WINTER IS COMING AND CHICAGO’S URBAN GARDENERS ARE GETTING READY

“Local gardening enthusiasts on Saturday braved freezing winds to learn winter plant management techniques at an urban garden in Uptown, the latest in a series of grassroots workshops aimed at educating city growers.

Breanne Heath, the education program manager at Peterson Garden Project, offered participants tips for caring for perennial herbs, planting garlic and preparing unplanted raised garden beds to weather an oppressive Chicago winter until the spring growing season.

Peterson Garden Project, a Chicago-based non-profit founded in 2010, provides 4-foot by 8-foot raised garden beds, growing materials and learning resources for members, who pay an annual $85 fee to participate. However, membership was not required for the weekend workshop, which cost $25.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE: Medill Reports Chicago

This Houston Urban Farm Honors Veterans With Jobs

“When Gracie and Bob Cavnar launched the Recipe for Success Foundation in 2005, their main goals were to battle childhood obesity by changing the way children understand, appreciate and eat their food, and to provide the community with healthier diets. Today, their hands-on curriculum is the largest outreach of its kind in the nation, empowering over 4,000 children every month through various initiatives.  But rather than sitting on their laurels, the couple became inspired to do even more. In the historic Sunnyside neighborhood of southeast Houston, they found the ideal location for an urban farm to expand their mission.

Thanks to a generous seed grant from Wells Fargo Foundation and support from the UnitedHealth Foundation and other corporations and philanthropists, the Hope Farms Showcase and Training Center came to life in one of the city’s largest food deserts.  To further their important mission, Hope Farms instated a grant-supported program to train U.S. military veterans to become new urban farmers.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE: “Forbes.com“

46 Best Veggies, Herbs & Microgreens for Vertical Planting

“Vertical gardens allow you grow veggies at several levels, so you can get more out of less space, a definite advantage if your growing area is limited. That is not to say that vertical gardening is just for those with space constraints.

Concentrating your food generation to a limited area frees up space for other uses while the veggies get more attention and care. You don’t have to walk around too much to care for your plants, a great plus in foul weather. Vertical gardening changes the old notion that gardening is back-breaking work. Even the mobility-challenged can enjoy growing food and ornamentals at a convenient height.

Plants grown vertically are more accessible, and gardening chores like planting, weeding, feeding and harvesting are much easier. Diseases and pests get noticed earlier on plants growing at eye level, so remedial actions can be taken right away… No more escape for pests hiding under leaves.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT: “NaturalLivingIdeas.com“

11 Essential Fall Planting Tips

1. At the nursery: Buy the best

Look for plants that have healthy foliage and no roots creeping out of the nursery container’s bottom drain holes (which means they’re probably rootbound).

2. Small is smarter

When you have a choice, buy little plants (in 4-inch nursery pots); they’re less expensive (usually under $5), easier to handle, and will catch up to the larger ones with winter rains. Smaller plants are your best bet if you need multiples to fill out a bed. Gallon-size plants, on the other hand, start around $10 each but can provide instant effects.

3. Check plant tags

Find out how big the plants will grow, and whether they need sun or shade. Then choose plants that will thrive in the spot you have in mind for them. “Full sun,” for example, means you should plant in a spot that gets at least six hours of sun a day.

4. Consider compost

Unless you have your own compost pile at home, or perfect garden soil that drains well, buy bagged compost to add to the soil before planting annuals, edibles, and many ornamentals (trees and native plants generally do not need added compost). It’s often sold at nurseries in 1- and 2-cubic-foot bags, and in bulk at garden suppliers. Avoid bagged compost that looks as though it has been piled and stored in hot sun for months—it won’t do much for your soil.

SEE THE REST OF THE TIPS, HERE: “Sunset.com“

Fall gardening tip: Till your soil and add compost now, not in the spring

“Good gardening practices begin with the soil. Soil is the foundation of life for plants. I have found that many people take soil for granted. We should put its management higher in priority than the plants.

Fall is the best time to make improvements. Vegetable gardens and annual plantings can be prepared now so that come spring, they are ready for planting.

Turning the soil over in the fall is more about course tillage. Depending on the size of the garden, this can be done with a spade or tiller. The goal is to leave the bed with larger, chunkier clods that the freezing and thawing of winter will naturally break down.”

Read more here: “KansasCity.com”

Neighbors Have Questions As The City Solicits Proposals For Two Urban Farms

“Marcus Roberson has a vision. He wants to grow crops on an empty lot in the Kingman Park-Rosedale neighborhood, close enough to Miner Elementary School to hear children during recess. “If we can get to the kids, we can get to the parents and touch the community,” he says.

Roberson is the co-owner of Woodbox Farms in Alexandria and graduated from Arcadia Farm’s 2017 Arcadia Veteran Farmer Program. The Southwest D.C. resident is submitting a plan to the city, hoping to be awarded the 10,000 square feet of public land to use as an urban farm.

In addition to engaging the elementary school through educational programming, Roberson imagines creating a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that relies on cyclists to deliver produce to neighbors. He was among a handful of likely bidders at a site visit on Oct. 24.

Earlier this month, the Department of General Services put out a request for proposals for two plots of land totaling 20,000 square feet as a part of D.C.’s Urban Farming Land Lease Program. Site one is on the 1600 block of Kramer St. NE between 16th and 17th streets NE in Ward 6. Site two is at Longfellow and 9th streets NW in Brightwood Park. ”

READ THE FULL STORY: “WashingtonCityPaper.com“

Smash, Don’t Trash, Your Leftover Halloween Pumpkins

“SCARCE has developed an annual event to collect and compost post-Halloween pumpkins in an effort to divert organic waste from landfill.

“Don’t trash it, smash it.” It’s the motto of a one-day, annual Pumpkin Smash event that Glen Ellyn, Ill.-based SCARCE (School & Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education) has been putting on for five years now.

This year’s event will be held on November 3 at various locations across the state, where people can bring their leftover Halloween pumpkins to be collected, catapulted, smashed or used for games before they are composted. SCARCE, with the help of the Illinois Environmental Council (IEC), started the event five years ago as a pilot program.

However, when it came time for the Pumpkin Smash event to take off in the state, a formal law for one-day collection events needed to be implemented. So, SCARCE and IEC worked together to write a law to allow for special events to divert organics and other types of food waste from landfill.”

READ THE FULL STORY AT: “Waste360.com“