Rooftop Garden Part XXVI

I am still slacking on my blog posts...had to set up a facebook page for SUFCo. and then link it to a Twitter account (what?). Hopefully I will have a chance to catch up on actual useful gardening info. soon...here is a link to an article from the Seattle Times on the Bastille rooftop garden.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2010203442_pacificplife15.html
Mostly, I am spending all my time advocating for more rooftop gardens around here. Gotta take advantage of the space we have, right? We just have to convince all of the restaurant, office building, and condominium owners...

As you have probably noticed, some of your summer crops have started to throw in the towel. Nighttime temperatures have been in the low 30's and a hard frost is imminent. All of our basil has already bitten the dust as well as the squash, and tomatoes are no doubt next. What this means is: harvest the living daylights out of your garden. Here is a short list of the most temperature sensitive plants: basil, summer and winter squash, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. These crops will certainly be finished soon, so keep your eyes on everything so your final harvest isn't totally frost damaged.
If you end up with more food than you can handle, think about preservation. Nearly everything can be preserved either through canning or freezing.

Ball Canning is a great resource (they make great jars and the website has a lot of trustworthy recipes)

Another great resource is our upcoming canning class at Carkeek Park (details below): it will be a little late in the season, but...we will be making and canning some applesauce. It is nice to have somebody walk you through it the first time so you can see how easy it actually is...I don't have any idea why it is rated 18 and older (I'll try to watch my language).

Use Your Fruit!

Ages 18 and older

Do you have a fruit tree in your backyard? Curious about the best ways to keep that fruit through the winter? Come to Carkeek for a fun, hands-on tutorial and learn creative ways to preserve your fruit. Colin McCrate and Brad Halm from the Seattle Urban Farm Company host this great event. Email Colin at colin@seattleurbanfarmco.com to register.

Location: Carkeek ELC

10/24 Sat Time: 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Newsweek

Here is a link to an article from Newsweek about the recent rise of urban agriculture across the country...Urban Gardens Grow

Prune Yo Tomatoes

You may have noticed that your tomato plants have finally gotten the clue and started to grow a little bit. You may have also noticed that, once they start to grow, they can get out of control pretty quickly...thus the need for trellising and...pruning. Believe it or not, but cutting out some of the branches of your plant will actually result in more, better tasting fruit (and your tomatoes will be less prone to problems such as fungus, mold, drunk driving, etc.). Brad found this article which explains it all very well:
Pruning Tomatoes - Fine Gardening Article
Source: finegardening.com

Bastille II

This link to King 5 website from yesterday is helping to foment the fervor over rooftop gardening...

Onto the Radio

If this isn't ridiculous, what is?
On the radio KIRO 710 AM...Living Well

Cherries

In the very unlikely chance that you have not noticed: it is cherry season in Seattle. This is about the closest thing to a candy tree that you will ever find. If you look around, you will see that there are cherry trees literally all over the entire city. Cherry trees are easy to identify: in the early spring they are famous for their incredibly showy white or pink flowers, and in the summer they have cherries all over them. There are a lot of varieties out there, some very large and sweet, others smaller and more tart. The smaller types are typically used as
"pie cherries", baking with them allows you to add a
little sugar, thus making them more palatable. Other
types are sweet enough to eat directly.
There is absolutely no chance that I will tell you where
the cherry trees that I like to pick are located, but if you
take a walk around your neighborhood, you will almost
certainly find a cherry tree. If located on someone's property,
obtain permission to pick (which is usually easy to do) and go to town.
This bowl represents approximately 1/20th of yesterday's harvest (we picked about 40 lbs in one hour)...most are now in the process of being pitted and heading to the freezer...

Holes In My Leaves

If you have a vegetable garden, there is a good chance that you are growing something in the Brassica family. If you are growing something in the Brassica family, there is a good chance that you will have pest problems. If you have pest problems there is a good chance that some of these pests might be the problem (in a general order of appearance in the season): Cutworms, Root Maggots, Cabbage Loopers, Aphids...

Early in the spring, maybe your broccoli or cabbage started to wilt and look like it was not getting enough water? Maybe it wasn't getting enough water, but maybe it had been munched on by Cutworms, which had eaten a ring around the base of the plant, cutting off the nutrient and water flow from leaves to roots and vice versa.
Maybe your spring broccoli instead took on a yellow color and never seemed to grow, maybe you decided that you needed to fertilize more...maybe the roots were being eaten by Root Maggots.
Here are some suggestions for control of these pests (although a little late for this spring...).
We have taken to applying beneficial nematodes at the first sign of damage in the spring...

