Urban Agriculture

Purchasing Potted Vegetables For Your Garden

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When using potted plants in your Georgia community vegetable garden, start with healthy ones.  Visit quality nurseries or plant stores and choose plants free from diseases and insects.  You don’t want to bring home any problems.  Check where the stem meets the soil for soft spots.  Don’t choose plants that look wilted but have obviously been watered.  That could be a sign of a soil borne disease.

Before planting your new vegetable plants, check the roots.  Sometimes the plants can be root-bound or pot-bound.  The plant was outgrowing the current container and the roots had no where to go in the pot but around the perimeter of the soil.

The roots of this plant need to be disturbed so they will easily grow in the new soil.
The roots of this plant need to be disturbed so they will easily grow in the new soil.

Before going into the ground these roots need to be broken apart so that they will venture out into the new soil.  Otherwise, they may keep growing around the soil ball and the plants won’t thrive.   Even after weeks of being in the ground, the plant will easily pull out of the planting hole.  This is an unhealthy plant!

You can break apart roots with your hands or use scissors or a sharp knife (carefully!) to cut an incision into the root ball.  You will need to go about 1 inch deep and about 3/4ths the way up on the root ball.   After cutting gently pull the roots apart.

Cut about a 1 inch slit into opposite sides of the root ball.
Cut about a 1 inch slit into opposite sides of the root ball.

 

Gently separate the roots using your hands.
Gently separate the roots using your hands.

 

Put the plant in the ground spreading the roots into the soil as much as possible.  This may seem like tough love for an already developed root system but, your plants will be healthier and more productive in the long run.  Remember, your local extension agent has all sorts of information on the correct way to plant just about anything!

Happy Gardening!

Hybrid vs. Open Pollinated vs. Heirloom

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As we think about purchasing plants for our Georgia community gardens, especially tomatoes, there are choices to be made.  Is a hybrid the best choice?  What exactly is a hybrid?  What about heirlooms?

Today we are going to think back to our high school genetics class and discuss a bit about plant breeding.  Pollen is located on the anther part of the stamen (male part).  It is transferred by insect, wind, human hands, or other means to the stigma part of the flower (female part).   This is pollination.  There the pollen grows down the style to the ovary. That is fertilization.  Any of that sound familiar?

 

9.4.2

A hybrid vegetable is created when a plant breeder deliberately controls pollination by cross-pollinating two different varieties of a plant.  The parent plants are chosen for characteristics like fruit size, plant vigor, or disease resistance.  The hope is that the resulting offspring will have the positive characteristics.

Millionaire Eggplant Hybrid
Millionaire Eggplant Hybrid

The parent designated as the female has the pollen-bearing anthers removed from the flowers.  Pollen from a carefully chosen partner is moved to the female plant’s stigma by human hands.  The chosen pollen is the only pollen that female receives.  This is all very time consuming and carefully monitored.  Scientifically it looks like this:

Parent 1 (P1) + Parent 2 (P2)  —-> Hybrid (F1)

The resulting hybrid (hopefully) has wonderful characteristics like disease resistance, early maturing fruit, larger fruit, or whatever the plant breeder was trying to achieve.  Before a hybrid is available to the consumer, it has gone through many field tests and trials.  All this is why hybrids are more expensive plants.

One negative to hybrids is that you can’t save the seed.  Seeds grown from hybrid plants do not provide plant types true-to-type.   You need to purchase new hybrids year after year.  Big Boy and Early Girl are examples of hybrid tomatoes.  Millionaire and Early Midnight are popular hybrid eggplants.

Arkansas Traveler tomatoes ready to go in the ground.
Arkansas Traveler tomatoes ready to go in the ground.

Open pollinated vegetables are pollinated in the field by wind or natural pollinators to self or cross-pollinate.  Plants that cross-pollinate need to be isolated from other varieties to produce seed that is true-to-type.  Crops like tomatoes and beans tend to self-pollinate so saving useful seed is not difficult.  Arkansas Traveler, Abraham Lincoln, and Cherokee Purple are popular open pollinated tomato varieties.  Black Beauty is a popular open pollinated eggplant variety.

