Urban Farming Externship-Week 4

Week 4-Community Gardening Externship

This week at the Community Garden we harvested Kale, Romain Lettuce, Collard Greens and Hon Tsai Tai (Asian Broccoli) for a local community district food bank. Here are a few pics of the growth progression. Plants are very happy, lush and green. The clover proves to be an amazing cover crop. We also pulled some of the clover up because it is overtaking some of the smaller plants. Not to mention, I love the smell of clover; it brings back memories of picking the flowers to make necklaces and bracelets.

 I never knew you could grow such a bountiful, lush garden in the middle of winter.  Not just beautiful but tastes great too.

This weeks Community Garden featured a workshop on Vermicomposting. Thanks to Paul Arkwright III, Ambassador of Trustees Garden for making it happen. Here it a quick step by step of how it can be done.

 1st we started with a plastic storage bin with several 1/2 inch holes drilled in the bottom for drainage and sides to create airflow. We covered the bottom with some small rocks for better drainage.

Next we shredder newspapers. *note it is best to avoid the ads with waxy paper.

                             

                                      Then we layered soil on top of the paper, poured in water and mixed together, we repeated this step, creating several layers before adding the warms.

Finally we added a little Red Wigglers and covered them with a layer of shredded papers and dirt.

 You then place the lid on the container and set the warm bin on top of another container to catch the compost liquid also known as leachate. 

Worms prefer dark, and thrive in temperatures from 55 to 75°F. One should be fed once or twice a week. Some things that are suggested to see them are vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells and untreated yard waste. Foods to avoid are citrus fruits, garlic, onions, meat, bones, oils and dairy. As the leachate fills up in the bottom in you can recycle it back through by pouring it on top and mixing around. When diluted liquid leachate is excellent for feeding plants.

As you can see from the pictures it was fun for the whole community. Kids love playing with worms and dirt. This was a very exciting garden experience for the last one of 2014.

Have a great and safe New Year's to all!!!

 Think Green for 2015!!!

~Blessings & Love~

Urban Farming Externship-Week 3

Week 3- Community Garden Externship

This week we learned how to plant Microgreens. Week started seedlings. Trays should be close sided and open bottomed. Place a paper towel on the bottom of tray. Sift the soil because the seeds are so small, they will grow better if soil is sifted. Seed spacing is important. Place trays inside were they will get a lot of sunlight. They don't need very much water. You will know that they are ready if you peel up paper towel and the roots don't come up. It takes 1-3days to germinate and they will be ready to eat within 7-10days. When they are ready just trim the tops and eat, leaving the roots so they can keep growing for future harvesting. Microgreens are great for trace minerals. A good book to get is Microgreens the Guide to Growing Nutrient Packed Greens by Eric Franks and Jasmine Richardson.

Hon Tsai Tai known as Asian Broccoli with flowers. You can eat the flowers also. Greens were very tasty.







One of the plants had Apids (mites) on it as you can see here. Apids are a sign of stress. We trimmed the plant down so hopefully the Apids won't spread.

 I found out that the cover crops pictured last week are Clover. Clover is great for replenishing the nitrogen in the soil. Pictured here are Clover growing with lettuce. Lettuce are growing well, very health.









When we left we cover beds up again because the weather still called for frost. Later in the week forecast shows temperature warming up with a lot of rain. I anxious to see how well everything is growing next week. Check out my blog next week for more.

Urban Farming Externship-Week2

Week 2 at the community garden was chilly. The temperature has dropped back down, the winter season is upon us. There were no real changes to be noted. the beds that we added fertilizer to last week looked about the same so we are going to wait until Saturday to see what the "experts" are suggesting to try next. It may just be the drop in temperature but on the other hand the cover crops are trying to take over and the kale is looking great.

Beautiful & Yummy

Cover Crops almost taking over. I pulled more back this week.  

  These little guys (need to get the name on Saturday) are turning yellow, I'm wondering if they got too much fertilizer on last week. Or if they may need less water.

We were informed that a frost was coming in and the temperature was going to be in the 30's so I covered our babies up.





To report on the mite infestation from last week; the plants looked much better. We gave them one more treatment. Hope that knocks them out. I searched and priced rain and compost barrels for the site. Hopefully, we can get the quotes approved and move forward on getting one if not both in place. There is not a whole lot to be done on a weekly or daily basis. This weekend is when the community comes out and some experts will be on hand teaching us a specific thing. I'm unsure what the theme is but I will post and include pictures.

*Next Week-being that it is slow if we don't have approval on composting or rain barrels we are going to take a little trip to an Aquaponics Farm to get ideas for the 2 empty buildings on site that are being used for storage but there would be room to set a small system up. Endless possibilities in Urban Farming. This Externship is a valuable resource that I will continue on with. Can't wait until Saturday to get more knowledge and get my kids back involved with the other volunteers.  ~Blessings & Love~

Urban Farming Externship-Week 1

I have the awesome pleasure of helping out at Trustees' Garden in Savannah, GA. For the next 4-5 weeks, I will be learning and helping with their Community Garden. The community meets up every other Saturday to learn and grow.  This past week we learned a quick and simple way to Hoop Covers to protect our raised beds from frost. We pulled up what was left of the summer plants and replanted with winter crops. We also planted cover crops to replenish the nitrogen in the soil and bring the soil pH levels back up.

There are 10 raised beds. For my first week, I helped clear some of the cover plants that were choking out the kale, lettuce and Swiss chard. I also fertilized several of the newly planted beds that looked like the needed a bit of a boost. One of the raised beds growing Lacinato Kale and Siberian Kale has a mite problem; not quite an infestation yet because it is not on all plants. This same bed got infested over the summer when they were growing eggplant and collard greens. The plants that are not suffering with mites are not growing well so I picked a section (left half of bed) to fertilize with Organic Choice Fertilizer to see if that a lack of nutrients is the problem. I also sprayed the mite infested plants with Nature's Care Insectida/Soap.  When I return on Monday for week 2, I will report on the mites and how well the fertilized beds are growing.

I spent some time brain storming with my sponsor on setting up a composting system. My goal is to have composting system setup up by the end of my externship. I'm also looking to present setting up rain barrel system to catch rain water. I'm very happy to help out. My boys and I have been participating in the community garden for several months, they absolutely love going. I also see that it is such a great blessing to some of the other volunteers. As a single parent for so many years, it warms my heart to watch the men interact with them and teach them how to plant and build. This is what community is all about. Please enjoy the pictures for last Saturday and  week 1.   ~Blessings & Love~

 Removing Basil to replant.

 Building Hoop Cover to protect from frost.

 Mites on kale.

 This picture did not turn out well, I was trying to show mite infestation on this leaf. Up close the leaf had 3 different kinds of mites, some tiny flying insects and a slug. I was so creepy, I felt for the plant; it was like having lice. YUK. Hopefully they will be gone next week, but if not I will bring one home so I can look up the different kinds and how to treat with Essential Oils. 

Sad little babies needed some nutrients; hope they are happier next week.