Jayne's Urban Paradise

[JayneR13]

I do as needed. I have yarrow growing in my yard, which works well as a topical to stop bleeds. A few other things as well. One year when I couldn't garden, I bought both Midwest Foraging and Backyard Foraging. Amazing what grows in my yard, and the city calls them weeds! They require "noxious weeds" to be trimmed regularly. So I trim. Comfrey makes a great salve for lower back pain and would take over the yard anyway if I didn't beat it back occasionally.

[CtGrower]

I did show some of these pictures in my other thread, but I think it'll help with story continuity to show the evolution of the garden over the course of the season. This photo is from July, looking east. Things were growing decently even though spring was horribly rainy and wet. You can see the squash hill in the foreground. I was able to replant about half of it for spacing.


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One big change was removing the bamboo tree, to reclaim more space. The pantry administrator had informed me that, unless the garden produced well this year, they were going to shut it down and plant grass. Being given permission to remove this tree was a huge victory because it meant they were planning to keep the garden. I very much enjoyed playing with my new toy, a handheld battery powered chainsaw! That did the job very quickly and relatively easily. The wood chips down my bra were par for the course LOL.


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One thing I did in spring, before removing the herbs, was trim down the strawberry patch in favor of onions. Sadly, many fell to my weeding sickle, but we got a few and that was a better use of the space. I worked with the plant donations I had. Next year we'll get a new chip drop for new mulch so hopefully, weeding will be a bit less. I'm also eyeing up a Cape Cod weeder for smaller spaces and planning to intercrop onions with tomatoes.


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The garden in late August, again looking east. I had implemented a regular fertilizing schedule using chicken poo, which the last gardener didn't believe in. A lab soil test had shown the need, especially for nitrogen, so everyone got a side dressing once per month.


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Mid-September. I had started pulling things like cucumbers, thus the spaces. Plantings never did get really large due to the cold, wet spring. However, the roots were white and healthy when I pulled the plants so that was a good sign.



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The garlic planting after the remainder of the herb garden was pulled. 151 cloves in 5 rows, along with 3 rows of onions. I found a couple of surviving onion sets while weeding and had some old onion seed in my stash, so that's where it went. It grows or it doesn't. It was growing so hopefully it'll come back in spring.


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Early October, with the summer squashes pulled. Sad to see the garden emptying out, but this is the way of things. The only thing that grows up here in winter is the snow pile.


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And the final cleaning! The husband of a volunteer was happy to rototill everything under, and happily left my garlic patch out of it. The garlic area is marked by the white board. Everything else was tilled under to add organic matter to the soil, and he did a beautiful job! That old mulch can feed the worms and new mulch will enhance the beauty of the garden. Hopefully it'll cut down on weeding, but some of those weeds are quite stubborn! Oh well. So am I.


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In total, I view this year's garden as successful. I had to work with what the last gardener did and once he chose to move on, life got much easier. I was able to implement good gardening practices and during the height of harvest season, the garden produced 50-60 pounds US measure per week. I picked ~2 pounds of herbs per week until we learned that these particular herbs were unloved, and acted accordingly to better align the plantings with the needs of the food pantry. Taking up the fencing, which deterred not a single rabbit, made both tilling and rotating SO much easier! I also have succession plantings in mind for next year, such as having cucumbers ready once I pull the garlic and planting garlic where the old cucumbers were once I pull them. Rotating tomatoes and squashes will be a bit more challenging, partly due to the size of the garden, but even one foot away will be better than nothing. Clearing all of the Bermuda grass from the back fence cleared up some space as well. I've gotten to know this space, right down to the subtle gradient that makes the area near the fence a bit wetter than the rest of the garden. There's a nice, shady area were some kale can go, popular with the pantry clients but abhorred by the rabbits. The garden is transformed into a productive space again!

I hope you enjoyed my story. I look forward to hearing your comments and any suggestions you may have.

