How I Love to Garden: Aug 9, 2010

Monday, August 9, 2010

Home from Hotlanta...American Commmunity Gardening Association Fabulous Annual Conference

Participants loved to explore the gardens...this is the Dill Street Community Garden that is part of the Sullivan Community Center in Atlanta

I haven't blogged in a while but am still on a "high" from a fabulous annual conference for ACGA and NEED to write about it because it was so wonderful. Previous conferences have been held in Portland (Oregon), Indianapolis, Chicago, Philadelphia, NYC, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Toronto, Boston, Columbus (Ohio) and Atlanta again (did I forget any?). This conference took place August 6-8 at the Loudermilk Center in downtown Atlanta.

The mood of the conference was enthusiastic, inspiring and hopeful. There was amazing energy among a truly diverse group of nearly 300 participants of all ages and backgrounds. The conference was filled with great workshops, garden tours and excellent speakers (including First Lady Michelle Obama via videotape about the White House vegetable garden and her commitment to fighting child obesity). The theme "A Holistic Approach to Building Sustainable and Healthy Communities " was carried out beautifully with an emphasis on how community gardens can be a force in preventing childhood obesity and promoting child health. Speakers and workshops gave great examples of how this is being done in schools, community gardens, food banks, etc.

Two workshops that I attended were outstanding.

Bikes and busses were the methods of transportation to visit community gardens

Founder of a booming neighborhood community garden in a lot behind her backyard

Participant from a new citywide program in San Francisco

"Growing Healthy Kids: Community Garden with Obesity Prevention in Mind" was presented by Maria Hill from Chapel Hill, NC. Maria shared their experience from three years of establishing new community gardens to serve immigrant families with young children. The one in Chapel Hill primarily includes Latino families who are learning to grow food for their children and encouraging healthy eating habits of fresh vegetables and fruits. Close to 30 per cent of children in NC are either obese or in danger of obesity leading to higher child rates of hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol.

The Mother Hubbard's Cupboard is a food pantry in Bloomington Indiana. Leader Stephanie Solomon led a workshop "Growing Food Access: Garden Education at the Food Pantry". Mother Hubbard sponsors four gardens which are tended by those who receive food from the food pantry. Stephanie shared great ideas for connecting families with healthy eating habits.

I left feeling in awe of how brilliantly these women are organizing truly "holistic" programs.

Dill Street Community Garden
Program of Sullivan Community Center

(Top)Atlanta's Community ToolBank progam that lends tools for communtiy programs
(Bottom) Tool shed that has a solar panel to provide power for lights and sound systems)

Experienced and enthusasitc gardener tells us about her plants including this awesome Princess Amaranth

Bus and bike tours to community gardens were fun and inspiring. I really learned a lot about design, crops, community organizing and eco practices. I went to three outstanding community gardens plus the Atlanta ToolBank Program (www.atlanta.toolbank.org) which was a totally new concept for me. This is a lending warehouse for tools for gardening, home repairs and other community projects. Tools can be borrowed for a week. ToolsUSA is now a new organization based on the Atlanta model and the next one will be in Charlotte! (Just wish I could get some tools for our Food Bank Community Garden project with 80 wake Forest students next weekend when we convert our garden from a summer to a fall garden).

My only regret is not having photos of a fabulous party on Saturday night at the Urban Metro Farm with every kind of southern food, a blues band and a tour of their new farm. A silent auction yielded $1500 for ACGA.

Ursula Chance from Bronx Greenup...checking out that mulch!

I returned home feeling renewed and refreshed. I'm inspired to keep connecting with these great people, especially those in our NC gardens and to improve our Food Bank Community Garden here in Winston-Salem. (http://www.foodbankgarden.blogspot.com/)

Thanks to the organizers and the great participants. Bobby Wilson and Kathy Walker of Fulton County Extension are the best!

For more information about the American Community Gardening Association, go to http://www.communitygarden.org/

Welcome to my Blog

Come on into my garden with me...I love to write about what is going on here while trying to keep track of the addition of each plant and ways the garden is helping me feel part of this community. Begin retired gives me a chance to spend endless hours doing what I love most. It's play, not work to me. It's also helping me to integrate all that I have learned here in my own "laboratory".

I try to introduce topics that are of interest to me and might be for you too.

