25 | April | 2013 | Ana's Garden Karma

A class photo of the master gardeners taken at the end of our last class on April 24.

Giving my 3 minute talk.

On the last day of our 12 week master gardener program, several students and I were assigned to give a 3 minute presentation. My topic was “putting your garden to rest”; a topic I needed to learn more about. In years past, I have been guilty of running out of steam and spending as little time as possible cleaning up my plot before winter sets in. I usually remove the old plants and compost in situ. I collect up the tomato cages, roll up the hoses and go home.

Reading up on this topic was eye-opening and made me realize that I need to pay some attention to certain steps that might create a better spring planting season. Here are some things I learned:

Remove annual crops and trim perennials; chop up and compost
Remove diseased plants like tomato vines and those infested with pests
Fortify soil with chopped up leaves, compost, grass clippings
Till soil 4-6 inches with pitch fork to disrupt any pests at burrowed underneath — wait until after several frosts
Plant cover crops like hairy vetch and winter rye in October, turn under in April before they go to seed
Clean garden tools with brush, oil handles and store in dry sand
Drain and remove hoses; put away tomato cages
Prepare area for planting cold crops in spring
Assess what went right and what went wrong
Celebrate!!!

As sad as it is to see the class end, this last day was a lot of fun. The presentations were interesting and informative. The potluck food was delicious. And Emily Frost’s trouble shooting discussion and group exercise were very thought provoking. Having been in the thick of Rosedale’s leadership transition this last year, I can certainly attest to challenges of working with a variety of strong personalities in a community garden.

I especially enjoyed the variety of visual aids from Sharon’s brightly colored posters of 6 tips for organic gardening to Ruben’s 3 M’s — Mulch, Microorganisms, Moisture to Nick’s presentation about olla’s and Rosedale’s upcoming workshop of using this ancient form of irrigation. I look forward to the next phase of becoming a master community gardener which involves putting in 30 hours of service. I am excited to reconvene with the group this summer and in the autumn to share stories and experiences. Thank you to Shannon Spurlock, coordinator of the program, for a wonderful experience.

Nunn is an electrolyte drink replacement that has lots o delicious flavors. Just so happened to have some around when I read Bob Harper’s suggestion to drink some as part of his jumpstart to skinny diet.

The “healthy” lunch I ate after reading the book. Couldn’t manage without the cheese.

Like most women, I want and need to lose a few pounds. The promotion on this new book by Biggest Loser trainer, Bob Harper, was just too hard to resist. I saw him talk about the book on the Today Show and his “SkinnyRules” and it all seemed to make sense. There is not a chance I could go three weeks on 800 calories a day but I think I could manage a week and perhaps, learn a few things about quick weight loss. This book was apparently inspired by one of his clients who had to drop some pounds in a hurry to look great for a big stage performance. I think we all have events like this — reunions, weddings, family portraits — where we need a quick fix and are willing to make the sacrifices to do it. So, here goes — the 13 Skinny Rules of this three week diet blitz; guaranteed to help its followers look fabulous.