Heirlooms are generally open pollinated plant varieties that are over 50 years old.  Traditionally the seed has been carefully saved and handed down from gardener to gardener.  These are the plants most treasured.

So whether you choose hybrids, open pollinated plants, heirlooms, or a combination of these…

Happy Gardening! 

 

 

Crop Rotation in the Georgia Community Garden

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manageing-crop-diseases-in-high-tunnels-2015-23-638Crop rotation is a huge part of integrated pest management (IPM) in Georgia vegetable production.  It is an inexpensive tool in disease and nematode management.  Correctly using crop rotation can cut down on pesticide use and result in healthier plants.  Growing Vegetables Organically has some great information on this type of IPM.

As we are all planning our warm-season gardens crop rotation is something to consider.  However, it is a whole lot easier to rotate crops around a 3 acre farm than it is to move them around a 32 square foot garden plot.  How do we practice crop rotation in the community garden?  It is even necessary?

Crop rotation has been around for centuries.  Simply it is changing what is planted in a particular area each year.  Planting the same crop year after year in the same location causes disease pathogens to build up and become a real problem. Rotating crops helps break this disease cycle.  Also, since different crops use varying amounts of plant nutrients, crop rotation is a wise use of the nutrition in your soil.

Plants can be divided into families.  Learn those plant groupings because many pathogens infect crops in the same families.  The basic rule of crop rotation is:

Don’t plant crops from the same plant family in the same place every year. 

Crop families:

Onion family (Alliaceae):  chives, onions, garlic

Cole family (Brassicaceae):  lettuce, collards, cabbage, broccoli, spinach

Squash family (Cucurbitaceae):  pumpkins, watermelon, squash, cantaloupe

Bean family (Fabaceae):  beans, peas

Tomato family (Solanaceae):  tomatoes, peppers, eggplant

Since tomatoes and peppers are in the same family (Solanaceae),  don’t plant tomatoes where you have been growing peppers.  And, don’t follow squash with pumpkins (same Cucurbitaceae family).  Many farmers follow a four year or even longer rotation plan.  Their lettuce won’t see the same piece of soil for several years.  This helps lower disease pressure and cuts down on fungicide use.  Many Master Gardeners usually try for a three year rotation for a large garden area.

We know that crop rotation works to help create healthier plants but how does that translate in a Georgia community garden plot?

The best way is for the community gardener to choose plants from different families each year.  This isn’t always practical.  A gardener wants to grow what his/her family likes to eat.  That may mean beans every year.   The #1 vegetable grown in community gardens is tomatoes – year after year!

So, maybe you work with your fellow community gardeners and rotate who grows tomatoes and you all agree to share the tomato harvest.  This may not always work, either.  Some gardeners want lots of tomatoes every year.

Move your pole beans to the other side of the plot this year.  Buy your tomatoes from the farmers market this year and try growing squash.  Better yet, try growing and eating something entirely new.

An old fashion mattock may be your only tool for some modified rotation in your community garden plots.
An old fashioned mattock may be your only tool for some modified rotation in your community garden plots.

At the very least Bob Westerfield, UGA vegetable specialist, recommends turning your soil over.  Dig deeply bringing  up soil that hasn’t been exposed to the sun.  Go as deep as you are able.  In a small way you are not rotating your plants but rotating your soil.  Your UGA Extension agent can help you come up with a plan for crop rotation that will work for your situation.

Happy Gardening!

 

Soil Temperatures Important in the Georgia Vegetable Garden-A Guest Post by Sharon Dowdy

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The air temperatures may be warm but the soil temperatures are still cool.
The air temperatures may be warm but the soil temperatures are still cool.

Georgia’s recent warm daytime temperatures have home gardeners itching to dig in the soil and plant summer crops. But University of Georgia experts warn gardeners not to be tempted. Soil temperatures are still far too low for seeds to germinate and transplants to survive.

