Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
A Home Gardener’s Guide
to Growing Potatoes
By Joel Rosen
A Home Gardener’s Guide to Growing Potatoes
Even without considering the culinary benefits, potatoes can be one of the
most rewarding crops in the garden. Throughout the summer the
gardener typically imagines what the growing tubers below the soil
surface look like. When it’s finally time to dig them in the fall, finding so
many flavorful nuggets of all shapes and sizes satisfies a deep longing for
discovery that we knew as children but may have forgotten in the journey
to adulthood. To ensure that your winter supply of potatoes will be
plentiful when you dig them in the fall, it’s helpful to review a few basic
principles.
First, decide how many and what varieties of potatoes you wish to grow and in what quantity. Healthy potato plants yield well, but because most of us eat so many potatoes in a year, you may need a sizable garden
A Home Gardener’s Guide
to Growing Potatoes ………………………...
The Turning of the Seasons
Come Together! ……………………………..
Garden Feature: The Emerald Garden ……
Plant for Pollinator’s …………………………
The Buzz on Work Bees ……………………
Water at the Duluth
Community Garden Program ………………
Why Save Seed? …………………………….
Resources for Seed Starting ……………….
Duluth Public Seed Lending Library ……….
Garden Kickoff ……………………………….
Upcoming Events & Sales ………………….
Our Lincoln Park ……………………………..
The Art of Local Food ……………………….
2015 Seed List …………………………..
Spring & Summer Classes ……………..
Membership Form ……………………….
Table of Contents
Spring 2015
1
2
4
6
8
9
11
14
14
15
15
15
16
Insert
Insert
Insert
Continued on page 12
Potato plants at
Emerson Community
Garden.
The Turning of the Seasons:
Come Together!
By Jahn Hibbs
Spring is here! Or is it ? The other day I was
recalling a particular April morning two years
ago when we had scheduled a ribbon cutting
and ground breaking for the new Emerald
Community Garden. I had just gotten back from
California – think green, sweet smelling
rosemary and ocean air, flowers, and great
food. I was eager to ride that wave of
inspiration as we broke ground the next
morning with the Boys and Girls Club and
Mayor Ness at the new Emerald Community
Garden. We landed in snow, which had turned
to icy cold sleet and wind the following morning.
I began loading up the truck in rather
single-minded fashion when I got the call from
Cheryl, the City of Duluth volunteer coordinator
and our project partner: “Jahn, we need to
cancel the event. We can’t have those kids
standing out there in the sleet.” Of course she
was right, but I sure didn’t want to do it. The
dedication ended up being canceled several
more times as we experienced record snowfalls
for the months of April and May. We finally did
get the garden installed, planted, and
celebrated with our long awaited event – in
August!
The point is, we never really know what we’re
going to get. I’ve always found the cliché of
Minnesotans talking about the weather rather
endearing – with a growing season of just 120
frost-free days it takes on more urgency than
perhaps it does in softer, southern climes. And
now with the chaotic, season-altering effects of
climate change the often heard comment is that
“this isn’t the new normal – there is no normal.”
It’s one reason that I think a community network
of gardeners is more important than ever - a
place to come together to share observations
and best practices to build resiliency. What will
it take to get us there? One thing is clear: We
won’t get there alone. We need to find new
ways to work together better, and we need to
do it now. Here are a couple of variations on
that theme that you can look for from your
community garden program this season.
Working together, learning by doing.
We’ve always organized project days to
complete collective work at the gardens,
whether it’s maintenance projects like tansy
removal or infrastructure improvement such as
building rainwater harvest units, but we’ve
tended to compartmentalize work days with
gardeners at the site and volunteer groups from
the community at large and gardening classes.
This season, the work bee is back, as
described by Megan Brant on p 8. Formerly our
2013-14 GreenCorps service member, Megan
returned to us in January officially joining the
staff team as our new Land Stewardship
Community
Gardener’s
Companion
Newsletter
of the Duluth
Community
Garden Program
Staff:
Jahn Hibbs
Executive Director
Rheanna Letsos
Education and
Outreach
Coordinator
Megan Brant
Land Stewardship
Coordinator
Board Members:
Alison Wood,
President
Skylar Hawkins,
Vice President
Anne Skwira-Brown,
Treasurer
Erin Zoellick,
Secretary
Dan Kislinger
Francois Medion
John Morrice
Marilyn Korby
Sarah Nelson
Tom Kasper
206 West Fourth
Street, Ste. 214
Duluth, MN 55806
218-722-4583
garden@
duluthcommunity
garden.org
2 | COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION
Coordinator. She and Rheanna Letsos will be
working hand in hand to unite educational
opportunities and skill building with service
projects in the garden. Look for projects led off
by a demonstration or other learning
component, followed by project work in which
anyone lend a hand. This is a great opportunity
for scouts, church groups and other
organizations to learn a new skill, make an
impact and meet new people of all ages. Last
fall at Cook Home a group of gardeners and
volunteers learned how to plant garlic, then
turned 800 square feet of a abandoned garden
space into beds of garlic that should be peeping
above the mulch about the time you are reading
this.
