late spring happenings: up north edition

after natalie's post yesterday i am once again in shock about the vast difference between the seasons down in arkansas and up here in minnesota! we are just barely scratching the surface of spring here. here's a bit of what's happening up here these days...

over the weekend, i finally cleared out all of last year's remains from my community garden plot. jared and i added some compost and turned the soil (well, he did that part...i've been banned from shoveling duty this year!) and i weeded the plots, dug up the ever expanding garlic chives that i plan to gift to friends and neighbors and transplant into my home gardens, and continued on my annual quest to corral the strawberries back into their designated areas.

back at home, i cleared off the leaf mulch from my perennial gardens and began planting some flowers. i didn't really get around to starting any flower seeds early this year (except for marigolds), so to satisfy my impatience and excitement over spring's belated arrival, i picked up some pansies, alyssum, and dusty miller (we love that name!) at my local garden store to pretty up the front of our house. we brought home another clematis to accompany the one we planted last year. my mother-in-law says they do best in pairs (or more) so we'll see how it turns out.

i also planted a few more pots of flowers with seeds that my friend mary sent me (zinnia and morning glory) and used the extra pansies, etc. to start planting my garage wall garden.

on the vegetable front...the kale starts that i was so generously gifted by a neighbor did not survive the neighborhood squirrels, so i'm starting over with direct seeding. in the next week or so i'll be planting seeds for cucumbers, summer and winter squash, chard, and dry beans. i'm also beginning to harden off my  tomato seedlings that have been growing like mad in the basement.

even though it sounds like a lot (and is!) i am intentionally trying to simplify my garden this year. with the new addition to our family coming in early august, i know my time and energy (and physical ability to bend over, ha!) will be limited. but i just can't stop myself! so...get ready for loads of flowers and herbs in addition to the slightly limited veggies i'm planting...

a bit of spring

after all that snow and endless winter (it is snowing again now, ahem), we had a few glorious spring days this past weekend and i did not squander that time. saturday afternoon, we held our annual community garden spring clean up. even though there wasn't much to clean up (we usually use this time to weed the paths between plots and, well, there just aren't any weeds yet!), it was great to be outside and reconnect with my gardening neighbors. one of the new gardeners even gifted me some of his excess kale starts when i mentioned that i never got around to starting my kale seeds indoors. i wrote a few years ago (a very long post) about why i love community gardening so much and continue to participate even though i now have enough space at my home for my gardens.

monday evening, i began clearing off the leaf mulch blankets that had been keeping my gardens warm and protected from the cold and snow over the winter. since i knew there was more cold weather in the forecast for this week, i didn't get very far, but it felt good to get my hands in the dirt. i also prepared one of my raised beds for planting by adding about 10 gallons of homemade compost and turning the soil. i got those kale starts right in the ground (although, some hungry squirrel seems to have been snacking on the leaves this week!).

even though spring is still just beginning here, i'm so glad i snagged the chance to get my hands dirty and be outside. such a necessary reprieve from this very long winter. hope you all get some planting or at least time outside this weekend!

gardening 9 - 5

zinnias in the SNAP garden

oh, let me just mention now - this post doesn't include any gardening tricks i might have up my sleeve or any helpful information at all, really. & i'm so sorry about that! i'm just here today to share a little piece of my gardening story. 

we don't have a garden in our backyard yet. or our front yard. we don't even have salad greens growing in a pot on the porch. truthfully, for the longest time i really didn't know what to write here to explain my behavior & procrastination with our garden. we have big dreams - a beehive, ducks!, double digging (i'll share more soon!) - but ground has yet to be broken & seeds planted. i felt a bit discouraged with this season until i realized i am gardening... for work! for nearly two months, i have been working as an americorps vista for a nonprofit organization, NCAT. are you familiar? 

zinnias in the SNAP garden

part of my work includes maintaining two gardens. one of the gardens is a community SNAP garden where people receiving food stamps can plant their seeds or edible plants purchased with their SNAP benefits. we provide education & tools to promote future food! in addition to the SNAP garden, i am also working at the head start preschool garden. we are encouraging healthy eating & healthy habits by growing fresh food with kiddos. we're planting carrots on friday!

summer sunflowers in the SNAP garden

saving heirloom okra seeds in the SNAP garden



below are a few moments in the SNAP garden as i harvest from the summer bounty & prepare for fall:

i am so thankful to be part of building community through the act of growing food! the backyard can wait - we're growing food together. thanks for reading, friends.

quick meals from the garden

i am often asked how our family has the time to eat so well & on top of it all- eat the food we have grown. it is simple, really. fresh food doesn't take that much time. it only takes planning, a cutting board & a knife. maybe a pot of water if you're feeling fancy.

the lunch above was prepared on my lunch break. my husband made a big bowl of chicken salad this weekend & i purchased vegetables from the farmers' market. i added some salad greens & edible flowers from our garden to the mix. i even had time to sit down & read an article while enjoying my meal before heading back to work.

along with a simple salad, here are a few ideas for quick healthy meals at home or on the go:

- boiled broccoli & asparagus. boil until it is to your liking. add a squeeze of lemon or some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

- fried egg on top of seasonal greens

- prepare roasted root vegetables the night before. enjoy cold with a scoop of couscous or warm up in the oven.

