Making Hoops

You’d think making hoops for hoop houses (aka mini greenhouses) would be easy but initially, they are not.   I bought a hoop bender several years ago from Johnny’s Seeds and made about 30 hoops for my garden and to sell to other gardeners.   Fast forward two years and I’ve sold all my hoops and need some more for my community garden and the one I run at our church.

My garden partner Susan and I finally got together to accomplish this task and once we got all our materials together — a pack of 10 ft long 1/2 inch electrical conduit, a work table with the hoop bender attached, tape measure, sharpie and work gloves, we realized that we needed a refresher.   We watched the video on Johnny’s website several times and logged onto YouTube to watch a few more.   We tested out the directions and had a few false starts.   How hard can it to create 4 foot wide hoops to fit over a 4 X 4 or 4 X 8 raised bed?

Here’s what we learned:

• Mark each tube 16 inches from both ends and in the middle
• Insert the tube into the metal sleeve at the end of the hoop bender and line up with the 16 inch mark
• Bend the tube along the curve and then, line the middle mark up with the middle screw and bend along the curve
• Take the tube out and repeat on the other side — line up at the 16 inch and middle mark
• Measure the distance between the two ends to make sure they are just over 48 inches apart and try out in the raised bed to make sure it works
• Repeat

If you have a big garden, its worth it to make your own hoops.   I bought the bender on sale for about $45 and the electrical conduit is about $2.50 a tube at Home Depot.  There are always fellow gardeners who want hoops so you can make extra to share.   Once we figured out the right method, it took us 15 minutes to bend ten hoops.

Another relevant article:

Extending the Season with Hoop Houses

2017 Harvest Sale at Rosedale Community Garden, Denver, CO — September 23, 2017

The Rosedale Community Garden Harvest Sale is on Saturday, September 23, 2017 from 9 am to 1 pm.   Featured at the sale will be organic vegetables, heirloom garlic and herbs grown in the community garden.   Fresh cut flowers, homemade jams and jellies, bakery, roasted kale chips and gently used garden books and supplies will also be for sale.

Rosedale Community Garden is one of the largest and oldest community gardens in Denver with over 100 plots.   It is located on Logan Street just south of Iliff Street and across from Harvard Gulch Recreation Center.

How to Make Cold Brew Worm Tea

Over the years, I’ve tried all sorts of fertilizers for my garden, including Miracle Grow which I later found out was not organic and not allowed in my organic community garden. Fast forward several years, I’ve found worm tea to be the BEST organic fertilizer by far. This amazing fertilizer was first introduced to me by my garden neighbor, Marilynn Banks, who brews it at home and sells me gallon jugs of what she calls”soil soup” for $4 each.   Marilynn brews the tea with worm casings; the process of which causes all kinds of beneficial microorganisms to come alive.   Once brewed, the worm tea has to be applied within 24 hours to insure the maximum benefit.   In my garden, the results of using worm tea have been amazing – hearty growth, robust, healthy plants, abundant harvest.  I soon became dependent on regular applications of this organic “miracle grow”.

Several years later, I was lucky enough to pop into a local garden shop and score a worm cooker, casings and the special liquid ingredient for free!   My garden neighbor was none too happy to hear I’d gotten such a deal when she had hoped I’d buy the set up from her.  As a consolation, I still buy gallons of tea from her when I don’t have time to brew my own.   But this season, I have finally ran out of the special ingredients and am faced with putting some serious money on the table to replace it from the Soil Soup vendor.

Last Sunday, I tuned into a favorite PBS show, “Growing a Greener World” and was happy to see a demonstration on how cook up my own worm tea on the cheap.   Here is what you need:

• 5 gallon bucket
• aerator
• 3 cups worm casings
• dried molasses (or 2 -3 cups liquid)
• square of cloth for tea bag
• rope
• 5 gallons of water (no chlorine — let is evaporate out a day); rainwater is good

Fill the bucket with water and let sit for a day to let chlorine evaporate.   Put 3 cups or so of worm casings in square of fabric (16 X 16) and tie with 2 ft of twine.   Add 1/2 cup or so of dried molasses to water.   Or a 2 cups of liquid molasses.   Dip “tea bag” in the bucket of water and secure to handle.   Add aerator and let tea “cook” for a day.    Once cooked, apply tea to garden within 24 hours.