“In Georgia, we may have a warm front come in one day and a cold front a few days later,” said Bob Westerfield, a consumer horticulturist with UGA Cooperative Extension. “It may hit 75 degrees outside, but the air temperature isn’t important when it comes to gardening – the soil temperature is.”

“That soil’s not ready for tomatoes. Summer crops need from 60 to 65 degrees.” he said.

Green beans can handle temperatures of about 55 degrees, but it is still not quite warm enough for them. If gardeners ignore his advice and seed their gardens, he says the seeds won’t germinate.

Gardeners who cannot resist the temptation can still plant cold season crops like asparagus, beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, collards, kale, lettuce, mustard, onions, peas, potatoes, radish, spinach and turnips.

To track the soil temperatures in your area of the state, Westerfield recommends two different strategies. Buy a soil thermometer or use a meat thermometer to test the soil in your garden plot or rely on UGA’s Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network at www.georgiaweather.net.

Soil temperatures “creep up slowly” and Georgia soils should be ready to sow in seed by early-to-mid

Use www.georgiaweather.net to check soil temperatures in your area. The current soil temperatures in Griffin are in the 40s.
Use www.georgiaweather.net to check soil temperatures in your area. The current soil temperatures in Griffin are in the 40s.

April, Westerfield said.

“And don’t be swayed by the vegetable transplants lining the garden center shelves,” he said. “Just because plants are in the stores doesn’t mean it’s time to plant them.”  Contact your local UGA Extension Agent for more information.

For more information on vegetable gardening in Georgia, see the UGA Extension publication, “Vegetable Gardening in Georgia”.

Sharon Dowdy is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.  Growing her own tomatoes has been beneficial for Sharon’s heart. She met her beau five years ago while buying tomato stakes at Home Depot.

Happy gardening!

Cooking with Georgia Kale and Seth Freedman

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Chef Seth Freedman at work.
Chef Seth Freedman at work.

Chef Seth Freedman is a Southern man with New York chef training.  That can be the best of both worlds!   He still cooks with his grandmother’s cast iron skillet but using advanced culinary techniques.

Owner of Forage and Flame, Seth specializes in catering for groups large and small.  He enjoys educating people about cooking locally grown food.  In addition to Forage and Flame, Seth is a partner at Peach Dish where you can order fresh ingredients with recipes and have them delivered to your home for preparation.  And, Seth loves his greens!

Recently he shared a kale recipe at the Georgia Organics conference.  For those of us who are not kale lovers, we were impressed.  I asked Seth if I could share the recipe and tips and he happily said “YES!”.

Kale and Apple Salad

1 bunch of kale

2 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tsp honey

2 apples (crisp and sweet)

salt and pepper to taste

1.  Remove stalks from the kale and discard them.  Wash leaves and slice them thinly.

Massaging the kale is the most important step in the recipe.
Massaging the kale is the most important step in the recipe.

2. Dice apples into 1/4 inch cubes.

3. In a large bowl, mix vinegar with honey and ground pepper.  Drizzle in the 1/4 cup of olive oil while whisking.  Pour dressing into another container.

4.  Add kale and a small sprinkle of salt to the large bowl.   Using your clean, bare hands massage the kale with the dressing left on the sides of the bowl. Seth says to squeeze them so that you are actually bruising or breaking the greens a bit.  Squeeze, mash, massage – really get in there.  This helps take some of the bitterness out of the greens and is the secret to this recipe!

5. Pour the rest of the dressing over the kale and add the apple dices.  Adjust seasoning, toss and serve.

Seth says that really any Georgia grown green will work in this recipe – mustard greens, collards – whatever you have growing in your garden plot.  Remember the squeezing, mashing, massaging is the key!

image copyLet us know if you prepare this recipe and what you think of it.  If you would like to contact Seth you can reach him at seth@peachdish.com.  Thanks again, Seth, for sharing your expertise!

Happy eating!

 

 

 

For the Love of Georgia Kale

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Kale plants are loose leaves and do not form heads. Photo courtesy of Purdue University.
Kale plants are loose leaves and do not form heads. Photo courtesy of Purdue University.