I'm in Winston-Salem, NC in Zone 7B. After gardening in Brooklyn, NY, also Zone 7B, I notice there are many similarities except the calendar is a month ahead with bloom times; our frost dates are about a two weeks earlier in the spring and later in the fall. A few annuals in Brooklyn seem to be perennial here, e.g. verbena and salvia. Also, got a banana tree which is perennial (very tropical!). On the other hand, lilacs grow three times as big in NY.

I would love to hear what is happening in your garden!

Ellen Kirby

ellen.kirby@gmail.com

TIPS FOR GARDENERS..coming soon....summer

SOIL TEST: WINTER IS THE BEST TIME

November 18,2008

When I attended the Winter Rose Prep lecture, we were told that we should take a soil test in our rose garden and all other gardens now. This way, we can amend the soil (probably with lime) so it will settle in and be available to the plants by the growing season in the spring. So I went to the NC Deparment of Agriculture site and found the steps to do this. In North Carolina, you have to get the collection boxes from your county extension office which will have all the instructions for taking your samples. You then send it off to the laboratory and they return a detailed report as to the characteristics of your soil with recommended amendments. YOU NEED TO TAKE A SEPARATE SOIL TEST IN EACH OF THE PRIMARY AREAS WHERE YOU GROW PLANTS. Food crops, oranmentals, roses all require different amendments. For more information, check out the website www.ncagr.com or call your local Extension Office. Every state and most counties have one.

ROSES: GETTING READY FOR WINTER

November 1, 2008

This list of tip WINTER ROSE PREPARATION was based on a presentation by Bob Arthofer who is President of the Greensboro NC Rose Society. He spoke to the Winston-Salem Rose Society on October 28 (www.wsrs.us). HERE ARE MY NOTES.

This info applies to Winston Salem NC, Zone 7

-Main point: DO NOT PREVENT DORMANCY. You want to avoid new growth before freezing temps.

-Last fertilizing is end of September (Use high phosphorus potash such as 10-20-20)

-Stop deadheading after the last week of Sep.

-Wait until second hard freeze and prune to waist high; Cut back any crossing canes and all dead wood

-Protect the bud union (graft) at bottom with mulch or sand (in spring pull away)

-get a soil test (check out state extension agent for how to do this and where to send). This is the best time to do it and you can amend the soil (with lime or whatever needed) in winter and allow it time to soak in. Get test from 6" below ground (4-5 samples from the bed and then mix together). Send it dry in box provided. You will get back a detailed report with recommendations.

-Use and anti desicants (WiltPruf, etc)

-End of December/early January. Use dormant Oil. It will kill the over wintering fungus spores and insects.

Spring: Prune high before last frost (mid April). I was always told to prune roses when Forsythia bloom.

RE: Pruning...you will need to follow unique instructions for climbers. You do not need to prune them to the ground.

CLEANING UP THE GARDEN IN THE FALL

Oct. - Cleaning up the garden in the fall. I cut down some of the annuals that have run their course (e.g. cosmos). I cut the stalks into small pieces and use them as mulch in the garden. I DO NOT cart them anywhere, I just leave on the ground where they were. They will decompose over the winter and add some much needed organic material to the garden. The clay soil here is so hard and in great need of anything that might compost. And, you avoid the work of carting it away. I only cut the butterfly bushes down to half the size so birds can eat the seeds. They will be cut down to about 18" in the late winter. Those stalks made good stakes for perennials. I leave all the ornamental grasses and only cut them down in early spring when new growth starts to emerge. These are left for winter interest.

First Blooms for Perennials in My Garden (Zone 7)

Feburary: snowdrops (galanthus),pansies,
March: daffodils, crocus, tulips, hyacinths

April:
Lots of bulbs,iris, rosemary

May:
Salvias 'May Night', Baptisa, Verbena,Cosmos, mallow, delphinium,nepeta, zinnias,shasta daisies, yarrow,dianthus, heuchera, columbine, roses, peony

June:
Dwarf betony, lavender, cosmos, daylily (Ellen's Escapade), guara, platycondon (balloon flowers), monarda

July: perovskia, dahlia, coneflowers

August:scarlet runner bean, rudbekkia, callicarpa berries,chrysanthemum,

September: Bush clover, cosmos,rudbekkia,coreopsis,verbena (boriensis),zinnia,clematis, false ageratum,