Voila!   Worm Tea!

 

 

4 X 4 ft. Garden Plan

Planting Chart

Gardening Basics

Power point presentation given on 2/21/16.   The outline is below.

Gardening for Beginners, St. Philip Community Garden   2/21/16

Things to Consider:

• A Plan/Vision
• Good Soil – fertile, well-drained soil
• A sunny spot
• Water
• Good Tools
• Commitment

Benefits to raised bed gardening:

• Higher yields and less area to weed
• Reduced soil compaction
• Earlier planting – better runoff and drainage, warmer soil
• Frost protection
• Soil improvement
• Architectural interest
• Accessible gardening
• 4 X 4 Ft. Plot can be built for less than $40

Colorado Climate:

• Dry climate, need to water, mulch, shade
• Clay soils, need amendment – compost, garden mix, organic matter
• Frost dates – May 15, Sept. 20-Oct. 20
• Cold Crops vs. Warm Season Crops
• Pests – take a look at your plants, animals – rabbits, mice, dogs, deer; insects good ones and bad ones
• Snow in the Spring, hot, dry summers

Winning Crops:

• Cold Season Crops (plant before last frost March-mid-May) lettuces, spinach, onions, radishes, beets, peas, chard, kale, broccoli, scallions, cabbage, carrots, potatoes

• Warm Season Crops (after last frost May 15-22) tomatoes, peppers, beans, herbs like parsley, basil, etc., eggplant, cucumber, squashes, zucchini, summer squash, melons, pumpkins,

Benefits of Community Gardening

• Learn from others
• Fresh air and exercise
• Improving the community
• Individual garden plots
• Leadership, social and volunteer opportunities
• Youth education
• Low cost and grocery savings
• Fresh local produce
• Reduce carbon footprint

Notes on planting: Since warm season crops (tomatoes, egg plant, peppers. cucumbers, squashes, basil) can’t be planted until after the last frost in mid-late May, consider planting a quick cold season crop (radish, lettuce, spinach, arugula) in its spot. This works if you start by April 1.

Starting a Community Donation Garden at St. Philip’s Church

Nearly two months after breaking ground on the new community donation garden at St. Philip’s, I am finally taking a breath to share how this project got started.    Several years ago, the concept of starting a community garden on the expansive property of our church was conceived by Tiffany Briggs, an active church member that I knew from the Prayer Shawl Knitting group.   We discussed it several times and energy began to mount.   At the time, I was too busy with my Denver community garden as both a leader and the manager of three plots, to invest much energy in another project.    Fast forward several years, Tiffany had moved away and I was finally retired from eight years as a leader at Rosedale Garden.   With a chunk of time and psychic space now free in my life, the conversation about the garden began again.  A church member and friend on the board encouraged me to get a proposal together and apply for a grant from the church endowment committee.   She felt that the time was right, internal support was present and that with me to champion the project, it could fly.

Bringing over 18 years of community garden experience as well as my training as a master gardener to the table helped me to put together a coherent, clear-sighted proposal very quickly.   The thought of speadheading a new garden project that would initially provide locally grown produce to the Sheridan Food Bank was exciting and challenging.    The first hurdle was to get agreement from the property committee to work a specific 30 ft X 60 ft site in the back of the church.    After several rounds of maps, walking the property and even a presentation given by my husband who sits on the committee, the land was approved by the property committee.  The second step was to obtain funding for soil admendments, raised beds, seedlings, and all the other various items one needs to start a garden.   I submitted a proposal for $1500 in late April and received notification on May 10 that a grant of $1000 was approved.    The Care and Compassion Committee also donated $250 to the project.

With little time to waste but out of town from May 10-17 to attend my 30th college reunion in Massachusetts, I scheduled ground breaking for May 24.    I wrangled a handful of volunteers including my husband, children and my church supporter and her family to get started on that Sunday morning.    Dave and I opened up Home Depot at 7 am to purchase the wood for 8 raised beds and by 3 pm, he had them all built.    The unusually rainy May had softened the ground and enabled the rest of the crew to dig out the normally concrete hard sod over the course of the next two weeks.    After Xcel Energy mapped out the areas with buried electricals, we placed the raised beds over those areas and decided to plow the unaffected areas later in the season.   By May 29th, two trucks of garden mix were delivered and everyone I could recruit including my 10 and 13 year old boys helped fill in the raised beds.

