks so I will have lettuce to eat through the spring! Mostly I am planting cut and come again varieties outside now, but the head lettuces are started inside. Last year we planted romaine too close together at the community garden, and we never ended up thinning it well enough. It was too wimpy, and then turned bitter and bolted.... That is why we keep planting more- if one batch messes up, just turn it in and plant something else.