Great work on renovating this garden! That is quite a journey with beautiful result!
I manage a food pantry garden at Food Pantry in Ct and appreciate all of the hard work that you did to turn it around!

Just a few notes:

We have drip irrigation for most of our beds and have found running them with timers has worked well.

We did a client survey this year and found the top veggies and herbs that they could use. Cucumbers, tomatos(cherry/slicing), Summer squash and peppers were the top 5 veggies. Basil, parsley, oregano,garlic, chives and cilantro were the top herbs. Our plan in 2025 is to focus on these. (except for cilantro which I can't grow to save my life)! Of course rotating crops will be Veerrry interesting... we will see. We also are focusing on more quantities of fruits instead of fewer huge fruits in order to reach more people. What we will produce in the space we have right now will always be a small supplement to the need, but... we have found that just the existence of the garden has a positive influence for the clients. It makes a difference that people care to grow fresh produce/herbs.

Love that you got a small chainsaw My new purchase was a Hackzall.

Best!
Diane

[JayneR13]

Thanks Diane! It's good to compare notes with a fellow gardener. Indeed, I estimate this garden at 150' x 50' so there's no way I can feed the entire city! We can make a dent though, and every bit helps.

Re the drip system and timer: there is no electrical source that I've seen there but I'll ask PA what he thinks of a mechanical timer. Other people use the main hose however, and it can't be left out because the lawn mower would kill it. The soaker hose worked really well last year and it's a pain to move the drip lines every year. Rotation is very interesting here as well but I'll keep this in mind. Soaker hose under wood chips is pretty efficient, water-wise. Hopefully we won't have the rainy spring we got last year! I'll have to pull the mulch back, for starters, and last year's mycorrhiza seemed to have vanished. The plants didn't get very big last year thanks to those rains, but they didn't rot either so that's a good thing. And we have polled the clients on what they'd like: tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, garlic, and onion. We don't want to plant cherry tomatoes because they're such a pain to pick, ditto beans and peas. And really, last year's pea planting wasn't very productive due to powdery mildew. The beans were better but still a pain. The soil here is very clayey, especially down by the fence, and the potatoes that were planted last year rotted due to the rains. So we've nixed those. Herbs will definitely include cilantro since we've got a bunch of Latino clients. We had parsley, oregano, sage, thyme, and tarragon last year but they simply weren't popular so I dug them up. Kale is another very popular item and the rabbits don't seem to like it. Other brassicas would be popular but simply take up too much space relative to the yield, especially where cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are concerned.

In other news, my dewy pine seems to be happy! New leaves are growing and that's always a good sign. It's still quite tiny relative to the pot of course, but time will fix that.

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A moon shot from last Thursday's pantry. The sun was just coming up and the moon hadn't set yet. Time to unload the truck and sort the food.

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I'm deeply grateful for my new furnace! It's getting a workout for sure. Other than that, I just don't want to talk about it! I am worried about the lack of a snow pack though. The perennials have no insulation. Hopefully the garlic will survive, both here and at the pantry.

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[CtGrower]

I put a splitter at the water source so that a hose can be run from the same location to 2 or 4 places. I use a battery operated orbit timer to the irrigation with a pressure regulator. A mainline with no holes is then buried under the grass from the water source to the garden. Sometimes I just bury a length of garden hose. I then attach the drip line, but this would also work with a soaker hose.

[CtGrower]

Our soil is not great. I'm planning on trying a cover crop of 70% winter pea/ 30% oats in the fall to help the nitrogen in the spring after tomatos and cucumbers are done. For this reason, I'm also thinking of planting beans after garlic is harvested. I'm also thinking of using short season determinate tomatos as a way to plant in succession with peas/beans. Our clients also do not prefer beans/peas, but... sometimes we need to do what is best for the health of the garden? (I would have planned Determinate tomatoes or cucumbers after garlic, but.. that bed had Colorado Potato beetles and there were blighted cucumbers in the adjacent bed last year). Always a puzzle. Never tried cover crops or determinate tomatoes, but there is always a first time. nothing ventured, nothing gained!