Share locally adapted seeds and plants
Our annual fruit tree and shrub sale is taking
place in May. The deadline for preorders is
passed, but you can still visit our booth at the
Duluth Farmers Market Saturdays and
Wednesdays through May to choose from a
unique selection of fruit and nut trees and
shrubs, including hazelnuts, asparagus,
rhubarb, columnar apples, Vitamin C rich
fruiting roses and more. It is important to note
that we do want to push the envelope on what
can be grown in Duluth. That’s why we’ve
offered zone 5 peaches and apricots in the past
and this year we are trying Persimmons and
Lapin Cherries. If you live near the lake and can
influence the microclimate where you will place
them, such as planting in a sheltered area
along a wall, then these items should do well
for you. Live away from the lake, or just starting
out? Play it safe with zone 4 or hardier stock.
We list the hardiness zones and temperatures
in each item description. Either way, by building
up a stock of varieties proven in our Northland
communities we will have something to
propagate and draw upon to increase the
perennial foods we grow here – including much
lacking proteins and oils in the form of nuts.
Share locally adapted knowledge, and hold up
what works
One part of my job that I love is hearing all the
stories of what people are trying in their own
gardens and what successes and failures they
have been enjoying. (Yes, failures can be fun,
too!) We share some of those stories and tidbits
through this newsletter but now we get a
chance to show you, too.
Save the date for Saturday, ,August 8th for our
first Gardens Are Everywhere edible garden
tour, which will feature several private edible
gardens in Duluth as well as one of our
community gardens and school gardens. Food
is a great unifier. When we celebrate food
through gardening, we are forging a connection
with the land and with one another. It is a
participatory act. Renew your commitment.
Teach a class. Host a garden cooking
demonstration or tasting at a community garden
or a youth program such as Kids Café.
Ask a new gardener how they’re doing.
Encourage one another. We see so many
people afraid of failure. Share your knowledge,
but also share your hope. That alone is a good
reason to have a garden. I am constantly
reminded that gardening, like life, is never a
zero-sum game: there are some wins, some
losses, and – hopefully – joy in the doing. CGC
Spring 2015
COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION | 3
Continued from previous page
FROM THE
DIRECTOR
Tammie
Marotta
and
Anthony
Gamble at
The
Emerald
garden
early work
bee.
Dan Kislin-
ger, Ron
Salveson,
Tammie
Marotta,
and Cheryl
Skafte in
the snow in
April at The
Emerald
Community
Garden.
Cook
Home
garlic
planting
My table
overflowing –
exuberance of
propagating
things that
have done well
for me.
Pictures from left to
right:
Garden Feature:
The Emerald Garden
By: Rheanna Letsos
The Emerald Garden was built in the Spring of
2013. The newest community garden site of the
sixteen existing sites that the Duluth
Community Garden Program maintains, and
brand new to the Lincoln Park Neighborhood.
Education and Outreach Coordinator for the
Duluth Community Garden Program, Rheanna
Letsos, interviewed The Emerald Community
Garden, Site Coordinator Tim Larson.
Rheanna: Can you give us a little background
on The Emerald Community Garden from your
perspective?
Tim: When I moved the west side of town a few
years ago, Dan Kislinger--my former neighbor,
DCGP Board member, and mastermind behind
the many new rainwater catchment systems in
Duluth community gardens--posed this
question: "How would you like to have a new
community garden in your new neighborhood?"
It sounded good to me. I had been a
community gardener at the Chester Creek
Garden on the East Hillside, and thought that
my new neighborhood could use a similar
garden space.
Rheanna: How did you feel about the process
for community engagement around the start of
The Emerald Garden?
Tim: I actually became involved around the
time that the Fair Food Access effort was
getting underway in the Lincoln Park
neighborhood. Canvassers came to my home
and invited me to the first meetings, and that
was when I found out about plans underway for
the new garden at West 4th Street and North
20th Avenue West.
Rheanna: So here we are two years later since
The Emerald Garden was built; how has the site
changed?
Tim: When I first visited the site for the new
garden, it looked like a site that had been
bombed recently, or maybe a demolition-debris
landfill. It was all rubble. That's a fond memory
now because of what it has become. I recall
just how hard people worked, and how people
brought a variety of talents to the project. The
DCGP staff, Rheanna and Jahn, were there at
all hours. Ray Whitledge applied his
construction skills and put in many evening
hours operating the Dingo posthole digger as
well as helping to build the foundation for the
rainwater catchment sheds. I recall many
hours spent picking rocks from the garden site
and building the rock wall on one side of the
garden.
4 | COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION
GARDEN
FEATURE
The Emerald Community Garden
Site Coordinator, Tim Larson.
The Hugelkulture (from the German
“hill culture”) mounds on the east
side of the garden.
One image that comes to mind is Bob Flatt
digging several large boulders from his
assigned garden plot. For whatever reason, his
garden space was especially rocky. Later,
Rosemary Hampton spent many hours
distributing compost on the garden plots. As I
recall, we ordered 15 cubic yards of compost in a
huge mound. I think Rosemary moved most of it.
Rheanna: What was one of your favorite
experiences from that first year?
Tim: My favorite time of all was the garden
kickoff, which was going to be in April, but true
to Duluth form, it was postponed due to cruddy
weather and was held in early August 2013 and
turned out to be more a celebration of our
first-year accomplishments rather than a
kickoff, strictly speaking. I fondly recall Mayor
Don Ness kicking a nerf soccer ball that I had
painted to resemble a pumpkin into a kiddie
soccer goal.