Just maybe, you had no problems until early June when all of the sudden there appeared large holes in the middle of all of your broccoli leaves and some of the newer leaves were bitten off entirely. Slugs? More likely you can now proudly consider yourself part of the Cabbage Looper club. Look all over your brassicas for little, bright green catapillars (also look for brown, wet, squishy looking balls of muck. This is frass, or catapillar poop.) Squish the loopers immediately between your fingers and notice that their innards are much darker green than their exteriors. Take a quiet satisfaction in learning this new piece of natural history.

Loopers are out and about right now and, if neccesary, can be organically controlled with Bt, but in a small garden it may be just as effective to look over your plants every day for a week or so and eliminate every green catapillar that you encounter. The coolest way to manage your loopers is to attract beneficial parasitic wasps that will lay eggs in the catapillars and eat them from the inside out... seriously. The added bonus is that the adults are attracted to a lot of flowering plants, including Valerian, which theoretically could also be used to make "calming teas"...
If your plants are healthy and you catch the damage early, there should be no long term repercussions from their damage.

Lastly, watch out for Aphids which are just now showing up and going to town on just about everything in your garden....when caught early, aphids can be managed with a combination of soap sprays and hand squishing. You can also bring in more beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings...
But if you can't tell, regardless of which pests you have and which remedies you apply, I think it is best just to get used to squishing bugs...

GQ?!!?

Is this picture really in the May issue of GQ?
Believe it or not, there is an article called "A Man's Introduction to Vegetable Gardening"...I got a call from an editor at GQ who said "Is it alright if we take a picture of you for our magazine?" and I said "I don't see why not..."

Bastille

Can you believe that there is a new restaurant opening soon Ballard called Bastille? And even though it is slated to open in mid-summer, it isn't opening on Bastille Day? It might sound ridiculous, but it is true. I suppose everyone is just too excited to get started. I know that I am. Somehow, through the powers of small town Seattle, we got the opportunity to help them set up a garden on the rooftop of the restaurant. So this is a picture of one of the new raised beds (built by some very talented carpenters) in which we will be attempting to grow salad greens. As I understand it, there will be a "Rooftop Salad" on the menu and our goal is to produce as much salad as humanly possible to satisfy the well documented, endless appetite for such a commodity. Mostly we will be growing wild arugula, small head lettuces and many "soft" herbs that are apparently essential to French cuisine. Quite an adventure so far...everything is assembled, irrigated, seeded and ready to go. This is the part where things should start to grow...

Alice

Not that anybody is keeping track...but I haven't blogged in a while. Not that there has been a lack of fodder...to say the least, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind tour of Leeds England. Spring has come on with a vengeance, intermittent sunshine mixed with rain and warm nighttime temperatures have made this (in my opinion) the best spring in a few years. Things are growing. To further complicate things, SUFCo. has been transitioning into a new headquarters (more about this later)...so we haven't had much time to breath (or play leisure sports). Interesting things have been happening. It seems that everywhere you go, someone is ready to talk about local foods and/or baseball. A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to meet Alice Waters at a farmer's market.


I am not sure if I should attempt to explain the importance of Alice in the local food movement. Briefly, she started a restaurant serving fresh, local foods in California Chez Pannise back in the day, way before it was cool. In my opinion, she is certainly one of the most influential food activists in the universe. There is even a great PBS documentary "Alice Waters and Her Delicious Revolution. I picked up a copy of her new book Edible Schoolyard which chronicles the advent of a gardening/cooking program she helped develop at a school in Berkeley. Which is very timely as we are currently trying to work out the details to help set up gardening spaces and curriculum at a few schools around Seattle. Anyways, the point is that she is really cool, and even though she wasn't signing body parts, she did sign my book and seemed like a genuine person.