[JayneR13]

I use a splitter at the garden where the main hose attaches so I can lay out 200' of hose. Using a splitter at the source wouldn't work because the hose would cross lawn mower land. The grass is established and burying anything under would be a pain. Also this is a church and the people like things neat. Hoses are to be wound neatly at the source when finished. I'm retired so I don't mind running over there a couple of times per week to water and weed. It's a 5 minute walk from my house. Unfortunately there's only one water source so I'll be hauling buckets, but this year the area needing that will be closer to the water source thankfully. The spigot simply won't push any more water. As it is, it takes 2-3 minutes for the water to fill the second hose. Both hoses start at the same splitter so go figure!

Determinant tomatoes can be useful. I use indeterminant so they keep producing all season. My plan is to plant short DTM cucumbers after the garlic, short DTM something after the first cucumber planting is finished depending upon how much time I have, then planting the fall garlic in that area. Cover crops can be nice but you'll be seeing them again even after the garden has been tilled. I fertilize with chicken poo during planting and side dress monthly during the season. Our season goes from Memorial Day to about mid-October for warm season stuff. If you roto-till the plant waste (or cover crop) back into the soil in fall, you'll replace many of the nutrients and add organic matter to the soil. I till only in spring and fall, to balance between loosening the soil and the needs of the soil fauna. My biggest worry there is disturbing bumble bee nests. They're ground dwellers, usually by fences and buildings thankfully. We also have a small compost bin but due to the size of the bin, it's a cold process. I think I'll have enough for a few flower pots this season though! I'm planning to use some of the smaller pots for local pollinator-friendly flowers and have suggested decorative pots to PA. He's pretty good so if he can scavenge rather than buy, that's fine with me! Perhaps even a bird bath. Flowers are good for the soul & the pollinators and birds are fun to watch. Let the garden bring peace & joy as well as food!

FYI PA=Pantry Administrator. His actual name is Larry. He's also a gardener, as are many of my fellow volunteers.

[CtGrower]

I was wondering what PA meant

Sounds like you have the water figured out for your situation. We also need to keep things neat at least in the front of the building. We have more flexibility in the back.

We grow using 300sqft raised beds in the back (garden blocks/2x6x8 boards) and 100sqft of Vego metal raised beds in the front. (we needed raised beds in the front to keep the clients dogs from peeing in the herbs )

Vego donated 5 beds last year in case you are interested. They are more of a pain to water, but.. they meet the function and are nice looking.

I haven't thought of short DTM cucumbers as a succession. What varieties of cucumber and squash are you planting? Mine did so-so last year so am thinking of Max-Pack, Diva cucumber and Dunja, Zephyr squash this year. Cucumbers on cattle panel and squash possibly vertically staked vs sprawling (50/50).

We are also adding chicken poo this year for fertilization. I'm still going to try the cover crop. Winter pea / oats are supposed to winter kill. This was the mix recommended by Sheryll Durrant who runs the Kelly Street Garden in the South Bronx. She spoke at a symposium here last year. Very inspirational! More on what they do is here. https://www.kellystreetgarden.org

We also need to work on composting... we don't currently have a bin, just a small pile. Will be adding something...in 2025.

[CtGrower]

Here are a couple of pictures of the Pantry Garden

Herbs in our new Vego beds in October. Chives, thyme, Lemon Balm, Mint, Oregano, Parsley, Sage.
The nasturtiums went wild. They were appreciated by clients for how nice they looked as well as to eat.

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View of the Raised beds in the rear in September
Cherry tomatoes with florida weave in front on left (unpruned, total tangle)
Indeterminate tomatos on an EMT string trellis behind the cherry tomatoes.
Peppers in the bed on right (behind the nasturtiums).
Squash in the corner between Peppers and tomatoes.. (they didn't do well there, but I did try vertical trellising a couple and it was a pain, but it worked ok.)
Cucumbers on cattle panel behind the peppers.

