Urban Farming Externship-Week 5

Week 5- Aquaponics Externship

Well all, I got to embark on a new and great experience. So excited to be able to volunteer and finishout my externship with Billy Duggar of Billy's Botanicals in Richmond Hill, GA. here is a link to his website:
http://www.billysbotanicals.com/   check him out and if your in the area you can find him at the Farmers' Market at Forsyth Park in Savannah GA on Saturdays; Best Tilapia and product. Awesome guy, I can't thank him enough for the opportunity.

I didn't get a chance to write down notes or take very many pictures; we were on a mission to get seeds planted for new plants. Billy had seeds planted but they did not take due to the drastic temperature changes we have been having. I trust and believe they will sprout in about 2wks big enough for us to transfer over to the Aquaponics system. We planted about 12 trays that held more than 100 seeds each. Seeds consisted of several varieties of lettuce, celery, dill, fennel, rosemary, thyme, parsley, basil, kale, mustard greens, etc. I'll be back out to help him next week. We might be trimming back the tomato plants, as you will see in the pictures below they took over. Lots of work to be done to prepare for spring.

Billy has 2 different Aquaponics systems setup. He started his farm 2yrs ago with an outdoor system not pictured below and in June built and setup a greenhouse system. Take a look at these pictures:

Here are the tanks that hold the Tilapia. Water is pumped out and back in keeping it flowing between the plant beds and fish tanks. Water is heated to about 78-82 degrees to keep the fish happy.                    

Trays on top of tanks are the seeds we just planted.

Here we have celery growing in water bed.

A few more celery plants and beets.
Soon all of these pods will have life.

These are tomato plants. They are strung up and taking over. Still producing an abundance of cherry tomatoes and Roma. Billy is going to cut back and build a shelf with laticce to make for easier harvesting. 

Can't wait to help grow and learn some more. Next week I will report on the organic materials seeds and plants grow in. I didn't get full details but it felt smooth and look dark and rich. Billy told me and showed me a Coconut Coir Brick but I didn't get any info written down or pictures. I'll have that next time.

~Blessings & Love~

Urban Farming Externship- 1/10/15

1/10/15- Community Gardening Externship

I hope everyone is having a Green 2015 so far this year. I've had to take a break from the garden for several weeks with the holidays and New Year brings change and new adventures. Here is a bit I learned from my last trip to the garden on transplanting and growing fruit trees:

When transplanting fruit trees from the store it is best to get a self-watering pot. Pot should be 2 x's the size of the root bulb. If you are using clay pots(which breath well) it is suggested to but pebbles on the bottom to allow drainage of water so roots won't be saturated in water at the bottom of the pot; this could cause root rot. A nice soil mix to use is compost, pine bark(just a little) and peat moss. Avoid any air pockets in the soil when transplanting and fill soil just over the roots. It was suggested to feed Citrus-tone in the spring. We transplanted a Sacsuma; a citrus fruit that is like a tangerine.

Here are some helpful hints for caring for Blueberries. Pictured below is a Rabbit Eye Blueberry. Blueberries are dormant in the winter. It is best to prune them when dormant. When pruning; prune from the cane. Blueberries fruit will produce on the new growth branches. Blueberries are happy in high organic matter and acidic soil. Hybrids can get about 6ft tall. Soil Acidifier was suggested to add to pots in the spring. Another important thing to note is that Blueberries cross pollinate so it best to have more than one plant in order to product fruit yearly.

Another helpful tip I learn that can be applied to other plants is that Neem Oil helps prevent Afits and other pests.

On a side note the garden greens are not doing well. Temperatures dropped to freezing and some of the beds did not get covered, resulting in frost bite. Even the beds that were covered are hurting. Hopefully we can save some of our beautiful greens. I'll report back in a few weeks when I go back out to volunteer.

~Blessings & Love~

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.