Kefir

This is a picture of the glorious substance known as kefir. Kefir is a cultured dairy product similar to yogurt, but made with different strains of bacteria. It is more of a liquid substance than yogurt, but has a similar taste. This may not be an essential part of urban farming, but for those with too little time/space for livestock like chickens or goats, this makes a great alternative pet.
It takes about as much time to care for as your goldfish or chia head. The hardest part is getting the kefir grains to begin with. I would recommend one of the following: order it online, or go down to the nearest tea shop and locate someone who is reading tarot cards. Preferably someone wearing a purple scarf and several large medallions (they should know where to get some...)These are the materials you will need: kefir grains, milk, two glass jars with lids (I use 1/2 gallon jars but 1 quart works well too; one to ferment the kefir in and one to store the finished kefir in), a spatula, a colander (not metal, legend has it that contact with metal will kill your grains), and a bowl (preferably one with a spout that pours well)
Set the colander into the bowl, open your jar of kefir and pour it into the colander...
Use the spatula to push all of the liquid through the colander and into the bowl...
This is what your kefir grains will look like...they are what is left in the colander once the liquid pours off...some people say to rinse the grains at this point, but I don't...the last time I tried that, my grains perished...
Your kefir should look like kefir...
Pour the kefir liquid into the second glass jar to be stored in the refrigerator or consumed immediately...enjoy your kefir any way that seems appropriate. I would recommend mixing it with your favorite fruit, putting on a very good Boston album ("More Than a Feeling") and reading my blog...
Clean the fermenting jar well...
This is what your grains should look like.
Put your kefir grains into the newly cleaned jar...if your culture is healthy and is growing too large for your needs, this is a good time to separate out some grains and give them to Steve...
Pour milk into the jar with your kefir grains (and Steve's). You can use whatever milk you like. I would recommend organic, whole, unpasteurized, grass-fed, shade-grown, sustainable, fair-trade, dolphin-safe milk from your local farmer's market...
Put the lids on your jars, put your kefir jar next to Steve's and remember: it is more than a feeling. It is very likely that you will start dreaming, but with any luck you won't have to see your Marianne walking away...
Put your kefir away in a cupboard for one or two days (depending on how fermented you like it), the longer it sits, the more fermented. The whey will start to separate and it may take on a "yeasty" taste. The timing will depend on the quantity of grains that you have in proportion to the quantity of milk you are using...if your kefir goes too long and seems undrinkable, use it for baking or dispose of it and make a new batch. Even if you forget about it for a week or two, the grains should still be alright if poured into a new bath of milk. If you are going out of town for a few weeks, store the grains in milk in the refrigerator. This will allow them to hibernate until you return.

Repeat

Prune your fruit

I am not sure if there is a name for slacking on your blog...the last few weeks have been pretty interesting and may necessitate a few blogs to elucidate.
Last Saturday we went to a workshop put on by the Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation (WWFRF). It was held at the Washington State research center in Mount Vernon. You could call it a virtual Who's Who of western Washington fruit tree nerds. We attended talks on soil fertility, grafting, pruning and thinning; followed by demonstrations in the WWFRF orchard. I will do my best to sum up a little of the information I absorbed, but here are a few resources that will really tell you what is what:

Video: Easy Steps to Fruit Tree Pruning, by Gary Moulton
Book: The Pruning Book, by Lee Reich
Book: The Backyard Orchardist, by Stella Otto

We were fortunate enough this past weekend to hear a lecture by Gary Moulton about fruit tree pruning and thinning. Most important to remember: it is important to remember to prune...Also, make sure that you have clean, sharp tools. You will likely need a sharp pair of loppers, a sharp pruning saw and a sharp pair of hand pruners, and a ladder.
There are a few basic shapes that fruit trees are generally pruned into: Central Leader, Modified Central Leader, Open Center and Espalier.

Central Leader: has one main branch going straight up the
middle and other branches radiating out in different
directions around the trunk, called scaffold branches. (see diagram: North Carolina State University)







Modified Central Leader: let the tree start out as a central leader and then either tie down the central leader to turn it into a scaffold branch or head it back. (see diagram: www.urbanharvest.org)





Open Center: cuts out the central leader and develops four or five main scaffold branches headed out in different directions. (see diagram:www.ext.vt.edu)











Espalier: can be trained in very complex patterns, but generally is pruned so there are only branches going in two directions (as if flat against a fence). (see photo: www.ynurserynews.com)







You can choose to train your trees into any of these shapes...the most important thing to remember is to make thinning cuts instead of heading cuts.

Thinning cuts: remove entire branches all the way back to the trunk or main scaffold. Remove branches that are growing in the same direction (competing with each other) or crossing each other. You will open up the remaining branches to air flow and sunlight.

Heading cuts: this is when you cut a branch back part way (cut off the head), it will cause branches to "bush out" at the ends, reducing airflow and sun penetration.

If this seems like a strange time of year to be so focused on fruit (since most won't be ready until the end of summer), you are a fool!
Have you have ever noticed that your fruit tree produces a heavy crop one year and then a very light crop the next year? Most likely it is because you did not sacrifice a yearling goat under the last harvest moon.
Alternatively, it is possible that you have not been pruning your trees properly. If you would like to improve your tree health and balance your yearly fruit production, would strongly recommend eliminating this blog from your memory, doing some real research on your tree varieties and getting out there and starting to prune...

and then there is fruit thinning...