Rheanna: What has the interaction
with other gardeners and the
neighborhood been like?
Tim: I have enjoyed getting to know
other gardeners. It has not always
been easy, as our efforts and our
energy have been intense at times,
but if we look at the bigger
picture--what we have
accomplished--wow!--a lot of people deserve
congratulations.
The most satisfying thing for me is how we
went from visioning the garden at early
meetings to making it reality.
Rheanna: What kind of special projects have
you been involved in?
Tim: The site has come a long way. The soil
has been improved greatly. We have a
productive garden. The hugelkultur mounds
have been a learning experience. We have a rain
garden at one end and a rock garden at the other
side. We have a raspberry patch. We have the
first of what is now many rainwater catchment
systems at Duluth's community gardens. Last year
we planted a number of fruit trees and shrubs,
which should literally bear fruit in future years.
In building a rain garden, I enjoyed applying
skills learned at a Minnesota Sea Grant rain
garden workshop (highly recommended if Sea
Grant ever offers this workshop again). We
had a seep or small spring that was flooding
some of the garden plots. Bevan Schraw, who
is since departed, dug a trench to divert the
flow away from his garden space. I built and
planted around the ditch he dug. The rain
garden works to disperse this flow as well as
capturing rainwater so it will slowly seep into
the ground at the garden. Native plants attract
pollinating insects. I believe rain gardens could
play a big role in slowing stormwater run-off
and prevention of floods such as the one we
had in June 2012. I regard our rain garden as a
sort of demonstration project.
Rheanna: There were two large site amenities
built along with the installation of the garden
plots, the rainwater harvest systems and the
three bin compost system; can you tell me a
little bit about these?
Tim: The rainwater catchment
system will probably become
more important. The City of
Duluth helped us out a lot by
filling the tanks with city water
during our dry first growing
season. Last year was a better
year for rainfall, and the City
assisted, too. Since we do not have easy
access to water, the catchment tanks should
help a lot in the future. Dan Kislinger deserves
credit for designing and helping to build
these--all across the city, now.
We are still waiting for our first compost from
the three-bin compost system that Francois
Medion designed. One bin is cooking away
currently. We hope to have homegrown
compost ready in 2016 made from biomass
generated at the garden.
Both of these structures are educational
demonstration projects as well as functional
parts of the garden. People stop and ask about
them all the time.
“The most satisfying
thing for me is how we
went from visioning the
garden at early
meetings to making it a
reality.”
Spring 2015
COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION | 5
Continued from previous page
GARDEN
FEATURE
Continued on the next page
Rheanna: What is it like being the Site
Coordinator at The Emerald?
Tim: For me, the Site Coordinator job has been
satisfying mostly because of all the people I
have met. Sometimes people expect me to be
groundskeeper, or to commit to big,
time-consuming ideas for the garden that they
envision when I have other things I want to do
with my life. Gardening, itself, is pretty
time-intensive during our short Duluth growing
seasons! I am incapable of maintaining the
grounds around the garden as well as might be
desired. The grounds around the garden could
be a beautiful, park-like space; but I do not
have time to make it that way. I also am a
teacher, writer, and painter with limited time
and energy, and I just cannot do everything
everybody might like as well as they might like
me to do it. In the past couple of years, this
has been about the only art I have done--and I
do regard this garden as a kind of art project. I
still struggle, though, with the time it takes and
with meeting my other personal goals, too.
Rheanna: Anything else you would like to say
about your experience at The Emerald Garden?
Tim: On the whole, I have enjoyed taking part
in an effort that is way bigger than I am. I have
enjoyed meeting new people and learning from
gardeners who know more about what they are
doing than I do. I really like the lifelong learning
aspect. CGC
Plant For Pollinators
By Tim Larson
Many years ago, I began growing flowers,
hoping to invite butterflies and hummingbirds to
the second-floor balcony of my apartment on
Duluth’s East Hillside. My container gardens
succeeded at attracting a variety of colorful
creatures—birds as well as insects--to my
urban home.
Ten years ago, a friend asked if I would like to use
her community garden space while she spent a
summer abroad on a teaching assignment. I
accepted this opportunity, and planted vegetables
as well as a few flowers, vaguely aware that
attracting pollinators to the garden might help fruits
and vegetables to thrive; but mainly I planted
flowers for their colors and scents as well as for the
beautiful butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds that
visited during the growing season.
Two years ago, I constructed and planted a rain
garden at the Emerald Garden in Duluth’s Lincoln
Park neighborhood, and have enjoyed cultivating
native flowering plants in the rock garden in front of
my home on Duluth’s West Hillside. A big part of
my enjoyment of gardening is sharing my
neighborhood with birds, butterflies, and other
animals while creating habitat for them.
Along the way, I have learned much from area
plant and wildlife experts who know more than I
ever will.
Pollinators in peril
Pollinator species are in decline. Monarch
butterflies have suffered an estimated 90%
decrease in their North American population and
soon could be a designated threatened species in
the United States. Human-tended honeybee hives
have declined by the millions from colony collapse,
due to a variety of causes. Farm herbicides and
habitat destruction are two often-cited reasons for
these pollinator population crashes. As a result,
some crops are suffering from the lack of
pollination.