By early June, we had eight raised beds filled and planted with seeds, purchased and donated plants.   And several weeks later, we rototilled a 12 X 15 foot patch and planted it with donated plants from Creekside Gardens and Denver Urban Gardens.    At the time of this writing, the garden is healthy and ready to burst with broccoli, lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, herbs, squashes, cucumbers and more.    We’ve already donated several pounds of lettuce, squash and herbs to the Sheridan Food Pantry with much more to follow this week.   God has truly shined upon this project with good weather, few pests and generous volunteers and contributions.

I will share much more about our new donation garden and future plans in the weeks to come.

 

Garden Treats for the Coffee Cart

Ana and Lerae serving up garden treats at the Sunday Coffee Cart.

Having recently started a donation garden to support the Sheridan Food Bank, Lerae and I have been working at promoting our garden project as often as possible.   To this end, I signed up to prepare treats for the Sunday Coffee Cart for the coffee hour between services at St.Philip’s Church on July 26, 2015.   I figured that by the end of July, we would have some items in the garden that could be incorporated into tasty bakery items to share with church members and garner some attention for the vegetables growing in the back lot.

After discussing the possibilities of how we could incorporate our harvest (both at home and from the donation garden, Lerae and I settled on some delicious options.   She rustled up some  rhubarb crisp and coffee cake as well as some strawberry rhubarb jam.   I made Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Cookies, Cheddar Chive Biscuits and Zucchini Bread.   My plan to bring pesto to serve with herb cream cheese on crackers failed when I ran out of oive oil.   Added to the mix were pretzel crackers, gluten free brownies and rice rolls.

For a first try, our garden theme was a hit.   The home baked goods also inspried many conversations about our bountiful community donation garden.    And, more than a few decided to go out back to check out the garden.   Feeling successful, we decided to sign up to host  again in September  but this time, we will feature more savory treats — parmesan zucchni and yellow squash rounds, pesto on crackers, tomato tart, pickled cukes and more!!!

Recipe:    Lemon Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon peel

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

4 1/2 tsps minced fresh rosemary

1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until ight and fluffy.   Beat in the lemon juice, peel and vanilla.   Combine the flour, rosemary and salt, gradually add to creamed mixtue and mix well.   Shape into two 12-in rolls, wrap each in plastic wrap.   Freeze for 20 minutes or until firm.   Cut into 1/4 in. slices.   Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.   Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown.   cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.   Store in airtight container.

 

Master’s Presentation: Putting the Garden to Rest

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.

Working in the Field as a Master Gardener: Jefferson High School Community Garden

Master gardener, Penny working on making seed tapes.

One of the key components of being a master gardener is sharing what we’ve learned with other community gardens in  Denver.    On a cool, gray Saturday morning in early April, I headed out to Jefferson High School in Lakewood, the site of a newly constructed community garden, to work with a group of my classmates.   When I arrived, the group was huddled around the picnic table preparing to make seed tapes under the direction of Penny, one of the most seasoned master gardeners in our group.    She showed the fledgling gardeners how to cut newspaper into strips, mix a paste of flour and water and proceed to place evenly spaced dots of flour on the strips and adhere seeds to these areas.   Once dried, these strips can be stored and planted in rows, covered with soil and watered when the time is right.   This method of creating seed tapes helps made the work of handling very tiny seeds much easier and is an excellent project to do at the kitchen table during the winter months.

With half a dozen of us there to help, we soon left the students to their project and divided up the work of shoveling the freshly delivered compost into the wheelbarrows and spreading it on the grid of plots situated within the fenced area.    Afterwards, we spent several hours turning the compost into the virgin soil.    With only the use of spades and shovels, our small group was able to till approximately 12 plots which will provide a great start for the students and community members gardening here this year.

After 12 weeks of classroom instruction and several hands on work days, we newly minted master gardeners will be ready to take the show on the road.    I am nervous but excited to share my expertise with other community gardeners eager to learn.    I never thought I’d be a bonified expert in water conservation, succession planting, soil amendment, organic pest management, basic organic gardening and much much more.   Its abundantly clear to me  that I will leave this master gardener program with so much more than I can give back.    What a wonderful opportunity it has been.   Thank you to Denver Urban Gardens for an amazing program!!