Tree Fruits, Berries and...actually just fruit trees

Well, I guess it is February 23. Right about the time to start planting fruit trees, brambles, and other fruiting whathaveyous. So...what can we grow here in Seattle? I will use this as an opportunity to put in a plug for one of my favorite businesses, Raintree Nursery. Raintree specializes in fruiting plants and has a great catalog and website that can be crucial resources if you are planning to do some edible landscaping. You literally won't believe all of the crazy s*#@ they grow.
For the time being, I am going to try to decide what the most common fruiting plants that produce well here in Seattle:
In no particular order, we have Apples, Plums, Pears, Cherries, Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries.
As you will notice, there are a lot of fruiting trees on the list. No matter where you live, there are certain varieties of each that will produce well, and other varieties that won't.
Here is a short list that I lifted from Washington State University (which has a lot of agricultural programs):

Basic Home Orchard Variety List:

Apple - Gravenstein, Akane, Chehalis, Liberty, Jonagold
Pear - Clapp Favorite, Bartlett, Orcas, Comice
Plum/Prune - Methley, Beauty, Shiro, Early Italian, Seneca
Cherry - Van, Angela, Hardy Giant, Emperor Francis
Peach - Early Redhaven, Harken, Frost
Apricot - Not generally successful; try Puget Gold
Nectarine - Not generally successful; try Juneglo

As you will also notice, it is not recommended to try apricots and nectarines (unless you have some sins that need atonement). Also, peaches often seem more trouble than they are worth, especially since there are so many grown just over the mountains...

Here is another thing to consider when picking trees for your yard: plant dwarf or semi-dwarf varieites. Standard size fruit trees are great to look at, but very difficult to maintain and harvest.
So...just in case you are interested, here is a brief primer on rootstocks: what they are and why it matters...(you might want to stop reading at this point)

Why do you need a rootstock in the first place, what is grafting and why velcro shoes are worth the investment?

To get a fruit tree that bears a particular variety of fruit (Gravenstein apples for example), the plant must be propagated vegetatively. This usually means that a piece of a Gravenstein apple tree (for example a branch) is cut off and "grafted" onto another tree or rootstock. (it is absolutely necessary to call the branch a "scion" or it won't work).
Grafting can take many forms but usually involves taping the scion and the rootstock together until they grow into a single plant (kind of like when your shoelace breaks and you tie it back together). This is a very precise technique and I would highly recommend reading up on it a bit and/or going to a workshop if you intend to try it at home.

The Grafter's Handbook, by Robert J. Garner is considered the book to read and I am pretty sure that it made it onto Oprah's reading list last month.
Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation is putting on a workshop this March.
If you want to know how to tie your shoelace together, try a square knot.

Anyways, after the scion attaches to the rootstock, it will grow into a tree that produces Gravenstein apples. The rootstock does not effect the variety of fruit but it does determine the size of the tree (and other things such as disease resistance).
If the seeds of a Gravenstein apple are sown, each seed will grow into a tree with a new variety of apple (but not Gravenstein apples). Some of these new varieties may be very good, but most will become the "I am not going to eat this apple" type of apple.
Since certain trees produce fruits that taste better than others, people have developed grafting in order to propagate these fruits in perpetuity. Otherwise there would have only been one Gravenstein apple tree and when it died this type of apple would cease to exist.

To make things much more interesting, horticulturalists have been developing different types of rootstocks for these trees. Some will make the tree "semi-dwarfing" and some will be "true dwarfs", etc. Here is a link to descriptions of different rootstocks and their characteristics.
Bay Laurel Nursery

Generally speaking, it is good to grow smaller trees in your landscape so that you can reach the fruit when it is ready to eat...
I guess I will try to say something about berries next time.

Goat Justice

This past weekend I attended a fantastic event. It might not be called life-changing, maybe just life-affirming. The meeting was hosted by the Goat Justice League and I suppose it would be classified as a "social mixer". What better way to spend your Friday night than in the company of Seattle's "Top 25 People Most Interested In Goat Herding"?

Although I cannot currently call myself a goat herder, I (like yourself) have a long-standing interest in goats. In high school was lucky enough to be voted "Most Likely to Own Goats". In college, the Homestead raised three of the fattest goats in North American history (you haven't seen anything until you have seen goats raised at a private, liberal arts college); and this winter I really fine tuned my goat milking skills (see photo above).