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[JayneR13]

Wow! That's a lovely garden! Your pantry's clients evidently are more knowledgeable about herbs than ours are. Most of ours didn't know what to do with them, which is one of the reasons the herbs flopped. Latino cooking does use a lot of cilantro however; I planted some in a pot quickly last year that was well-received. I got the seed from the MMMM swap.

Indeed, as you've seen, my pantry's garden is totally in-ground. The city gets testy about certain things, one of them being compost piles, which are required to be contained in some way. I do have trellises for cucumbers and standard cages for tomatoes, so that's helpful. The fence in back belongs to the neighbor so I can't trellis things on it without at least asking first. We prefer to get along with our neighbors Thankfully we don't have dog problems that I know of, but the rabbits and squirrels make up for it!

Cucumber varieties-I do have both Diva and Spacemaster for the second planting, as well as a good dozen varieties obtained from the MMMM swap. I have an orange type from MIGardener but I'm hesitant to plant it since not too many people would understand that it's a cucumber. In my home garden perhaps! I'm not sure if PA is planning to go around to the nurseries for donations, as has been done in previous years, or if he's going to ask me to start seedlings. He's a busy guy so I don't mind. If we end up with donations, we get what the nurseries give. One advantage would be healthy plants that grow well in this area. I had just a slight problem with a bad bag of seed starting mix last year, and it impacted my entire garden for the season! It was the mix I've been using for years too (Miracle Gro seed starting mix) and the other bags were good. That one caused problems though. Lessons in plant pathology are a bit secondary to my purpose here!


Speaking of plant pathology, I noticed this morning that my lettuce leaves were a bit wilty in my big hydroponics unit. I had assumed the first dead plant was Miss Yin browsing, but the second dead one required closer inspection. Sure enough, root rot! This is the bane of hydroponics.

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So I pulled everything, bleached away, and replanted. I added some mycorrhiza from last season and saw this, which I thought at first was sludge from the pump. I had cleaned out the pump but these things happen. It wasn't sludge. It was the fungi collecting on the bottom of the tank. I realized this after I'd cleaned out again. Oh well. Nutrient solution is cheap since I make my own.

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And the unit is replanted! I have enough lettuce for a good sammie and a small salad at least, and the GardenCube (back right) has sprouted nicely. Now I just need to make more solution.

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[CtGrower]

That is quite the hydroponic setup! U R way ahead of me on this!

We start our seeds in soil blocks with mix from Johnnys if we aren't direct seeding. The pantry has a bakers rack in the utility room of with some LED lights. I also grow some at home. In past years, I used whatever seed I could get for free. We have a big seed giveaway of prior year's Burpee seeds every year. I get about 200 packs of various vegetables/herbs/flowers. I pick what I want and give the rest to the clients.

This year I'm going to be more intentional with what I want to grow and not take just what I'm given. (the more disease resistant the better!!). Last year we got a bunch of really nice heirloom plants that grew huge tomatos, but they took forever, tended to crack and did not serve many people. I'm intending to grow more red globe like tomatos in the 5-9oz range. Probably Jetsetter, maybe supersonic.

Getting rid of eggplant, potatoes, lettuce, carrots, radish.. Thyme, Mint, Lemon Balm, Sage (clients don't know what to do herbs)

Adding Garlic (50 heads that will be used for scapes only and planted for seed in the fall probably).

The beds in the front will be tough. I will grow short tomatos and peppers in Vego beds in the right front of the building. It will be tricky to make it look nice. Thinking florida weave vs cages would look best for supporting tomatos. I've never grown dwarf or determinate tomatos so... it will be an interesting year. I'm getting some seeds from kind folks here and will buy a variety of other kinds I think would work.

Building 5 more Vego beds, so.. a lot of room to try different varieties.. just trying to keep it neat.