What we can do: planting for pollinators
We can attract pollinator species to our gardens by
growing flowering plants, shrubs, and trees. Not
only will we enjoy the colorful blooms, butterflies,
and birds—we will
6 | COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION
Continued from page 5
Arial view of The Emerald Garden late
summer 2014.
GARDEN
FEATURE
help our gardens to grow. We can also do our
part to save species such as the Monarch
butterfly.
Cultivated flowers will attract pollinator visitors
while providing a source of nectar. Sunflowers,
zinnias, cosmos, chrysanthemums, calendula,
morning glories, and petunias will all attract
pollinators. Neighbors appreciate the beauty of
flowering plants. Children enjoy making
bouquets with them. They provide beauty in
our surroundings while we work in our gardens.
Why native plants are better
Native plants are made to grow in the extremes
of our Lake Superior-region climate. For this
reason, seeds from local plants are best.
Native plants are not only nectar sources for
pollinators. Native plants are also host
speicies. Common Milkweed provides food and
habitat for the Monarch caterpillar. Pearly
Everlasting provides food and shelter for the
Painted Lady caterpillar.
The following list includes just a few native
flowering plants likely to attract pollinators to
our gardens:
Monarda species (Bee Balm, Bergamot,
Oswego Tea)
Common Milkweed
Swamp Milkweed
Joe Pye Weed
Hyssop
Rudbeckia (Black-Eyed Susans)
Echinacea (Coneflowers)
Cosmos
Coreopsis
Save the Monarchs!
Gardeners can help Monarch butterflies by planting
milkweed. Common Milkweed seeds are more
likely to germinate if 1) they come from local plants
and 2) if they have been cold-stratified (exposed to
damp, cold conditions before planting). To
improve germination of milkweed seeds, place
them inside a moistened paper towel or damp
vermiculite and keep them refrigerated for a few
weeks before planting. Seed can also be
distributed very early, before the growing season,
to help the seeds to sprout.
Small milkweed plants are available for sale
from area greenhouses specializing in native
plants such as Boreal Natives and Leaning
Pine Nursery. Boreal Natives also sells native
seeds and potted native plants, as well as a
variety of seed mixes.
The Duluth Community Garden Program will
have milkweed seed available at the Seed and
Transplant Sale on May 23rd.
A few tips
Clumps and bunches of flowering plants
provide better food and habitat for pollinators
than single plants. Layers of short and taller
plants provide shelter from the wind. Flowering
shrubs will also attract pollinators.
Where to acquire flowering plants
· DCGP Fruit Tree and Shrub Sale (The month
of May at The Duluth Farmer’s Market)
· DCGP Seed & Transplant Sale (May 23)
Many area garden centers sell plants that will
attract pollinators, some specializing in native
plants.
Resources
Monarch Joint Venture (26 organizations joining
together to save the Monarch butterfly)
http://www.monarchjointventure.org/
Save the Monarch Butterfly
http://www.fws.gov/savethemonarch/
Wild Ones—Arrowhead Chapter (native plant
advocacy) http://arrowhead.wildones.org/
North American Butterfly Association
http://nababutterfly.com/start-butterfly-garden/
Xerces Society
http://www.xerces.org/pollinators-great-lakes-
region/ CGC
Spring 2015
COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION | 7
Continued from previous page
GARDEN
TIPS
The Buzz on Work Bees
By Megan Brant
"Work bees" are days where community
gardeners and volunteers gather together to
complete garden projects and maintenance.
A social gathering often follows the work, and
many times food is shared (we gardeners are
known to love our potlucks). Work bees have
gone by many names in the past—"work
parties" and "work days" are examples. For
clarity's sake, DCGP decided to settle on one
term when describing these events, and we
chose work bee due to its connection with a
history of community work in America.
Many cultures have terms for communal work
and community spirit. Here are a few examples:
(these and more found at http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_work)
• Gadugi is Cherokee for "working together," or
"cooperative labor within a community."
• Meitheal, in Irish, conveys the idea of
community spirit in which neighbors respond to
each other's needs.
• Talkoot is Finnish for a "gathering of friends
and neighbors to accomplish a task."
• Harambee is the official motto of Kenya and
means "all pull together" in Swahili.
• Dugnadsand in Norse means "the spirit of will
to work together for a better community."
Work bee is the term traditionally used in the
English language. It is common in literature
describing colonial America, and is still in use
around the United States and Australia.
Many believe that the term work bee is
associated with the insect of the same name,
due to the way that bees work together. This is
not, however, how the term originated; it
actually comes from the English dialectical
bean (meaning "help given by neighbors"),
which is rooted in the Middle English bene
(meaning "prayer," "boon," and "extra service
by a tenant to his lord").
One common application is in barn raisings; a
tradition continued by present day Amish and
Mennonite communities. Barn raisings require a
huge amount of labor, and in isolated
communities where it was impossible or
expensive to hire professional builders, it was
imperative that the entire community unite to
complete the work. Winters in New England
were harsher than the settlers' native European
homes, and added urgency to the task of barn
construction. That is certainly something that
we can understand here in Northern Minnesota,
where our short growing season demands an
"all-hands-on-deck" approach to garden
projects.