As you probably know, Seattle passed a law in 2007 allowing goats to be kept at home:
Here is the municipal code:

"B. Miniature goats. Within thirty (30) days of entry of any miniature goat into the City of Seattle, the owner of the miniature goat must obtain a valid license for such animal with the exception of nursing offspring born to a licensed miniature goat. A valid license much [must] be obtained for offspring of a licensed miniature goat upon being weaned. Along with the fee for the license or renewal, the owner must present proof that the miniature goat is dehorned, and if the miniature goat is male, that it is neutered. (Ord. 122508 , Section 5, 2007; Ord. 119998 Section 16, 2000; Ord. 116694 Section 7, 1993.)"

By now you are probably asking yourself, "What's the deal, are these things? Miniature goats, dwarf goats or pygmy goats? and "How did they get so darn small?" and "Are you really qualified to answer my questions?".

As I understand it, dwarf goats are supposed to retain the same proportions of regular sized dairy goats (only smaller), whereas pygmy goats are more barrel shaped or stout and not directly proportional to full sized goats. Common vernacular suggests that the term "miniature goat" refers either a dwarf goat or a pygmy goat.

However, some goat associations (of which there are many) define a miniature goat as a cross between a dairy goat and a dwarf goat. The crazy thing about breeding a mini-goat is that you can breed any dairy goat (doe) with a Nigerian dwarf (buck), and the resulting offspring will be miniature.

Mini-goats are commonly used for: milk production, meat production, land-clearing, and companionship. You can check out more fun goat facts at the National Pygmy Goat Association . The statistics for mini-goat milk production are somewhat shady, but here is a quote from the Miniature Dairy Goat Association:

"Miniature dairy goats have been reported to produce anywhere from 2 lbs a day (1 pint) to 10 lbs a day (one and a quarter gallons) with the average around 5-6 lbs (3 quarts) of milk daily. Genetics and management will play an important part in milk production. Unlike many of the standard breeds, Nigerian Dwarfs breed year around which this makes it easier to have a steady supply of milk all year - many of the miniature dairy goats are also year round breeders."

According to Gail Damerow, the dwarf and pygmy goats produces approximately a third as much milk as a standard breed.

I obviously can't cover all of the essential questions about goat-rearing in this posting, but before you think about getting goats at least think about this: if your gonna have goats, you need at least two goats(to keep each other company); also, they have to be impregnated every year to keep milking; and you should have at least 400 sq ft. for your goat yard.

For a whole lot of good information, read "Barnyard in Your Backyard" by Gail Damerow.

Other resources:

National Miniature Goat Association

Seattle Times

Seattle Weekly

Turnips

First of all I would like to say thanks to everyone who was exposed to the great White House Farmer frenzy last week. Although my name ended up in 14th place, somehow we collected over 700 votes in the span of three days. That is pretty amazing. I am still looking into other strategies to pursue the position (maybe on craigslist?...)

Secondly, and more to the point, I ate the worlds largest turnip this week (please see attached photo)

You see, a few months ago, I was in Latin America doing some "research" on tropical agriculture. In mid-November I was visiting a great sustainable ag. education farm called La Flor de Paraiso in the central highlands of Costa Rica. At the farm, I met travelers from all over the world, and I met a guy from Oregon named Jim.

Evidentally a friend of Jim's had been looking for the seeds of an old heirloom turnip grown back in the days of their grandparents. No seed company or seed saving organization had the seeds in question. Then they found an old jar of the seeds in just sitting on a windowsill in grandmothers house! As fate would have it: the seeds were still viable; some of the seeds were passed on to Jim; Jim promptly grew the turnips; and Jim let them go to seed while he travelled to Costa Rica. I can admit a little skepticism when Jim told me in his plain-speaking manner:

"These are the biggest turnips you've ever seen."

In fact I hadn't seen that many turnips for comparison, but I gave Jim my mailing address, hoping one day to get my hands on some of these rare seeds. Not two months later I recieved a mysterious package in the mail, originating in Oregon and weighing approximately 400 lbs. (hyperbole) Inside I found a package of seeds and the biggest turnip I've ever seen.

After posing for some glamour shots with the turnip, I proceeded to slice off 5-10 lb. pieces to give away as Groundhog's Day gifts to my closest friends. The remainder was cubed, roasted and integrated into my Winter Root Crop Consumption Program (WRCCP). It turned out to be very good eating.

As you can imagine, we are greatly looking forward to sowing, growing and collecting these turnip seeds (scientific name unknown) and hopefully disemminating some next spring on Pennslyvania Avenue... Thanks Jim!

Farming at the White House

Hey, I just found out of my very informal nomination to help get the White House lawn up and running as a vegetable garden!
Please feel free to check it out and...if you are so inclined, vote me in....by January 31st!
White House Farmer
I would certainly call this a dream job...if there ever was one.