How does the saying go... Jump and the net will appear??

[JayneR13]

Keeping it neat keeps the municipality happy and gardens bring light to the soul! We've both raised a good point about the herbs: if the clients don't know what to do with them, what's the point in growing them? It's my opinion that our sedentary, convenience food culture is directly responsible for many of our health problems. Additionally, we've forgotten how to cook and how to preserve our own food. Growing fresh food is a good start in getting back to older, healthier ways though.

That being said, the food pantry garden needs to produce as much food as possible. Peppers are too pokey; I grew those last year and got barely one pepper before the hard freeze ended the season. Carrots also take too long. Radishes and beets were rabbit food. The previous gardener had established wild lettuce but it was so bitter I pulled it. If I wouldn't eat it, why would I grow it for someone else? There were also plenty of dandelions, which are edible, but how many people know that or how to prepare them? And to the parish that's supporting the garden, dandelions are weeds. I have to cater to those supporting this effort as much as to the pantry clients. They want to see a neat garden, weeded and trimmed. I'm told that many church members walk through the garden, and it's also right outside the pastor's office window. So, neat and trimmed it is with no dandelions It doesn't have to be Better Homes and Gardens-level neat. But it does have to be under control.

I suspect this year I'll be asked to provide the seedlings, just so PA has one less thing on his plate. At 62 I'm one of the youngest of the volunteers, and he does have plenty to do. I bought several disease-resistant tomato varieties from Seeds n Such this year, and both Diva and Spacemaster are also disease-resistant for powdery mildew. Of course that's not the same thing as the plants won't develop the problem, but it can only help. My pantry garden has both powdery mildew and Septoria, which thankfully can be slowed down with copper fungicide. Dr Hudelson of the Plant Disease and Diagnostics Clinic in Madison doesn't bother to treat his garden for that, stating that PM at least won't kill the plant. I find that true as far as it goes, but PM will stop the plants from flowering and setting fruit. Septoria will decimate the crop if not treated. I'm just praying that I don't end up with mosaic virus again! I had that in my home garden last year and it just killed my squash crop. There is no treatment for that other than pulling the entire crop, and any fruits produced are inedible. That's spread by sap suckers such as aphids and was a real bummer. I had seven zucchini vines and got only one big squash for bread and a few smaller ones for the table. Boo!

If you're in need of dwarf tomato seeds please let me know! I have a ton of them, including Firebird Sweet. That one does pretty well here. I also have Japanese black trifele, which is a solid sauce tomato if a bit boring taste-wise. At least it doesn't develop BER as Amish paste does! I've found that dwarf varieties grow well in my hydroponics units as well. So let me know if you need any.

[CtGrower]

There were zero fresh produce offerings at the pantry in 2020 when I retired and started to volunteer inside. This was I we started to grow veggies for the pantry.

The pantry moved to a new building in 2022 and it afforded space for a garden to grow veggies at the pantry so we have been growing ever since.

With the new building, there is also more space to take in fresh(?) produce that the grocery stores can't sell. Happily this is bringing healthier options for the clients. However.... many times the offerings are things like Bok Choi that I love, but many folks do not know how to cook. Many times the offerings are on the edge of rotting. Needless to say, it is an improvement, but not perfect.

We have had better luck with peppers for some reason. We grow the variety ACE from Johnny's which is very early (50 DTM). the peppers are medium sized, and they are appreciated by the clients. We harvest them green. I can give you some seeds if you would like to test them out.

What variety of zucchini do you grow? I'm going to try Dunja and maybe Zephyr or another yellow squash. I hear you about PM and Septoria. I regularly spray with copper fungicide as well. Boo for the Mosaic! Cross fingers we all don't get that this year!
We had vine borers that took half of ours and I had an irrigation fail that drown them for a while before I noticed I will need to be on top of that better this year.