As community gardeners we are proud to be
part of a legacy of community work. Gardeners
gather together to be good stewards of the
earth. We complete tasks to better the health,
beauty, and productivity of the gardens, even
when we ourselves may not reap the fruits of
our labors. In my first season with the Duluth
Community Garden Program I was blown away
by the community spirit that I felt, and by the
willingness of members to give up their
valuable spare time to help create something
together for the community. We definitely have
"dugnadsand" here, and that is something to be
celebrated.
We ask that community gardeners participate in
at least one work bee at their garden site during
the season, and encourage you to take part in
more. Work bees are a wonderful educational
opportunity to learn about different gardening
and construction techniques. There is a dignity
and a joy in labor with your neighbor. While you
participate in work bees, think about this
history, and be proud of what you are a part of!
I will end with one of my favorite quotes, from
Kahlil Gibran's "On Work":
"You work that you may keep pace with the
earth and the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the
seasons,
and to step out of life's procession, that
marches in majesty and proud submission
towards the infinite.
8 | COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION
GARDEN
Continued on the next page
When you work you are a flute through whose
heart the whispering of the hours turns to
music.
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent,
when all else sings together in unison?
Always you have been told that work is a curse
and labour a misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work you fulfill a
part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you
when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labour you are in
truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be intimate
with life's inmost secret." CGC
Water at the Duluth
Community Garden Program
By Megan Brant
Over the last few years we've been hearing a lot about water shortages in California, with many local governments deciding to ration water for outdoor use. Water shortages such as this are happening all over the globe: in Northwestern India, the North China Plain, the Middle East, and the Southern Plains of the United States, among others (Philpott, 2014, Mother Jones). These are all areas used for intensive agriculture, where aquifers are depleted because groundwater is pumped for irrigation. In the face of climate change, water is becoming scarcer and weather patterns are becoming more erratic (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2014; United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2014). As community gardeners we are land stewards, and we must think about our role in protecting this important natural resource that we all depend on.
So where does water for the community gardens come from? Water sources differ between gardens sites, because each site is unique in its topography, groundwater and stream access, microclimates, etc. Disparities in water sources can be confusing, so in order to provide clarity, the Land Stewardship Committee is rolling out a water policy this year. All site coordinators will have a copy of the water policy to share with gardeners, and the
policy will also be available on our new website and by email or paper copy upon request.
The Duluth Community Garden Program is not
obligated to provide water to garden sites.
DCGP will do as much as possible to facilitate
the availability of adequate water at its gardens,
but it is ultimately the responsibility of the
gardeners to procure water to maintain their
gardens. Because the DCGP's capacity to
facilitate water may differ yearly based on cost
and a
vailability, DCGP communicates the quantity
and source of water to site coordinators at the
beginning of each season. Gardeners at each
site should decide together how to responsibly
use this water, and if additional water is needed
how it will be procured. This will be an
important topic to cover in garden orientation
meetings at the beginning of the season.
DCGP is taking steps to sustainably harvest
more water at the gardens. During the 2014
season, volunteers constructed five rainwater
harvest systems: one at Liliput Community
Garden and four at Riverside Community
Garden. Land Stewardship Committee member
Dan Kislinger designed these rainwater harvest
systems, which are wooden structures with a
slanted roof above a 200-gallon water tank.
Rainwater runs down the roof and is stored in
the tank (these systems were featured in the
Winter newsletter). There are also rainwater
harvest systems at the Emerald and Rocky
Ledge, and water is piped from a neighbor's
garage into a storage tank at Bertha's.
We want to continue expanding rainwater
collection and utilizing natural water sources at
our gardens—be creative and bring your ideas
for water collection to the Land Stewardship
Committee, we'd love to hear them!
(Contact Land Stewardship Coordinator Megan
Brant for more information).
In the meantime, here are some things that you
can do in your garden this season to conserve
water:
Spring 2015
COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION | 9
Continued from previous page
Continued on the next page
GARDEN
1. Use watering cans instead of hoses or
dumping buckets into the soil. Do not use
broadcast spraying (this means standing in one
place, spraying water in to the air above
plants).
2. Direct water towards the base of plants to get
to the roots, not sprinkled over leaves.
3. Water only when previous week's rainfall is
less than 1", except when you are establishing
seedlings, as they will need more water.
4. Mulch! This is the best thing that you can do.
Mulching retains soil moisture, reduces weed
pressure, and adds organic matter into the soil.
Some common mulches are straw, leaves, and
woodchips. You can often find these materials
for free.
5. Add compost. Rich, fertile soil is much better
at evenly holding moisture than heavy clay soils
or sandy soils. It also provides food for
microorganisms in the soil that will help your
garden grow.
6. Do not water at midday when the sun is at its
full strength. Most of the water will evaporate
before it even makes it to the roots of your
plants. Water early in the morning when
possible, so plants can absorb water before the
heat of the day.
Not only are these practices good for saving
water—they also create tougher plants.
Over-watering leads to plants with wimpy roots,
because they are used to having plentiful water
without working for it. If you are conservative
with your water, plants will develop deeper root
systems that will make them more resilient in
the face of drought or things that try to uproot
them.
Resources
Alexander, K. (8/12/14). California drought: S.F. poised to require water rationing. SF Gate. Re-treived from http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-poised-for-drought-water-rationing-5682398.php Philpott, T. (10/30/14). These maps of
California’s water shortage are terrifying.