Varmints

Lets talk about varmints. First, this is a typical conversation during the course of a garden consultation:
New Client: “We have a lot of raccoons (and/or rats) in our neighborhood…are they going to eat everything?”
Me: “Of course!”
New Client: “How dreadful!”
Me: “Life is merely a series of tragic episodes, each more devastating than the last!”

Based on our experience, every neighborhood in this city (and presumably other cities?) is full of raccoons, rats, opossums, moles, voles, crows and countless other vermin in such numbers that we are probably better off not thinking about it. The good news is that, generally, most of these varmints have little interest in your vegetable crops. (Your chickens are another story altogether: chickens will eat your vegetable crops and varmints will certainly eat your chickens).

There are of course many, many exceptions to this…one notable case would be that of the lowly vole. Should you worry solely about voles, or voles and moles? Remember this, Voles eat Vegetables (esp. the roots of your favorite crops) and Moles eat Moths (or at least the larvae of moths). If that is a poor pneumonic device it is only because I just made it up. I am sorry. Moles may make mounds in your lawn, but generally won’t go after your crops; whereas voles are straight-up varmints. Maybe this is better: Voles are Varmints and Moles are Marmots (even moles aren’t actually marmots).

Anyways, if voles become a problem, as far as I know, the best strategy is peanut butter baited mousetraps...The other most common varmint we see is the rabbit. If you have seen rabbits hanging out at the end of your street after school, it is best to organize a neighborhood watch with the other parents on the street. Alternatively, you can put up a short (2-3’) fence around the perimeter of your garden before planting. Rabbits should be considered ruthless, and at the very least, not merciful. You might also have deer. In most of the urbanized greater Seattle region, deer don’t pose much of a threat, but if you know that deer are in your area, you probably have little choice but to build a fence (a high fence).

Other varmints can become troublesome from time to time, especially in the late winter (the lean months for varmints of all kinds). For example, rats seem to have an affinity for Peas, which are planted early and therefore a likely target for a hungry beast. Come to think of it, there are endless cases of animal attacks on unsuspecting vegetable plants. Just last summer I heard one report of a rouge raccoon attacking a Zucchini plant! The creature did not have the common decency to eat the fruit, but instead shredded the plant down to a ragged nub! There was also a report of a Mountain Beaver cruising out of the nearby woods to wreak havoc in an otherwise civilized garden...Not to mention the crows in Wedgewood that will pull newly transplanted Brassicas out of the ground and let them wither away in the summer heat! Always keep in mind that your neighbor’s cat will inevitably mistake your newly cultivated garden beds for…well, you know…

As you can see, there is much anecdotal evidence of varmints in the vegetable patch, but it has been our experience that most city gardeners will have limited trouble with these small and medium sized animals. If you feel the need to worry about something, worry about insect pests and plant diseases (which we can discuss later).

There is certainly no shortage of bizarre happenings in the garden at night (crop circles, drum circles, etc.), but for the most part the free-roaming animals of the city are not going to destroy your vegetable garden...at least that is what my blog says...

Onions and Leeks

I just sowed our first onions and leeks. As with so many great gardening traditions (e.g. planting peas on President’s Day, planting chocolate on Valentine’s Day, or planting hot dogs on the Fourth of July), I figured it would help to start the year's first seeds on a holiday: Martin Luther King Jr. Day. As with all great gardening traditions, I got a late start.

At this point, I am sure that you may be asking yourself something like, “Isn’t mid-January a little early to start vegetable seeds?” or maybe “Why am I reading this blog?”

Well, for now please let me attempt to elucidate a few of the wonderful properties of the onion. It should be noted that, the more unique characteristics a plant has, the higher its rating on the "SUFCo Plant Fantastic Index".
That being said, there are many things that make the humble onion a subject worth exploration: First, we should note that the seeds should be kept in the freezer. These seeds have a shorter shelf life than many other vegetable seeds and will likely only be viable for a year if left in your normal seed storage facility (a dark, dry place with zero gravity and free of drastic temperature fluctuations).

Second, onions can now keep the distinct honor of being the earliest sown seed (at least here in the PNW). For this same reason, many home gardeners are apt to grow their onions from sets rather than seeds. It is obviously difficult to get them sown early enough and to have the space and energy to do so.
There are, however, a few advantages to growing from seed.
One, lower cost: seeds are much less expensive than sets or young plants.
Two, the plants will be less likely to bolt: when grown as a set, the onion has already lived for one season and is thus being grown as a biennial, which means its evolutionary programming will tell it to send up a seed stalk ASAP effectively stopping bulb growth.
Three, you have something besides groundhogs to cheer for during February.
So...we sow our onions and leeks in late January, set under a grow light until early spring and get into the ground as soon as we can.