Kale seems to be the vegetable of the year.  The nutritive properties of kale are legendary.  It is high in vitamins A and C and loaded with fiber.  You can find it raw in salads, sautéed in stir-fries, fried into chips, steamed in to a side dish and pureed into smoothies.  The good news for community gardeners in Georgia is that kale is easy to grow.  It is a cool-season crop and March is the time to plant kale transplants outdoors.

March weather in Georgia can be tricky.  If you have grown your own transplants from seed indoors, it is imperative that you harden off your plants.  Give them a chance to acclimate to being outdoors by setting them out in a protected area, like on a porch, during a sunny day with no wind.  Leave them out only during the day at first.  Gradually expose them to a less protected area and then let them be out overnight.  Once they are in the garden, protect them from wind.  Wind can dry out the plant and damage the plant tissues.

Add compost to the kale bed before planting or add high nitrogen amendments such as blood meal or cottonseed meal.  Nitrogen is important since you are growing the plants for the leaves.  Space the transplants 18 to 24 inches apart since the plants will get large.  Mulch helps keep soil temperatures and moisture even.

Many gardeners say the key to tender kale is the watering.  Keep the transplants well watered.  As they grow make sure they get about 1 inch of water per week.  During the cool temperatures of spring, it is easy to forget to water.

When the plants are ready for harvesting, start with the outer and lower leaves.  Remember the smallerimage copy 2 leaves will be more tender and would probably be better in salads then the tougher, larger leaves.  As the soil temperatures warm up you will find the plant grows faster.  As it approaches really warm weather and longer days your established plants may bolt sending up a flower stalk.  This is your cue to replace the kale crop with a warm-season vegetable.

Varieties such as “Vates”, “Dwarf Siberian” or “Red Russian” are popular with Georgia gardeners.    If you don’t have room in your early spring garden for growing kale, consider putting it in your fall garden.

Next week we will have a kale recipe from a famous Georgia chef.  It is a good one!

Happy Gardening!

 

Compost in 2015-A Guest Post by Mary Carol Sheffield

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Resolve to live more sustainably in 2015 by creating a compost pile or bin to help reduce waste.

Worms in Compost - photo by Sharon Dowdy
Worms in Compost – photo by Sharon Dowdy

Many items thrown into the trash can be sorted out and composted and benefits go well beyond waste reduction. Compost can be used to improve garden soil and make landscapes and vegetable gardens more productive. With a little organization and a designated space, gardeners can amend their own soil through composting.

Start by finding a space where the compost can “cook.” The location should be in full sun, at least 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet, out of the way and with good drainage.

A compost container can be bought or built with materials like welded wire, fencing, pallets or blocks. Open spaces should be left on the container’s sides to allow good air circulation through the pile, and the bottom should be open to the ground.

Just like cooking a meal, cooking compost involves following a recipe. Almost any organic plant material

Compost bins at the North Fulton Annex Community Garden
Compost bins at the North Fulton Annex Community Garden

can be used for composting, including grass clippings, leaves, flowers, annual weeds, twigs, chopped brush, old vegetable plants, straw and sawdust.

Avoid composting diseased plants, weeds and seeds or invasive weeds, like morning glory. Vegetable peelings and coffee grounds can also be composted, but avoid adding meats, bones and fats that may attract animals.

For best decomposition, mix a variety of materials. Most compost piles are layered with whatever organic material is available at a given time. The smaller the pieces of organic matter, the faster they will decompose. Once a layer of organic matter is added, add a little garden soil or animal manure. This adds fungi, bacteria, insects and worms to the pile and helps speed up the decomposition process.

Keep the pile moist, but not too wet. To speed up the decomposition process and prevent odors, use a shovel to mix the pile once a month. Compost is completely “cooked” and ready when it looks like rich, crumbly earth and the original organic material is no longer recognizable.

With every mix of the pile, some ready-to-use compost should be available. This compost can be added to the soil before planting vegetables or trees, shrubs or flowers. It can also be used as mulch on the soil surface, or as a potting soil for container plants.