I'd love any dwarf tomato seeds you would share! I'd like to try a bunch of varieties to see what will work best this year and then tailor the plantings at the Pantry next year to what works. I think my home garden will be a test site extension as well.. I have a bunch of veggie seeds you could have if you like as well. (these were donated by Johnnys last fall, but... I can't use most of them). (Kale, Spinach, Acorn Squash, Leaf Lettuce, Pie Pumpkin, radish, Martha Washington tomato, Chives, Salt and Pepper Cucumber ). My guess is you can't use them either, save the Kale? We will be getting a ton of last year's seeds from Burpee. If you want anything from them, I can keep a lookout for them for you. (no guarantees what we get, but... I hope to be helping with the distribution so... might have choices in varieties.

On another note, we are toying with an initiative to work with clients on growing their own veggies in containers.. Not sure how many would do it, but it is another way to feed folks..

P.S. Are you near Madison? My husband is a Badger and we go there as much as I let him

[JayneR13]

I'm in Green Bay, close enough to the Frozen Tundra to hear the fireworks! I went to university here and moved back from Seattle in 2005 via a tiny town up north that most people have never heard of. Green Bay is home! I've done a fair share of wandering but love it here best, even if the wind chill is -28 today. At least it'll be in the 20s above on distribution day! Even if I'm tucked away in a cubby by a computer, the front door is open if it's busy and it does get a bit nippy. Which is why I wear thermals, of course.

I'd love more kale seed! I'll send you a PM so we can exchange addresses. If you can't use those seeds and the clients don't want them, we have a seed library here that I donate to. Perhaps one could be started there if you don't have one already.

Does your pantry get food from Feeding America? We do, and even if a lot of it is cereal and processed food it's still most welcome and well received by the clients. We also get fresh stuff that's nearly rotten or at least well past its prime but what can we do? We sort through and offer what's usable. I've also eaten from food banks so I ask: how hungry are you? I remember this government commodity peanut butter I used to get that was HORRID. It was better as wall chinking! But it was better than nothing. I'm not sure how long our pantry garden has been in existence, but the pantry itself has been running continuously since 1983. I got involved 4-5 years ago by bringing my overage, both from my CSA and my garden, and got involved with the garden last year. When the season ended and I was suddenly & involuntarily retired, I asked if there was anything I could do within the pantry. You're a computer nerd? they asked. Evidently computer nerds aren't easy for them to find, and if that's what they need then that's what I do. I'm very happy to be retired and thankfully it's financially viable but it's nice to have a purpose as well.

The local farmers also give their overage; last year I was asked if I'd like to help pick some. Sure, I said, thinking it would be tomorrow or the next day. Your ride will be here in 10 minutes! So a bunch of us went to a big garden out in the country and picked. We got something like 20 lbs of beans.

The zucchini varieties I grew last year were Costata Romanesco and long white of Palermo. This year I'm going to try something different since those didn't last long. I don't know if these were particularly susceptible. I just know it was a bummer to lose them! So I'll try something else. I have enough seeds to fund my neighborhood 300 years into Perdition so no worries there! I haven't decided yet exactly which varieties. I'm kind of waiting to see what the swap brings. I might be brave and try those two again. They are really tasty!

[JayneR13]

PS I've PM'd you. Please let me know if you don't receive.

[CtGrower]

I don't get involved with the inside anymore, but there are multiple places our PA gets shipments from. One in particular had all crap food (cookies, chips, soda, etc... ). I don't think we have a choice on what we get from that one... Another we have I think is FoodShare? but don't quote me. They get standard canned food items and frozen meat. The PA orders what she wants.. (I think). The clients are mostly very grateful to get what they get.

We don't get much overage from farmers, but that could be an opportunity.
We do ask the community to 'grow a row' for the pantry.

The zucchini varieties sound yummy. Might not be best for the pantry this year though. We have a store not far from me in Ct with all Baker Creek Seeds. I think I'm gonna have to take a trip!

I PM'd you about kale, spinach and onions.

Stay warm!!! Green Bay is up there!