Mother Jones. Retrieved from: http://
www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/10/
caliifornia-groundwater-withdrawal-china-india-
middle-easthttp://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/
article/San-Francisco-poised-for-drought-water-
rationing-5682398.php
Natural Resources Defense Council. (2014). The Consequences of Global Warming on Weather Patterns. Retrieved from: http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/fcons/fcons1.asp United States Environmental Protection
Agency. (2014). Climate Change Indicators in
the United States. Retrieved from http://
www.epa.gov/climate/climatechange/science/
indicators/weather-climate/index.html
CGC
10 | COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION
Continued from previous page
Call for Writers!
Have a story, gardening tips or
advice you’d like to share?
We’d like to hear from you!
Submit an article to our newsletter coordi-
nator and have it published in the next
Community Gardener Companion.
Submission deadlines:
March 1
June 1
September 1
December 1
If interested, contact newsletter
coordinator Rheanna Letsos,
GARDEN
Why Save Seed?
By Bonnie Ambrosi
From ancient times until our great-
grandparents’ day, saving seed was an integral
part of gardening. This changed when seed
companies began to do the work of
seed-saving for us. Nowadays, most of us buy
new, packaged seeds every year.
Wonderfully convenient! But, as with many
conveniences, something is lost. Saving our
own seed on a small scale is not difficult and it
offers some unique rewards.
Waste Not, Want Not. Seed-saving appeals to
our sense of thrift, not wanting any good thing
to go unused. The seed-saver knows the
satisfaction of gathering up the garden’s bounty
of seed and storing it for next year or to share
with others.
Self-Reliance. Perhaps we’re too quick to
believe that certain task are beyond our skills.
As Marc Rogers writes in Saving Seeds, “Any
small
measure of self-reliance we can recapture in
our overly dependent society is cause for
satisfaction.” Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson as-
serts in his essay Self-Reliance, “Trust thyself:
Every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
Suit Yourself. By saving seed over several
years from plants you’ve grown yourself, you
may
develop strains that are ideally adapted to your
garden and growing conditions. Imagine a
bean that would rather grow in your garden
than
anywhere else!
Living History. The activity of seed-saving is
one we share with untold generations of
ancestors, and the plant varieties themselves
are living links to times past. We are also re-
minded of our
opportunity to pass these treasures on to future
generations.
Go Full Circle. By saving seed, we participate
in an essential part of the garden’s life cycle—a
part that we miss when we buy new seed every
year. The unbroken circle of birth, growth,
death and rebirth that we see in the seed cycle
has awed and inspired mankind from our
earliest recorded history.
Why Save Seed With Children?
Kids make great seed-savers! Here are some
reasons why:
Natural Collectors. Have you noticed that
young children love to collect things? Rocks,
sticks, leaves, pine cones. Seed-saving is right
up their alley.
Little Things. Seed-saving appeals to a child’s
innate delight in all things tiny. While walking
with my husband among giant redwoods in
northern California, we saw a boy with his
father. We adults were all agog at the colossal
trees, but the boy seemed indifferent—then
suddenly he lit up and exclaimed excitedly,
“Look, Dad, a BUG!” Seeds are on the same
wonderfully small scale.
Hands-On. Children enjoy the tactile quality of
seed-saving. Saving seeds is very much a
hands-on operation. The dry seed heads and
pods have interesting textures and shapes.
Opening them is like looking for secret treas-
ures. And the seeds are basically unbreakable.
Seedy Style. We grownups often want things
to look nice, and may find it difficult to
appreciate the “seedy” look of a garden that
has matured into seed production. Kids have
no problem with this. They know that in order
to be creative you
sometimes have to get messy.
Sense of Wonder. Seed-saving, in its own
understated way, magnifies our children’s
natural sense of wonder and supports their in-
herent faith in the continuity of life. The
unbroken life-stream from seed to plant to seed
again seems right and reassuring to a child.
Pass It On. Teaching kids about seed-saving
preserves a valuable skill and passes it on from
one generation to another. How better to
ensure that there will be seed-savers in the
future? CGC
COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION | 11
GARDEN
TIPS
space to ensure a year’s supply. Keep in mind
that some varieties tend to yield better than
others, but as a general rule of thumb, potato
plants that are spaced 12” apart in rows 30 to
36” apart in good soil with steady adequate
moisture will yield somewhere in the range of
1.5 to 4 lbs per plant or running foot. So if you
think your family will eat 300 lbs of potatoes in a
year, plan on planting about 200 row feet of
potatoes spaced as noted above. This way, if
your yields are disappointing , you should still
meet the target quantity, and if they do rea-
sonably well, there should be more than
enough to save for seed as well as eating.
To estimate the amount of seed needed, keep
in mind that each seed piece should ideally
contain 2 viable eyes that have begun to sprout
(or are at least on the verge of sprouting). You
can cut these seed pieces fairly small: minimum
size is about 1 oz, or slightly bigger than a
walnut. For most standard shape potatoes, one
pound of seed will plant about 10 feet (or make
10 seed pieces). If you use really large
potatoes for seed (say 1 pound tubers), this
figure will be lower, because it’s unlikely you’ll
be able to cut up a 1 lb potato into more than 5
or 6 seed pieces. If you plant fingerlings, you
can figure on getting more pieces per pound
because the eyes are located fairly densely
along the transverse axis of the finger-shaped
tuber; a pound of fingerlings will usually plant
15 to 20 row feet. Some gardeners like to
pre-sprout their potatoes and toughen them for
a few days in a sunny windowsill. Try to avoid
letting the sprouts get so long before planting
that most of them break off before you get them
covered with soil. It’s not necessary for your
seed potatoes to be as firm as the tubers you
eat, but if they are showing signs of decay,
there’s a good chance they will rot in the
ground before sprouting.
