What's a Community Without a Garden?

Thanks to my parents, I was exposed to growing food in a garden at a young age. Some of my earlier memories include helping my dad pick beans and going out to cut some chives at my mom's request. Even picking black raspberries that grew wild along a hill behind our home sticks out as being such an important and happy thing etched on the grooves of my mind. And while through my early adult life I was not actively gardening, the memory and passion lay dormant inside me, much like a seed. But even if that was not your experience, it still can be. Intimidating as it may seem, getting out in the garden and growing your own food can help create better health and memories. But before I get into a dissertation on the joys and benefits inherent in gardening, I should point out that I know all too well that it is not always easy to have a space to grow your own food especially when you start looking to branch out beyond containers. 

I think I've mentioned to a handful of people out there, especially the ones in my close gardening circle, that I have recently taken on the shared responsibility of helping run and maintain the MLK Community Garden with fellow plant lovers, Cassie and Carol with some assists from John who is the Garden Program Coordinator at Ingham County Land Bank Garden Program. I am excited for the opportunity to help with not only an important community function but also to continue to share, talk and learn with other people who are both knowledgeable and seeking knowledge about growing food and flowers. 

When people are afforded resources and knowledge, they are able to take that dream and make it a little bigger. So for you dreamers out there, if you had enough land to plant whatever you wanted in mass quantities but it could only be one thing and one thing only... what would you choose? And why? 

Happy Dreaming

Early Organization of the Garden

In one of my last posts discussing getting your garden prepared in the winter, I spoke on the importance of planning your garden early. I truly believe that the early planning of a garden is one of the most critical steps to having a successful harvest in the summer months.

If you are like me (read: procrastinator) than planning something 4 months in advanced seems a bit daunting. But the good news is that it can be broken down into multiple steps and it really doesn't have to be super complicated as evidenced by my hand drawings of my future garden.

And there it is. Proof of my walking the walk. As you can see, I clearly did not go to great lengths to make this a complicated venture. Just a pencil, notebook paper and some foresight as to what I might want to plant where. I do not have a very large city lot and this drawing is certainly not to scale but I try to make the best use of the space that I do have. Other things that I keep in mind are my own crop rotation cycle as well as what kind of sun each area gets. There are some sites on my property that only get partial sun and remain in the shade for the better part of the afternoon. I am able to grow things in these spots but only certain crops will work. For instance, some crops such as lettuce, spinach, green onions and cilantro have all done really well in partial sun but things like tomatoes and peppers would almost surely fail. If anyone has any questions about crop rotation or the difference between full sun and partial sun/shade crops, please let me know so I can perhaps write a post addressing these issues.

The other thing I addressed while doing this planning is making an itemized list of all of the viable seeds, vegetable and flower, that I had in my stock. I checked the dates on all of the seeds and determined if they might still be good by checking this site on the potential seed expirations. After gathering a list of what I already have, I made a list of what seeds I would need to purchase. You may even want to do this step first if you are not sure of what you are going to plant.

Hopefully by showing you one of the first steps I take in getting my garden prepped in January, it will inspire you to do the same. I promise you that when you plan ahead for your garden in this manner, your garden will be in much better shape to succeed before you even put a seed in the ground.

Inspiration for a "Four Season Harvest"

"Four season harvest is based on a simple premise. Whereas the growing season may be chiefly limited to the warmer months, the harvest season has no such limits. We enjoy a year round harvest by following two practices: succession planting and crop protection." 

I have to start out this entry by thanking my in-laws, Mike Stratton and Cathie Blumer. They gave me a book for Christmas titled Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman. I have just recently picked it up but I am most certainly already inspired. Most of the ideas in this post will have come from or been inspired by that book.

Under this blanket of snow and ice that is called Michigan right now (not a complaint, merely an observation), I am starting to get antsy in anticipation for spring and the new dawn of the gardening season. This book is teaching me that I don't have to be mercy to the elements in order to garden. Part of me has already known these things. I am and have been very much aware of green houses and cold frames. I just have not been motivated enough to really invest the time into really making these things a reality. No more. The motivation has kicked in.

There are too many ways to create spaces that will grow cold hardy and tolerant vegetables to ignore it any longer. There are also many beneficial reasons to do so as well. Freshness, variety, quality and simplicity are all reasons to make a four season harvest happen.

As I read through this book and obtain even more inspirations, I will no doubt be sharing them with you. Until then, I will share this quote which struck a note within myself as a truth not to be denied.

"In our grandfathers' day, people celebrated the seasonality and variety of the home garden. They knew that one cabbage tasted best fresh in June and that another made the best sauerkraut. This was the pea for eating fresh and that one for drying. They were familiar with fifty different apples and twenty kinds of pears. They knew when these were ripe and which blended best for cider or complemented the flavor of this or that cheese. We can recover such civilized living again."