The Day I Plant Late-Summer Seeds and Rip Out Poor Performers

Alan Gorkin, organic gardening
expert, gives us the rundown
on his own community garden bed  

I am impatient with my community garden. While the tomatoes grow prolifically -- I even pulled off two big red tomatoes today -- the other vegetables do not fare well. The cucumber hybrid bush, which looked healthy two weeks ago, today looks beat. Carrots produce nothing but fronds and weedy stalks. Bell peppers grow flowers but produce no new fruit. And the pattypan squash colorfully throw off blossoms, but yield no squash. What gives? What's next? Experienced gardeners, what do you do at this stage of your summer garden? 


On an overcast and humid Sunday, Alan Gorkin, organic gardening expert at Sleepy Cat Farms in Greenwich, visits the Bible Street branch of Greenwich Community Gardens. He walks us through which vegetables can be replaced and which can be newly planted. 

With his advice in my head, this morning at 7am I head to the garden and clear out frond-ridden carrots. Three months after planting carrot seeds, only one in five carrots are orange. The others are long, stringy and anemic. With the carrots stripped from the garden, I plant red-globe radishes, taverna green beans, blue lake bush beans and red beets. Still to come are arugula seeds and lettuces, which should tolerate the heat and deliver leaves through September. 

Tomatoes -- abbondanza!

As we near August, I make a few decisions to prepare for next year:

• No carrots. Carrots occupy too much space and yield inconsistent results. I see few carrots elsewhere in the community garden, so my decision appears to be prudent.
• Plant peppers on the opposite side of the garden from the tomatoes. Tomatoes grow well, but they block the sun. The peppers work too hard.
• Plant big tomatoes in the community garden. I planted four tomato plants -- two big tomatoes, two cherries -- and I inherited two "volunteer" cherry tomato plants from a neighboring plot or a previous gardener. Big tomatoes fit on BLTs better than cherries.
• Plant the pattypan squashes early. I followed the instructions on the seed packet and planted the pattypans in early June. The squash plants are blossoming, but I see no squash. Suggestions, anyone?

By the way, readers, this blog gets picked up locally in Connecticut, gets shared with friends and family through Facebook and Google+ and gets retweeted on the Twitter feed of NYC Community Gardens. Join the conversation and invite others to join. Speak to you soon. 

The Day I Get Schooled in Food Waste

We hear people talk about food waste, but the magnitude of that waste is beyond comprehension. On Thursday evening, a group of Greenwich community gardeners went to Stone Barns Center in Tarrytown, NY, to learn more about food waste. In the United States, roughly 40% of the food we produce gets wasted. Much of that wasted food goes not to human beings, animals or compost. It goes to landfill, where it produces methane, worsens green-house gases and hurts our planet.

Inverted food-waste pyramid,
created by National Resources Defense Council

On the agenda at Stone Barns was a showing of the documentary “Wasted: The Story of Food Waste” -- directed by Nari Kye and Anna Chai and produced and narrated by Anthony Bourdain (sob). At the core of the film is the inverted food-waste pyramid, a simple model that suggests how we can avoid and manage food waste. From top to bottom: 

• Reduce the amount of food we buy. 
• Use excess or imperfect food to feed hungry people.
• Use food waste not suited for human beings for animals and livestock.
• Convert remaining food waste into compost and renewable energy.
• As a last resort, dispose of food waste in landfills.

Two things have raised my consciousness about food waste: one, a food regimen to make and keep me healthy, and two, my community garden. The food regimen leads me to properly portioned fresh food, often bought at green markets. The community garden encourages me not only to grow my own food, but also to save scraps for the compost system at Greenwich Community Gardens. 

I deposit a fair amount of scraps in my small food bin at home every day. Six months ago, those scraps would have gone into the trash can and be sent to landfill. Baby steps, I tell myself. I am not extravagant in food purchasing or consumption, but I can do better using and reusing vegetables and fruits. Equally important, I can make an impact on food waste by reducing what I buy or consume. If I reduced by 25% to 30% the food I made, bought or ate, I venture I still would be healthy and well fed. 

I close with three points:

• "Wasted: The Story of Food Waste" was an uncomfortable wake-up call. It would be easy to say that little-bitty I cannot make a difference in mitigating this global challenge. But I am not powerless: By reducing food consumption and reusing and regenerating food waste, I can make a difference.  
• I want to know what you do about food waste. Community gardeners, how do you avoid it? Manage it? Add stories, tips and techniques to my blog. 
• As I left Stone Barns last evening, I met an artist I admire immensely: Julie Taymor, the director and visionary behind Lion King on Broadway. As she made her way to  Blue Hill Restaurant at Stone Barns, I stopped her, introduced myself and conveyed how much I admire her imagination and inventiveness. Meeting Julie Taymor was a bonus for the evening.

Ciao for now!