Because onions and leeks take so long to mature, and they are always necessary, we like to plant as many Alliums as we can:
Chives,
Garlic Chives,
Scallions (which are really just non-bulbed onions),
Green Onions (which are really just onions with very tiny bulbs),
Shallots (which are really just onions with slighty larger bulbs)
Leeks,
Sweet White Onions and,
Yellow Storage Onions.
Also an Allium, but requiring its own personal blog, chauffeur, and penthouse apartment: Garlic.

The last fantastic feature that I will mention is “Allium Day-Length Sensitivity”. Different species and varieties have unique light requirements, but bulb growth in most Alliums is triggered by a change in day length. Some types will not start bulbing until days exceed 12 hours, or 13 or 14 or...These differences make certain types more or less suitable to your region. You would want to grow different varieties in Panama (near the equator) than in Alaska (near a moose). Such distinctions are irrelevant to non-bulbing types (leeks, scallions, etc.).
Mostly, I just think that onions are continuously consumed but rarely considered.
In conclusion, at least I now have something to check up on every morning (besides the weather report).

Another word on seeds

I am not expert on this and I don’t want to belabor the subject, so I will try to make this brief. While putting together this year’s seed order, I ended up doing quite a bit of poking around on the web. It seems to me that there is a lot of both confusion and disagreement about seeds (and everything else in the world). Especially when it Industrial Agriculture starts looking for backdoors into the organic/sustainable food system. Specifically, no one seems sure what is going on, but there are rampant rumors that Monsanto owns just about every seed company in the known universe. Here is the short story of what is going on.

Once upon a time there was a relatively large seed company called Seminis. Seminis collected and breed a whole lot of seed varieties (esp. hybrids) and most every small seed company out there bought some of their varieties from Seminis. A few years ago, Monsanto bought Seminis. This sent the industry into chaos and nobody was quite sure what to do. Some seed companies vowed to eliminate all Seminis varieties from their catalog with the disclaimer that it might take a few years to find alternate sources (ex. Fedco). Other companies are still hemming and hawing about the right thing to do (ex. Johnny’s Selected Seeds). That being said, Monsanto doesn’t own Territorial, Fedco, Johnny’s, etc…but some of them might still have Seminis varieties in their catalog. Here is a really in depth article about the whole shebang: shebang

Also, M and M/Mars does in fact own Seeds of Change, which inexplicably started using plastic pouches for their seeds (with the claim that this is the most environmental option). I am not sure what the future holds for all of this, another reason to start seed collecting I suppose.

As for SUFCo, we are going to stop buying seeds from any company that continues to carry Seminis seeds (it should be noted that I have a very large grudge against Monsanto) and I don't see us buying organic seeds from a candy company either. Here are a few organizations that I believe are trying to do the right thing :
Fedco
High Mowing Seeds
Seed Savers Exchange
Victory Seeds
among others...here is a long list from ATTRA http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/altseed_db_results.php?Class=3&resultpage=1&SearchBtn=Go

Start a business.

I think it is officially the slowest time of year around here…the statistics are a bit skewed because “The Blizzard of ‘08” pretty much brought all of our work to a grinding halt for two weeks. Now the snow from has melted and it is raining again. Raining just enough so that there are avalanches in the mountains and floods in the valleys. I am starting to disagree that global warming is making our weather unpredictable. It is just a matter of getting used to the new pattern: one disaster after another.

I am attempting to take advantage of the relative quiet and follow up on some of the mail I have been getting. Like countless others, in the mornings I have no choice but to check my email. Each day there seem to be more and more people contacting us about all things urban farming…One of the most common inquires goes a little something like this…”I live in (insert any city or state in the U.S) and have been thinking about starting a vegetable gardening business. I came across your website and was hoping you could answer a few questions…”

I am taking this as a good sign. I have recently received emails from Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Missouri, and California, among others. On the chance that someone out there is reading this blog and thinking, “How fine and dandy this guy has time to write his inane blog but the good lord knows he never answered any of my emails!” I apologize tremendously. The main issue is that (as shown in recently published reports) too many hours in front of the computer can lead to dangerous conditions such as “Rapid Callus Loss and “Clean Fingernails”. Writing any more than 4 emails at a time can send me off the edge into an uncontrolled compost-shoveling binge. As we all know, the only thing you have is your health (that and a 'Meyer Improved Lemon' Tree).

