Life in the Garden, “Exclusively Yours”, July 2016

Its been a busy garden season and with the big harvest this year, I’ve been too busy to write.   But today, I received a copy of an article that features my garden exploits and want to share it.   Several months ago, my sister’s friend Tyler, asked if she could interview me about my experience as a master gardener for an article she was writing.   I answered a few quick questions late at night so she could meet her midnight deadline — and forgot all about it.

Fast forward three months and I receive an email from a Wisconsin woman wondering if she could hire me to help plan her son’s garden in Denver.   Of course, that’s the kind of thing I do — plan gardens — but I wondered how she’d gotten my contact information.   In her email, she mentioned an article in “Exclusively Yours”, a local magazine I grew up reading in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.   In an effort to locate the article, I googled and called the magazine, called my mom and sister who live in Wisconsin.   Nothing.  Finally, my new fan emailed a copy and it all came back to me.

Its fun to share my passion for gardening with everyone I know.   In the article, I mention the master gardening program at Denver Urban gardens, my donation garden at St. Philip Lutheran Church, the new donation garden I helped plan at Harvard Gulch Golf Course and more.   Check it out.  Please contact me if you want to talk gardening or need help getting yours started.  anaincolorado@gmail.com.

 

exclusively-yours

DUG Talk: Starting a Produce Donation Garden

Today, Teri Connelly and I had the honor of presenting at the 2016 Denver Urban Garden Leader Symposium.   We discussed the initiatives in our communities to grow extra produce for donation to local charities including Project Angel Heart, Jovial Gardens, the Edgewater Elementary School and the Secret Community Donation Garden for Arvada Food Bank.   You can read more about my work starting the St. Philip Community Donation last year in an article I wrote last summer.   Attached is the Power Point Presentation from our talk today.

Donation Talk to DUG Leadership 2 27 2016

It was especially exciting to have the opportunity to connect with other garden leaders about their projects and discuss how we might work together.   As always, it was wonderful to see our friends at Denver Urban Gardens and enjoy the news about their new logo, the addition of more gardens, more programming and plans for the future.   I feel incredibly fortunate to be a member of one of the oldest community gardens in Denver (Rosedale) and to have benefited from the wonderful opportunities offered by Denver Urban Gardens — most notably, the Master Community Gardener Program.

After nearly 20 years as a community gardener, I have learned much about gardening in our arid state of Colorado and can finally count on an ample harvest each summer.  I am committed to growing healthy organic food for my family and to sharing this wealth with others less fortunate.   I hope that you will consider sharing the extra produce in your garden with local food pantries and others who need access to good food.

 

 

Between Harvest and Kitchen

Several months ago, I had the opportunity to attend an awesome 2-day workshop entitled “Garden Troubleshooting” at the Denver Urban Gardens headquarters.   We learned about good bugs, bad bugs and a variety of plant diseases and disorders and how to address them.   Many of those lessons have come in handy for me this summer.   But now that its harvest time, I find myself referring to the section on when and how to harvest and how to store my produce.   Thanks to Carol O’Meara of the Colorado State University Extension in Boulder County, I have a better handle on how to harvest and store my produce.   Here is some of what she shared with us in the her workshop, “Between Harvest and Kitchen”.

Three Golden Rules:

• Keep it cool
• Keep it wet
• Handle with care

 

Too Much Cooling is a Bad Thing and can cause high respiration, uneven ripening, off flavor, pitting, premature rotting, discoloration or woody tissue, fungal disease

Chilling Injury Thresholds

• 45 F:           beans, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant
• 45-50 F:     melons
• 50 F:           tomatoes/winter squash
• 55 F:            sweet potato (put in frig for 2 weeks to make sweeter)

Curing:  a short time in a warm, dry place which toughens the skins, dries surface, improves flavor and texture and heals cuts.

• potatoes, pumpkins, winter squash (is sweeter later); except for acorn squash which gets stringy
• onions need 5-7 dayss at a dry 70-80 F
• sweet potatoes need 5-7 days at 80-85 F and humid

Harvesting

Snap Beans

• pod diameter, not length determines quality
• harvest after dew evaporates
• avoid tearing or damaging pods; don’t squeeze them
• keep harvested pods out of the sun
• cool within 2 hours of harvest
• store in refrigerator with humidy pad (damp paper towel)

Broccoli

• water consistently
• heads should have dark or bright green closed (no yellow) florets
  

  Broccoli is ready to harvest.

