Organic Gardening Basics

A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Letter to all State Governors on a Uniform Soil Conservation Law (26 February 1937)

We went to an organic gardening class at the Natick Community Organic Farm sponsored by NOFA on Saturday and came away with a ton of useful information. The above quote was by far the most eye opening as to the importance of soil quality to society. Soil is a fragile resource that must be protected and improved in the coming years to maintain crops. Read on to access my notes from the day regarding Soil, Seeds, Composting, Planting and more.

Winter Farm Share

Winter Farm Share

We joined a new CSA for the Winter and had our first pickup last weekend.  We were stunned by the amount of awesome quality vegetables that we received.  The Romanesco broccoli or broccoflower pictured below was by far the strangest thing in the bin.  We had some last night with dinner and it tasted a lot like cauliflower.

Romanesco broccoli

Originally uploaded by jjzach

Backyard Beauties

On the show Chronicle last night I learned about Backyard Beauties, a year round local tomato option for New Englanders. They are located in Maine and they ship fully vine-ripened tomatoes the same day of harvest. Instead of being picked green and ripening on a truck, their tomatoes stay on the vine until the last possible second. I’m so happy to hear of a local tomato option for the winter months.

Bad Carrot Crop

Freaky Carrot from the Garden

Originally uploaded by jjzach

This was not a good year for our carrots. They all came out looking like this and tasted like card board. I think next year I need to do some crop rotation. Carrot gardening tips has many great tips. On a side note I saw some beautiful purple carrots when I was at a farmer’s market in Vermont.

Random Carrot Factoid: Carrots are originally from the Mediterranean region.

Window Box Recipe

2 Pink Geraniums
2 White Geraniums
2 Dusty Millers
1 Purple Verbena
= a pretty combo that doesn’t need to be watered 5 times a day. I’m especially happy with the Carpet Blue Verbena in the center. It has grown quite long and has some pretty purple flowers.

Push Mower

Our latest green investment is a push mower from Clean Air Gardening. We sprung for the attachment to catch grass clippings. We will use some of the dry grass clippings to mulch the beds in the fall and for the compost.  It is nice not to have to buy gasoline, and now there is no noise pollution coming from our yard on Saturday.  You do have to mow every week, otherwise it is super hard to push.

Rain Barrel

I picked up a 55 gallon recycled rain barrel today. One half inch of rain will fill the whole barrel! It is a New England Rain Barrel that we were able to get at a reduced rate through our town. It is kind of an unsightly blue color, but the inside color resists algae and prevents the water from getting too hot. Both Krylon and Rustoleum make spray paint that is for plastic so we plan to paint ours green.

Strawberry Soup

Occasionally I cook . . .
This week I made some chilled Strawberry Soup. It came out pretty good, but I’m not sure if it counts as cooking since I didn’t have to turn the stove on.

Strawberry Soup
2 quarts fresh strawberries
1/4 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup fresh Orange Juice
a bit of fresh mint

Grind up strawberries in Cuisinart or blender with yogurt, orange juice and honey. Serve chilled. Garnish with fresh mint. (Serves 4 - 6)

I have some strawberries in the garden for the first time this year, but they don’t have any fruit on them yet. Due to some impending work in our yard I have them in containers for now, but hope to find a permanent spot for a bed of strawberries by the end of the season. I have always drooled over this Berry Terrace at Gardeners.com, but we don’t have a way to permanently connect it to a water source.
*I’m sure this will be a non-issue since I can’t seem to have any fruit in the yard without the squirrels enjoying them before I get a chance to harvest.

The Worms in the Basement

We finally set up the worm bin that I mentioned in a previous post last week. We got our red wigglers online from a place called Planet Natural. You Grow Girl suggests that you make sure you ask for the worms by their scientific name (Eisenia foetida) to be sure you have the right kind of worm since these worms go by many different names. I made my first Rock You slideshow to show the process:

| View Show | Create Your Own

Other notes: We put our bin inside a laundry basket this catches any liquid that might come out of the holes in the bottom and allows us to move it easily if necessary.

Helpful resources:
Composting with Worms Article, Martha Stewart Living, March 2007
The Worm Book, by Loren Nancarrow and Janet Hogan Taylor
You Grow Girl, by Gayla Trail

Seed Folks

I recently read the book Seed Folks, by Paul Fleischman. This story is about the start of an inner city neighborhood garden from the perspective of 13 neighbors from many ethnic backgrounds. It is a young adult book, but was a great short read about a community that is transformed by a garden.