For the main crop of potatoes, I suggest
planting in a trench deep enough to cover with
3 to 4” of soil. Allow enough space to hill them
up several inches higher once the plants are
well established. There are some good
reasons to plant your main crop in early to mid
June: the soil at the 3” depth should be warm
enough by then to allow sprouting in two weeks
or less. Planting on this cycle also allows the
potatoes to bulk up when the soil is slightly
cooler (60 to 65F soil temperature is ideal), and
this leads to the healthiest plants and the best
yields. If you are gardening in an area prone to
frost in late August or early September, you
might want to plant a bit earlier or avoid long
season potatoes. Yields will be significantly
lower if frost blackens the vines while the
potatoes are still bulking up. A short season
potato like Red Norland or Yukon Gold is
usually mature in 60 to 70 days, but late season
potatoes like German Butterball or Rose Finn
Apple can take 90 days or more before
reaching their full potential. Planting the main
crop in June is also better for storage. By the
time you dig the main crop, the weather will be
cool enough that the tubers can go into your
root cellar or other storage facility at a close to
desirable temperature.
For potatoes planted in spring to be harvested
as new potatoes, I suggest you plant shallower
than the main crop for two reasons: they will
take longer to germinate if you plant them at a
3-4” depth, and if you’re going to harvest them
young, there is less concern about keeping all
the tubers well covered to avoid greening from
exposure to light. By the same reasoning, if
you’re going to harvest new potatoes, you can
plant them closer together than normal because
you will dig most of them before they reach full
size. 8 to 10 inch spacing In the rows for new
potatoes is adequate for most varieties.
As mentioned earlier, potatoes grow best at
cool soil temperatures and with a steady
moisture supply. Hilling potatoes is a
time-honored technique that helps keep the soil
cool and also helps to conserve moisture. Of
course, if the soil is dry when you hill, and no
rain is in sight, you should set up some kind of
irrigation, if at all possible. To hill up soil, use a
large-bladed hoe and draw the soil toward the
plants in the rows from both directions. Wait
until sprouts are well established and more than
6” tall before hilling the first time, and if
possible, hill twice more, especially if your soil
is loose and sandy and heavy rains have
washed away some of the hilling. The final
hilling will help prevent tall vigorous vines from
falling over in thunderstorms, and it will also
12 | COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION
FROM THE
DIRECTOR
Continued on the next page
Continued from page 1
yields (or in extreme cases, nothing at all). On
the home garden scale, the best strategy is to
pick the first beetles that appear several times a
day in the hopes of preventing any egg
masses. Once the eggs hatch, larva can be
picked or brushed into containers after they
have grown for a few days, but by then at least
some damage will have been done. In our
climate, you can expect a second generation of
beetles, and hand-picking them at the beetle
stage will, of course, be easier than once the
eggs have hatched into a second generation of
larvae.
If you make your first planting for new potatoes
a small one, it’s not that difficult to find and
destroy all the early beetles and prevent a more
serious situation from developing later in the
season when the main crop is growing.
Once the final hilling has been accomplished
and the potato bugs have been brought under
control, there’s not much to do before harvest
except ensure adequate moisture. We’ll talk
about digging and storing potatoes in the next
issue. CGC
COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION | 13
GARDEN
TIPS
protect the tubers closest to the surface from
greening. Hilling in a timely fashion will also
give you excellent weed control.
Even in good soil and with good planting stock,
there are a number of things that can go wrong
with potatoes. Irregular moisture supply,
especially in the period when tubers are bulking
up, can cause small size, odd shapes, and
increased susceptibility to scurf and scab.
Scurf, primarily a cosmetic condition (raised
black “dots” that can be scraped off) that does
not affect the interior, is objectionable primarily
for aesthetic reasons and if you want to eat the
skins. Scab is a somewhat more serious
disease which can affect the interior and be
passed on to the next generation through seed
potatoes. Potatoes grown in soil with pH
above 6.0 are at increased risk for scab, so you
may wish to amend the soil for potatoes with
something like pine needles or gypsum
(calcium sulfate). Dry soil conditions will
increase the risk of scab. Use of un-composted
manure as a soil amendement may also in-
crease the risk of scab. A dry period followed
by abundant moisture may also cause a
growth spurt which results in hollow heart – a
condition that is usually not discovered until the
potato is sliced open. The center will have a
hard, dry, brown texture with some airspace,
and the texture of mashed potatoes will be
marred by an unpleasant crunchiness that even
extended cooking will not remedy.
There are a variety of insects that can cause
problems for potatoes, but for our region, the
Colorado potato beetle is enemy number one.
The first time you see one of these striped
beetles crawling around on the foliage, it may
not seem like much of a threat, but each beetle
will lay large numbers of eggs, yellow-orange in
color, on the underside of potato vine leaves.
Once these hatch into larva, the problem will
quickly become apparent. In warm weather,
the larva can go from tiny red and black specks
to soft bodied plump insects nearly a quarter
inch in diameter.