That being said, I am continually inspired to hear that so many people are interested in the same issues as we are. I only hope that I can offer some help. The only real thing that I can usually tell people is: it is working in Seattle. The community of people here are so great and supportive of sustainable agriculture projects that I can only hope that a similar sentiment is burgeoning elsewhere. I don’t know much, but I do know that many people out there want to know more about “where their food comes from”. We are finally reaching a point where this subject is more widely discussed in mainstream culture. No longer do you have to own Birkenstocks and beeswax candles to be a vegetable gardener. What reasons do people give for their new interest in this subject? There are as many responses as there are people, but I can tell you this, these are the two authors that people have usually been reading before calling us: Michael Pollan who wrote "Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food" and Barbara Kingsolver who wrote “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle). I suppose it was only a matter of time before people started to realize that they don't really feel that good after eating Cheese Nips and Sierra Mist...

Anyways, the point is, people want to grow their own vegetables, spring is on its way, next week I get to start the first of our seeds, and if you are considering going into the vegetable gardening business, Godspeed…Although maybe not if you live in Seattle (there are enough people getting into this type of thing that we might already be looking at market saturation)

What is with these seeds?

It is the first of the year. This means I am finishing our seed order. Due to our variety choices, the seeds are coming from a few different companies. While choosing seeds can be considered a great way to pass chilly winter days, it can also be considered the scourge of my existence. There are a lot of factors to consider; herein I will attempt to describe one of the inherent difficulties. I will spend the next few minutes nerding out about the differences in seed types because I think it is confusing, hopefully this is a useful thing to talk about…

Hybrid seeds v. Open-pollinated: Generally speaking, most commonly grown vegetable plants have been breed over generations (just like poodles and pot-bellied pigs) to have the traits we find most desirable. For example, plants are bred to taste better, produce more fruits, or show disease resistance. More recently, breeders have begun producing hybrid (F-1) seed that is derived by cross breeding two distinct “pure” genetic lines (more similar to labradoodles and cockapoos). These pure lines have been bred for generations to exhibit one spectacular trait: one of the lines may produce high yields while the other produces a resistance to a common plant disease. The crossing of the two lines creates a plant with both high yields and a resistance to the disease. This has obvious benefits, but it also has certain downsides. The principle case against F-1 hybrid seeds is that they will not “breed true”. This means collected seeds from the plants will not produce a plant similar to their parent. Often these second generation seeds produce plants with little or no vigor. In essence, this means the grower is required to purchase new seed each year.

As an aside, it should be mentioned that hybrids are very different than Genetically Modified plants. GM plants are another story entirely and their creation involves direct manipulation of the plant genes (more similar to Frankendoodles). Genetic engineers can directly insert genes that come from bacteria or animals (Bt corn:) to increase a plant’s vigor. I should mention that we don’t use any GM seeds whatsoever. This will probably have to be discussed later with scientists on hand.

Open-pollinated seeds are those which are able to breed true and produce plants similar to their parents, thus allowing seed saving. It should be noted that cross-pollination between varieties would change the genetic makeup of open-pollinated seeds, leading to changes in subsequent generations. For example, growing Dill’s Atlantic Giant pumpkin and New England Pie Pumpkin in the same garden could lead to a medium sized pumpkin that tastes like tires.
Heirloom plants are simply old-time, open-pollinated varieties. I don’t believe there is a consensus how old a variety must be before it can be considered an heirloom. It is often cited as somewhere between 10,000 and 50 years ago. Heirloom varieties are often considered better tasting than new varieties or hybrids. Keeping heirlooms viable means protecting the bio-diversity of our food crops. If you don’t think this is important, read about the Irish Potato Famine Heirloom varieties are becoming more available. The more people growing these seeds, the better chance of their continued survival (www.seedsaversexchange.org/)

When possible, we chose open-pollinated seeds so the option of seed collecting remains open. Seed collecting is a beautiful thing: it closes the loop on the growth cycle, cuts costs and further connects you to your garden. Starting seeds that I have collected is unequivocally one of my favorite things to do. Some people have very strong feelings against hybrid seed (and dependence on seed companies), many of their sentiments I can share, but there are times that we choose this seed over open-pollinated varieties. Such a situation may arise if we have had terrible trouble with a crop in the past. For example, peppers. Peppers have a difficult time ripening in the cool nights of the pacific northwest. If a hybrid is available that ripens better in cool weather, our options seem to be: stop growing peppers, continue growing peppers that produce no peppers, or try a hybrid. I do think that we should be growing plants that naturally thrive in our local climate, but…these things are complicated. At this point, we have selected open-pollinated (esp. heirloom) varieties when possible, and chosen hybrid seed on selected crops when our past experiences taunted us into submission. Maybe I will have more to say about exactly what we selected this year once the order is totally finished...