Completely cooked compost will slowly release nutrients into the soil, but don’t rely on it for fertilization. Your plants will still need to be fertilized appropriately.

For more on how to begin composting see University of Georgia Extension publication “Composting:  Recycling Landscape Trimmings.”

Mary Carol Sheffield is the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agricultural and natural resources agent in Paulding County.   Mary Carol’s vegetable garden is small to match her children! They love to help her there and have their own kid size tools and gloves.

Happy gardening!

 

What I Love about my Georgia Community Garden

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A Valentine's Day Tribute to Vegetables by Georgia Gardeners

Just in time for Valentine’s Day we asked community gardeners across the state of Georgia what they love about their community gardens.  We got some wonderful answers.

From a gardener in Kennesaw:  “The biggest event of the year for ‘Plant a Row for the Hungry’ is sweet potato dig davalentine_lace_9y.  We all enjoy guessing the weight of our harvest.”

From a gardener in Marietta:  “Hearing the kids talk about how much they love eating fresh vegetables – ‘kookombers!'”   Someone from Sawyer Road Elementary says that she also loves the students’ enthusiasm.

From a gardener in Athens:  “I love all the friends I have made at the garden.”  Fellowship and friendship were common themes in replies to our question.  Vicki from Green Meadows Community Garden wrote, “Meeting and gardening with so many different people I wouldn’t have met.  I especially enjoy sharing laughs and knowledge with my fellow gardeners.”  Patty Beckham from Spalding County says, “What I love about The Healthy Life Community Garden is the laughter and conversation among the gardeners as they harvest their beds, or plant new things.  It is a joy to see people having fun as they work side by side in such a beautiful setting.”

From a gardener in Atlanta:  “I love trying new foods.  Our garden has gardeners from many different cultural backgrounds.  We all grow different types of food.  It is fun to try new things.”  Gardeners in Stone Mountain also like the diversity of cultures and backgrounds represented in their garden.

I-Love-My-GardenCherokee County gardeners like having a garden spot while not having to deal with the care of a lawn and other outdoor maintenance required when owning a yard.  One gardener in Cobb County wrote, “It allows people a place to garden who may not have their own property where they could garden.  It shows that gardening is possible for everyone to do.”

Other people enjoy the restorative aspects of gardening.  Terri Carter of the Historic Mableton Community Garden wrote “I love Historic Mableton Garden because it is therapeutic.  When I find myself sad and frazzled I can go to the garden and listen to the birds singing and all the bees buzzing around.  I always feel better when I visit the garden.  I leave with a feeling of peace and well being.”  Debbie Ponder from the Reconnecting our Roots Community Garden also thinks along those lines.  She said, It will give our families a place to spend time together – give back and enjoy being a family.”

If you have spent any time at all in a community garden you know it is about more than growing food.  It is about learning, sharing, teaching, meeting other gardeners, and helping people.  It is clear from the answers we got that gardens are loved for all of these reasons.  Why do YOU love your community garden?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Grow UP with Trellises

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With the limited space of a community garden plot growing UP is a great option.  Not only will you produce more food crops per area, but you help keep the food out of the reach of rodents.  For many crops keeping them off the ground increases air circulation and lessens the chance of diseases and rots.  Cucumbers, runner beans, peas, and pumpkins are examples of crops that can grow up.  Going vertical means you will need support in the way of a trellis.

Woodstock Community Garden
Woodstock Community Garden

These two trellises are simple – posts with wire or string between.  Adding a beam across the top will help stabilize the structure.  This is helpful for lightweight crops such as beans or peas.  Make sure the posts are deeply placed in the plot so they will be secure and not easily blown over.  Also, make sure your wire or string is strong enough to hold the weight of the food crop.

Woodstock Community Garden
Woodstock Community Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This teepee shape is popular for trellising runner beans.  In most cases string or wire is woven between the posts. If the tee-pee is large enough it can even be a nice hideout area for a young child.  Just trellis the beans on two of the three sides leaving one open.