If allowed to go unchecked, armies of these
larva can rapidly defoliate a potato plant, and if
your tubers are just starting to bulk up, the
result will be very small potatoes and poor
Continued from previous page
Potatoes unearthed after a good
growing season.
18 | COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION
RESOURCES
Resources for Seed Starting
The New Seed Starter’s Handbook by Nancy
Bubel. Pretty extensive including starting seeds
indoors, moving plants outdoors, special
techniques, and saving seeds.
The New Organic Grower by Elliot Colemon.
Lots of good info, including a table that tells you
when and what veggies to plant indoors, when
to set out transplants, and when and what
veggies to direct seed. A copy is available to
borrow from DCGP’s lending library!
Joel Rosen’s Planting Guide, a handout created
by a local farmer that gives the locally-relevant
dates for setting out transplants and direct
seeding. Available from DCGP.
http://yougrowgirl.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/ygg_seedstartingchart.pdf A seed starting chart that explains when to start what seeds indoors and when to plant them outside.
http://yourgardeningfriend.com/2014/02/11/how-to-make-your-own-seed-starter-mix/ This blog post provides a great seed starting mix and explains what the different components are and what they do.
Seed Starting Recipe 4 parts screened compost
1 part perlite
1 part vermiculite
2 parts peat moss or organic coir
Add water to mixture while mixing. Saturation is at
a good level if you can squeeze the mix and drops
of water (not a stream) drip out.
Seed Bomb Recipe Makes enough for 50 penny-sized balls or a
dozen larger seed bombs
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups clay
1 cup compost, sifted
¼-1/2 cup seeds
water
Steps:
Mix together all dry
ingredients.
Duluth Public Seed Lending Library
2015 Seed List
Beans
Black Valentine, Calypso, Fortex, Jade, Kenearly,
Yellow Eye, Pencil Pod, Golden Wax, Red Noodle.
Peas
Dwarf Grey Sugar, Feisty, Green Arrow, Sugar
Sprint, Tom Thumb.
Tomatoes
Amish Paste, Black Krim, Currant Sweet Pea,
Halladay's Mortgage Lifter, Martino's Roma,
Moskvich, Yellow Pear.
Peppers
Antohi Romanian, Jalapeno Traveler, King of the
North, Yankee Bell.
Lettuces (new this year)
Baby Oakleaf, Deer Tongue, Grandpa
Admire's, Rouge D'Hiver.
Dills (new this year)
Boquet, Goldkrone Bunching.
Seed Lending station at the Duluth Public
Library.
Add water until sticky.
Roll or press into desired
shapes.
Dry.
Sow liberally and wait for
rain.
Share with friends.
COMMUNITY GARDENER COMPANION | 19
NEWS, SALES
& EVENTS
Annual Fruit Tree & Shrub Sale
At the Duluth Farmer’s Market The Duluth Community Garden Program will be
at the Duluth Farmer’s Market every
Wednesday and Saturday beginning on
May 2nd and running through May 23rd.
2015 Market hours: The Duluth Farmer’s
Market on 14th Ave E. opening day is Saturday,
May 2. New Saturday hours: 8 am to noon.
Wednesday hours: 2 pm to 6 pm.
Gardens Are Everywhere
Tour
Saturday, August 8th, 2015
$17 self guided tour. $38 bus tour,
includes lunch. 5 private edible
gardens, 2 public. Look for where
to get your tickets soon on our
e-newsletter, website and
Facebook.
Garden Kickoff Week
New gardeners and community members
visited us at the Duluth Community Garden
Program office during Garden Kickoff week!
Located at the Damiano Center, folks came
down for our open house and extended office
hours to sign up for their 2015 community
garden plot. There was also music, garden
seed & supply swap, kids activities,
refreshments, and seeds available for
purchase.
Musicians Charlotte Montgomery,
Kyle Ollah, and Skylar Hawkins.
Annual Seed & Transplant Sale
Saturday, May 23rd, 8:00 am to 12:00 pm.
At Holy Family Church in Lincoln Park.
Volunteer
Mike
Olund
helping a
young
gardener
start his
very own
seeds.
New and
returning
gardeners
watching
the
orientation
video.
Adeline Inc.
Arrowhead Professional Chefs Asso-
ciation
Barb’s Garden
Blue Cross Blue Shield Center for
Prevention
City of Duluth—Parks & Recreation
Clyde Iron Works
Denny’s Lawn & Garden
Duluth Grill
Duluth Superior Area Community
Foundation
Dunn Bros.
Edelweiss Nursery
Fair Food Access Lincoln Park
Healthy Duluth Area Coalition
Healthy Northland-Statewide Health
Improvement Program
Hillside Public Orchard
Jefferson Peoples House
Lafayette Community Edible Garden
Lake Superior Good Food Network
Maurices
One Roof
Paper Hog
Tom Young & Associates
Whole Foods Co-op
And all of our members
Thank you!
Duluth Community Garden Program
Plant-A-Lot
206 West Fourth Street
Suite 214
Duluth, MN 55806
218.722.4583
www.duluthcommunitygarden.org
We thank all our supporters and community partners:
Thank you for joining us at the 4th Art of Local
Food and showing your generous support.
You help make community gardening possible.