- kale chips. crank the oven on 400 degrees. tear leaves & mix with a bit of olive oil, minced garlic & salt. place on baking sheet for 10 minutes.

enjoy!

scenes from my community garden

i'll admit that i haven't been the best at keeping up with both of my gardens.  i've been extremely busy these past few weeks, and it's been particularly hot and rainy (meaning that i don't have to get over there to water and that it's been extremely unpleasant to be outdoors these past few days).  so this afternoon, with a slight break in the heat, i decided i'd better go check on how things were progressing over there.  i clearly need to weed badly, but otherwise, i am really excited about all the growth that's taken place over the past week and a half since i was over there last.  beans are growing, cucumbers and squash and melons are flowering, potato towers are towering, tomatoes are exploding with blossoms and big green tomatoes, peppers are emerging, and lettuce is going to seed.  i am beyond excited that it truly does look like this is going to be my best tomato year yet (heck, i'm pretty sure it's going to be my best garden year yet!).

despite how well things are growing, i definitely will need to make some time over the next few days for a little bit of maintenance.

do you have more than one garden? how do you balance your time between them?

sharing the garden love

you all already know about my love for gardening in a community, so i suppose this is just an extension.  even if you don't participate in a community garden, there are plenty of other ways to get together with others over a shared love for gardening.  i truly believe that passion for growing food or other plants brings people together like nothing else.


this past weekend i drove over to the other side of town to a complete stranger's house where i, along with about eight other enthusiastic gardeners, was the recipient of a huge garbage bag full of plants.  this kind gardener was in dire need of thinning out the perennials in her beautiful backyard garden, so she put the word out on a local city-wide gardening list-serv and we joined her for an afternoon of digging what she no longer wanted.  i went home with valerian, false indigo, globe thistle. oriental poppies, and brown eyed susans, along with a few mystery plants (i should have been more organized in my collection of plants!).  even if your town or city doesn't have a gardening list-serv, this time of year, many people give away plants for free via freecycle or craigslist. 

this afternoon, in the spirit of giving back what i had received, i drove around town delivering some surplus seedlings that i didn't have room for, as well as a couple of perennials that i myself had dug up out of my own garden.  i've recently read about a bunch of plant & seed swaps around town, but i haven't been able to make it to any of them yet.  i think next year, i'd love to host a small swap with some of my gardening friends- we could divide up who starts which seedlings early, and swap any excess seeds, seedlings, of perennials that we no longer want or need to be divided.

it's all part of the shared love of growing. tending.

on gardening in a community

my first experience tending a garden was in a community garden. when we moved to minneapolis just over four years ago, we were lucky to rent an apartment owned by two ladies who had helped to found one of the longest-running community gardens in this city- and it was right across the street from our apartment. there are so many reasons why i couldn't be happier that my gardening journey began in this community, and today i'm going to share just a few of those reasons.

:: education. when i joined our community garden in 2007, i had never gardened before and knew almost nothing about how to grow anything. it's safe to say that almost everything i've learned about gardening has come from the folks with whom i share a bit of land (and a few incredible resources). i have learned so much from other gardeners that i never would have discovered had i been gardening alone in my own yard. i've discovered different ways of trellising plants, gotten advice on what might be wrong with my plants, and been given countless ideas of new things to plant. last year, just as i was about to place my seed order, a fellow gardener told me that she would be growing dry beans. at the last minute, i added them to my order and they ended up being one of my favorite things that i grew last year. this year, dry beans will make up almost half of what i'm growing.

:: space. even though i was lucky enough to have a yard at our first apartment, and was allowed to garden a bit of that space, we were just renters and i never felt the desire to put a lot of effort into building a garden that i would eventually leave behind. many folks who participate in community gardens do so because they do not have any space, or have very limited space, to garden at their homes. even though i now have a backyard garden at my home, i'm delighted to still have the additional space just a few blocks away.

:: community. i feel lucky to have moved into a neighborhood that has a very strong sense of community. despite that, this garden has been one of the main ways that i have met my neighbors. having an excuse to spend time outdoors in the middle of the community gives me the opportunity to see what's going on around me, say hi to people who walk by, and get to know the other gardeners, who are all my neighbors.

:: creating a positive, safe space. the lot on which this garden sits used to have a home, which burned down in the late '80s.  it sat vacant and charred for years before some of the neighbors got together and decided to grow something positive amidst the tragedy of the fire, as well as some of the other struggles that the neighborhood had faced. although things have drastically improved over the past 20 years, there continues to be violence and tragedy all around. it brings hope for the entire community to have a space where neighbors and community members can come together and build something positive.

:: partnership. as i've been writing this post, i've realized that over the past few years, at least, our garden has partnered with many other community organizations to improve the garden or provide additional services to the community.  some of these groups include: a traveling puppet show who performed in the empty lot next door, a youth summer welding class who created our gate, a sustainable architecture class who built our shed out of reclaimed materials, and a neighborhood artist who created our new sign (to name just a few).

for all of these reasons, and many more, i continue to tend my community garden plot even though i have moved a few blocks farther away, and have my own gardening space at my home. community gardening is something i highly recommend, whether or not you need the extra space.  even if you don't want more garden (who doesn't?!), i would encourage anyone to find out if there is a community garden nearby, and get to know the gardeners and what's going on in the garden.  you won't regret it.