Trellis 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stone Mountain Community Garden
Stone Mountain Community Garden

 

 

The trellises in this picture are a bit more complicated.   They are engineered for the posts to lean on each other for partial support.  Posts across the top help with stablization.

 

 

 

 

Here the chain link fence around the community garden is used to support pumpkins which appreciate the air circulation of growing UP.

Huntsville Botanical Garden
Huntsville Botanical Garden

 

Notice how this larger pumpkin has the support of a mesh sling.  Heavier food crops will need support so gravity doesn’t separate them from the vines.

Huntsville Botanical Garden
Huntsville Botanical Garden

 

 

 

 

 

Gardening in a small space often requires creativity.  Growing UP is one way to be creative!  Visit other gardens of your local UGA Extension office for more ideas.  After all, these aren’t your grandfather’s row crops.

Happy Gardening!

Georgia Peas, Please

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Even though we are all in frozen shock with frigid winter temperatures, we are happy to report that there is garden work to do.  Peas are a cool-season crop and it is almost time to plant them.  Garden peas, snap peas, and snow peas all go in to the ground about the same time.  Garden peas are also called English peas and require shelling as only the pea seeds are eaten.  Snap peas are relatively new to the vegetable garden and the entire pea pod with seeds is eaten.  Snow peas do not develop large pea seeds and the pods are often used in stir-fry dishes.

Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg - Twig Trellis
Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg – Twig Trellis

Peas require full sun and most of them require some type of trellis.  The trellis is helpful to support the pea vines and to keep the pods off the ground to help prevent rot.   Some pea varieties are short, only 2-3 feet tall, while others can have vines as long as six feet.   Read your seed package well to know what to expect.  For a community garden plot, the easiest way to manage this crop is to put the trellis at one plot end and use the other space for additional cool-season vegetables.  (See UGA’s Vegetable Planting Chart for some ideas.)  Some gardeners use tomato cages they already have on hand.  In colonial times, tree branches were put in the ground as small twig trellises.  Some people prefer to just have a pea patch.

Start with well drained soil having a pH of  6.0-6.8.  Forward thinking gardeners get their pea beds ready in the Fall so that all that is needed is the planting.  The seeds should be planted 1 inch deep and 1-2 inches apart.  Peas work with bacteria in the soil to “fix” nitrogen.  This process take a while and it could be advantageous to use nitrogen-fixing soil inoculant just before planting.  You may want to split this purchase with other gardeners as the inoculants usually have an annual expiration date.   The inoculants are available through many seed companies; check your seed catalogs.

Literature says to plant peas as soon as the soil can be worked.  For the Southern gardener this is misleading as our soil can often be worked all year long.  The trick is to plant the seeds when the soil is warm enough for germination and the plant will grow and produce the vegetable before the weather gets too warm.  If seeds sit in very cold, wet soil for long they may rot.  Pea vines are more resistant to freezing than the pods.  This is helpful as the vines will develop first.  Timing is everything!

Soil temperatures need to be at least 45 degrees F.  (Check out www.georgiaweather.net.)  The warmer the soil temperatures the faster the peas germinate.  You can use dark plastic mulch around the seeds to warm the soil a bit.  Pay attention to the days to maturity number on your seed package as this can help guide you in a planting date.  For Northern Georgia start checking the soil temperatures the last week of  January.  Have them planted before March 1st.

Peas are best eaten as soon as possible after they are picked so harvest often.  All types are delicious to snack on as you work in the garden!  Some recommended varieties of garden peas are Wando (which is somewhat heat tolerant) and Little Marvel, and Improved Maestro.  Wando and Little Marvel are favorites of many Master Gardeners.  Some gardeners choose not to trellis these types and just to have a pea patch.   If you are growing snap peas consider Sugar Snap or Sugar Daddy.  Snow pea gardeners enjoy growing the Norli variety.   Your UGA Extension Agent and Master Gardeners can give you information on other varieties of peas to try growing.

We close with a gardening wives’ tale – ” If a girl finds nine peas in a pod, the next bachelor she meets will become her husband.”

Happy Gardening!

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