• compact, firm to hand pressure
• steams bright green with no discoloration
• rapidly cool and store cool

Brussel Sprouts

• spouts found at base of leaf
• harvest at 1-2 inches diameter
• sprouts mature form bottom of stalk up
• harvest individually
• front sweetens flavor, but avoid letting them freeze
• cool

Corn

• green husk, dry brown silk
• loses sugar rapidly in heat
• pick in early morning, cool immediately
• eat soon
• store at 32 F in humidity for up to 5 days

Eggplant

• before seed matures
• look for firm, glossy pods
• when pressed with fingernail, indentation remains
• fresh, green calyx

Garlic

• cut water when leaves brown
• harvest when leaves are 2/3 brown
  

  I waited for the stems to dry after clipping off the garlic scapes several weeks ago. Ready to dig up the garlic cloves.

• don’t wash bulbs with water — will ruin
• cure garlic in dry, warm location for 7-10 days
• cut stems to one inch
• can freeze in glass, leave papery outer skin

Melons

• Count the days.   roughly one month after the plant flowers, melons begin ripening.
• should be full -boidied and heavy for their size; some changes in fruit color yellow to tan
• muskmelons slip from the steam easily when ripe
• watermelon belly turns cream or yellow and the tendrils closet to fruit wither
• cantelope:   neeting, count days from flowering, fruit behind bloom female once flower closed — 40 days
• muskmelons slip:   smell it, stem will have crack 2/3 around (slip stage); time to sling if trellised.

Onions

• harvest young 1/4 inch to 1 inch for fresh use; 1- 1/2 for pickling or when tops have fallen over and necks are shriveled for storage
• air dry in single layers in shade for 3-4 weeks; remove tops
• don’t wet, wait a day to cure
• storing — onions vary in storage capability, more pungent types with high soluble solids contents store longer, mild onions with low soluble solids contents are rarly stored for more than a month,
• store at 32-50 F or RH 60-70%

Peppers

• clip from plant
• more susceptible to sunscald, water loss and heat damage after harvest
• store at 40-45 F, high humidity
• paprika is a dry blend of peppers, remove seeds

Potatoes

• stop irrigation 2-3 weeks prior to harvest
• remove vines before digging tubers
• cure for 2 weeks in 45-60 F dark room – this will set skins
• prevent sun exposure which will green skins and is toxic
• can store up to 10 months in proper conditions
• store at 39-45 F, 95-98 percent RH, air circulation

Root Crops

Carrots

• clip tops for storage at 33 F in high humidity
• mulch carrots for fresh pulling into winter, hill a foot of straw over shoulders after ground cools in fall
• dig and store before ground freezes
• parsnips like to get cold
• can use carrot tops in salad

Beets

• harvest at 1.5-2 inchues, pull fall planted beets before first freeze
• clip tops to 1 inch before refrigerating up to two weeks
• do not store in frozen ground

Parsnips, horseradish, turnips

• improve in flavor with light freezing
• at temps 28-34 F starch converts to sugar
• mulch with straw and leave in ground into winter
• pull and use before Spring

Tomatoes

Harvesting Tomatoes

• harvest when fruits are uniformly red, but before end softens
• ripe fruit sinks in water (useful when gauging ripeness of green tomatoes)
• when to let the season end — frost protection works best on tomatoes already coloring up, green ones are harmed by chill
• if there is a run of cold nights, pick off green tomatoes and leave the blushed ones on the plant
  

  Tomatoe ready to pick.

Speed Up Ripening

• thinning — immature fruit won’t size up or ripen by season’s end, so snip off blossoms and young fruit to leave the plant’s energy to full-grown tomatoes
• new shoots and overloads of mature tomatoes also slow ripening prune off suckers and young stems, then pluck a few green tomatoes for ripening on the counter
• on run of cool nights, pick off green ones to let blush ones ripen
• cut back water to the plants to hasten vine ripening
• pull the plant from the ground and hang it upside down in a dry, sheltered area.   Fruit should be harvested before completely ripe and allowed to finish on the counter or it may fll from the vine and create a mess

When Frost Hits

• once hit by frost, tomatoes break down quickly and are not suitable for canning
• cut off the bad spots, then use immediately in your favorite recipes or chop and freeze them for winter dishes

Green Tomatoes for Storage

• pick green tomatoes for strage from healthy vines or pink ones to ripen on the counter
• prevent problesm from rot:   harvest when plants are dry, avoiding fruit that is diseased or has insect damage
• clip tomoatoes from the wine, many heirlloms have “knuckled” stems that tear
• mature green tomatoes stores best — those that are full-sized, glossy light green to white with a whitish star on the blossom end
• tip:   dark green tomatoes are immature and should be used right away as fried green tomatoes, in relish or stewed
  

  The final tomatoe harvest before the hard frost.