As Vegetables Emerge, So Do Community Gardeners

I typically head to the community garden about 7am. The temperature is comfortable, the humidity low, and the sun manageable. But at that hour, I seldom see other gardeners. This past week, I decide to mix it up. One day I visit at 7:30am, another at 9:30am and another at 11am. I meet a dozen new gardeners. As vegetables come out and summer temperatures rise, gardeners come more frequently to pick their harvest and to water their plots. And when community gardeners meet, conversation ensues about tips and techniques, tastings, successes and lessons learned. Exactly the community spirit I want. 

Rosemary stands by her prolific borage and dill 

One morning I introduce myself to Rosemary, who gives me a lesson in bees. Rosemary has gardened at Bible Street community garden since its launch. Her plot is filled with borage and dill, both big and tall. As I stand at Rosemary's garden bed, I see dozens of bees flitting industriously from one leaf or stem to another on the borage and dill. The borage attracts bees, which pollinate the vegetables, herbs and flowers in Rosemary's garden and then move on to other garden beds. (Yay, bees!) 

I am curious about borage, and I am not alone. I find a full report on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, with the author using borage in pesto, chimichurri, soup and stuffed ravioli. As for the tall dill in Rosemary's garden, I ask whether I can clip a few stalks. That night I poach salmon for dinner, cover it with fresh dill and douse it with lemon. Yummy. 

One day I meet Cheryl, who bikes to the community garden from her house 15 miles round trip. Cheryl shares sprigs of oregano with me, and I use them in a tomato salad, a flavor different than the customary basil. Cheryl's community garden plot complements her home garden and help her grow tomatoes, peppers and herbs away from nibbling critters at home. 

I meet my garden neighbors Irene and Lisa for the first time since I planted my garden bed in April. I learn that they water my plot whenever they water their own (thank you, you two). This is their second year of community gardening -- they are experienced gardeners in my newbie eyes -- and their plot is filled with squash, peppers, eggplant, tomato and "volunteer" sunflowers, which are now 10 feet tall. 

Mixing it up is my new mantra, visiting at different times and introducing or reintroducing myself to people I see. It makes the wait for the harvest worth it. 

I close with two comments: 

Your intrepid blogger, watering again
and protected against the sun

• I ask gardeners to walk me through their plots, and I invite them to visit mine. I love the knowledge and advice they offer. Rosemary, for example, urges me to harvest my green peppers and pickle-size cucumbers now. I savor the tasty vegetables that I might otherwise lose to chipmunks.
  
• At least two-thirds of the gardeners I meet at Greenwich Community Gardens are women. Is that normal across community gardens? At the Greenwich Botanical Center, where I volunteer, the proportion leans even more heavily toward women. What are your experiences? Comments? 

Ciao until the next post. Diane Tunick Morello

When Community Spirit Goes Hand in Hand with Community Service

Two cherry tomatoes ripen
in my community garden. 
But then I ate them.

Whew! We have quite a hot spell in Greenwich, CT. Temperatures climb above 90 degrees daily and a couple days they hit almost 100 degrees. At my community garden bed, I pluck two orange cherry tomatoes from my plants. I'll savor them later. (Another lesson learned: Pick tomatoes when they are ripe. Patience!)

Whereas my cherry tomatoes enjoy the heat, I do not. I have trepidation about fulfilling hours of community service in such extreme heat. Staying inside seems safer and more prudent than working outside in searing temperatures. But I am intrepid, so at eight in the morning on Independence Day, I head to Armstrong Court community garden to pitch in on beautification work.

Diane Tunick Morello, Ann Shifman-Deibler
and Clare Bolduc (l-r)

The mission today is to strip stubborn vines, weeds and branches from the fence surrounding the garden. The vines are impressive. They coil upward five to ten feet, form choke-holds around apple trees and shrubs and snake into the wood chips of the community garden. As we work, Clare, Ann and I chat about our garden beds, our lives in Fairfield County and our experiences with the community gardening spirit. Without a doubt, conversation makes the heat feel less oppressive and helps the job go quickly.

The next day I head to the Bible Street community garden for late-day weeding as part of the beautification team. I pass a (blurry) deer munching happily in the bushes as I drive down the dirt road. When I enter the gate of the garden, on the other hand, I feel as if I am walking into a wall of heat and humidity. 

The beautification work at this garden is tough. Seven or eight of us kneel and squat to remove weeds from the gravel surrounding the raised garden beds. Thankfully, conversation makes the work tolerable (um, cold water would be great). We introduce ourselves -- new gardeners and seasoned gardeners alike -- share our community garden experiences and check out the harvests in our respective garden plots. A few people tell me they read the blog, which makes me a happy camper.

My takeaway from this week's community service is simple: Community spirit -- a chief reason to sign up for the community garden experience -- pervades the work we perform, regardless of the nature of the work. It lifts us up and makes the hard work easier to handle. That said, next time I'll be looking for less back-breaking work. Ciao for now!