Harvest

• breakers:   should your tomatoes begin to color at the blossom end, know as a “breaker”, it will continue to ripen quickly for you on your counter and taste close to vine ripened
• pinks:   colored up but not fully ripe will ripen on the counter
• sort tomatoes into groups that will ripen at the same speed — mature green, breakers, pinks and red

Countertop Holding/Ripening

• at room temperature, red tomatoes are ready within a day or two
• pinks (3-=60 % colored) will be ready in 7-10 days
• mature greens and breakers, up to 14 days

Storing Green Tomatoes

• clip stems short, wash gently and pat dry.  Store in a box with good ventilation at 55-68 degrees (frig too cold)
• check tomatoes frequently for spoiling
• to store longer, wrap tomatoes in newspaper and place 1-2 layers deep in a box.  Keep in a cool, 55-60 degree room, out of sunlight.

Winter Squash

• speed ripening by cutting back water to the plant slowly over a few weeks so you don’t interrupt growth of young squash
• pluck blossoms from the plant to allow the plant to pump energy into the fruit
• watch for signs of maturity, such as stem drying out or the rind turning a deep color
• harvest when the skin toughens and isn’t dented by pressure from a fingernail; stem turns tan
• cut stem from vine with sharp knife, leaving stem attached to squash (w/o stem, squash decays around stem scar)
• cure 10 days in dry room, 75-85 F

In Garden Storage

• beets, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, celery, endive, cos or romaine lettuce, kale, leeks, and onions can withstand the early light frosts store for several weesk under a heavy (1 ft. mulch)
• Pits/Mounds:    dig a 6-10 inch deep trench, layer 3-4 inches of straw, place cabbage, carrots, beets, celeriac, kohlrobi, rutabagas, turnips, and winter radishes on top of much, cover with 12 inches straw, then 3 inches soil; once you open mound, ALL produce must be removed and used within 2 weeks

Root Cellars

• store potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, winter radishes, kohlrabi, parsnips

Recommended Storage Temperatures and Relative Humidity Levels

COLD AND VERY MOIST  (33-40 F, 90-95% RH)

Beets, Brussel Sprouts, Carrots, Parsnips, Turnips, Rutabegas, Leeks, Celeriax, Winter Radish (Daikon), Sunchokes

COLD AND MOIST (32-40 F, 80-90% RH)

Potatoes, Apples, Cabbage

COOL AND DRY (32-50 F, 60-70% RH)

Garlic, Onions, Dry Beans

MODERATELY WARM AND DRY (50-60 F, 60-70% RH)

Winter Squash, Pumpkin, Sweet Tomatoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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!!

Planning for the 2013 Growing Season

2012 Map in Progress

Each March/April, my gardening partners and I get together for a planning session.    Susan, Natalie and now, Terry, and I share three plots at Rosedale Community Garden in Denver.   At our initial meeting, we convened at Panera with last year’s garden map, seed catalogs and the wish list.    After a catching up over a bite to eat , we reviewed what worked last year, what didn’t and talked about improvements we can make this year.

Last summer, we had problems with rabbits and bean beetles — both of which we want to seriously manage this year.    Most of our plants did great.   The heirloom tomato crop was excellent, hot peppers outshone the sweet, pumpkins, squash, salad greens, beets, flowers, carrots, cukes, broccoli and zucchini were all gangbusters.   Our deadbeats included beans and corn.    Using garden plans designed my Michael Buchaneau,  a landscape architect who leads Denver Urban Gardens, I drew up sample plans for each month highlighting succession planting.     Together, we discussed where seeds and plants will go, when they will go in and started to divide up the list of seeds, plants and equipment purchases.

Here are some of the decisions and plans we’ve made for the new season:

• install rabbit fence around the perimeters of the beds
• no rotatlling; hand till soil in raised beds
• probably no beans
• research and purchase row covers
• plant more onions, scallions, garlic and fragrant herbs around the perimeter
• test clay plot irrigation in some areas
• no corn — save water