gardening

Fall 2006

Issue 4, 2006

Project Grow’s Organic Gardening Newsletter

Organic Gardener Certification Back for 2007!

WCC and Ann Arbor area’s Project Grow Community Gardens will again offer their Organic Gardener Certificate program beginning winter semester 2007.

This program will give home gardeners and professional landscapers the knowledge and skills needed to establish and maintain vegetable and ornamental gardens organically. Individuals who complete the required 7 classes, a final exam and a 20-hour volunteer component will receive a certificate in Organic Gardening. Students will have 6 months to complete their volunteer hours. See page 5 for class schedule and full descriptions!

Required Courses are:

Introduction to Organic Gardening Soils, Compost and Organic Fertilizer Advanced Organic Vegetable Gardening Organic Pest and Disease Management Landscaping with Native Plants Organic Weed Control Advanced Organic Lawn Care

Elective Courses are:

Easy Organic Fruit Growing

. endar.. our cal y k r a p M ed Swa 2007 Se am – 12 pm 0 use 24th, 1 ture Ho a N r March e t en cience C Leslie S

Free!

Tomato Tasting Extravaganza 2006 The people have spoken and the Tomato Tasting winners have been declared!

A home UM football game and a brief but powerful rainstorm down across from the Farmers’ Market didn’t deter any tasters from trying the tomato varieties available at the Tomato Tasting 2006, held in front of People’s Food Co-op. Most of the tomatoes this year were heirlooms, and all of them were delicious and lovely. But along with being a good time, Grow’s Tomato Tasting is also a contest, and so votes were gathered from folks stopping by to nibble their way down the gloriously diverse tableful of tomatoes. The varieties represented this year are listed below, as are our winners.

Keep these varieties and winners in mind—they may be helpful to you next season as you try to choose which varieties to grow from the myriad available. Please note: all tomato types—oxheart, beefsteak, paste, saladette, and cherry vied for winner this year, so there is something for everyone.

Tomatoes represented: Variety

Dave’s Yellow Brooks Dunneau Aunt Ginny’s Purple Caspian Pink Pineapple Gold Brooks Carol’s Aunt Astride’s Latvian Oxheart Cuor di Buoi Cosmonaut Volkov Kellogg’s Breakfast Brown Berry Pomodoro Oxheart Black Zebra Stupice New Brooks Yellow Nell Green Zebra Cuban Grape

Type

beefsteak paste beefsteak beefsteak beefsteak beefsteak oxheart oxheart saladette beefsteak cherry oxheart saladette saladette beefsteak cherry saladette cherry

Best Flavor winners: 1. Kellogg’s Breakfast 2. Gold Brooks 3. Caspian Pink

Most Interesting: Brown Berry

Largest entry: Brandywine

Prettiest:

Kellogg’s Breakfast

http://www.projectgrowgardens.org/

Project Grow Project Grow’s office is located at 1831 Traver Road Ann Arbor, MI 48105 Mission Statement Project Grow Community Gardens provide the space, education and inspiration to make organic gardening accessible to all.

Project Grow Community Gardener is published four times a year: spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Readers are encouraged to submit articles and ideas. Advertising and additional sponsorship are always welcome. Please email mkesterson@ projectgrowgardens.org Board of Directors

Kerry Sheldon, President Damaris Suffalko, Secretary Melissa Kesterson, Executive Director Chris Ernst, Treasurer Terre Fisher Laurie Kotchenruther Rick Manczak Catherine Riseng Mike Scholl Marcella Trautmann

Community Gardener Volunteers SarahJane Velick Allin Terre Fisher Liz McDowell Pamela Schwarzmann Judy Shapiro Susan Simon

Project Grow memberships are $10 a year and include a subscription to the newsletter. Project Grow is a 501(c)3 organization; donations to Project Grow are tax deductible.

Board Meetings Board meetings are held at the Leslie Science Center, 1831 Traver. Please contact the office at (734) 996-3169 for upcoming meeting dates. All Project Grow members are welcome to attend.

www.projectgrowgardens.org

Melissa’s Corner

By Melissa Kesterson All of us who grow any type of plant occasionally have moments of insecurity regarding plant care. Fall clean up and over-winter preparations are often presented as big jobs that must be done to keep the garden and landscape healthy. The exact nature of these jobs, however, may be anything but clear!

Here to help take the mystery out of end-of-the-season tasks and to instill gardening confidence once again is a simple list of to-dos: Trees and Shrubs: Tie climbing roses, screen newly planted conifers, move deciduous trees and shrubs at leaf fall. Plan to move evergreens during mild and showery weather this season, and do NOT prune spring flowering shrubs at this time.

Vegetables: Tidy up the vegetable plot: remove all debris, lift potatoes, carrots, and beets, and store in a cool dark place. You may be able to extend the string bean and tomato harvest by covering and protecting these crops from frost; covering can also extend the season for lettuces and mesclun.

Fruits: If fruit comes off the fruiting spur easily, pick it. Use any damaged fruit immediately. Cut back old fruited berry canes, and tidy around fruit trees and berries, removing any fruit litter that could harbor disease and insects.

General Seasonal Tasks: Dead flowering stems may be left in border gardens for winter interest if desired, but make sure the stems are shortened so as not to strain the plant or damage neighboring ones. Deadhead and weed herbaceous borders; lift dahlias when blackened by frost, cutting down the stems and placing the tubers to dry.

Large clumps of peonies may be divided, though they may not flower for a year or two after lifting.

Annual Membership Potluck, 2006 Project Grow community gardeners and Discovery gardeners enjoyed conversation and good food again this year at the 2006 Project Grow Annual Membership meeting in September. The annual meeting is always a wonderful opportunity for us to swap stories and visit. It also gives everyone a chance to meet folks from the other gardens around the city. Harvest success stories abounded this year, as did advice on topics ranging from Japanese Beetle control to successful transplant methods. Of course, with so many delicious dishes brought to share, recipes made the rounds too!

Organizational business is supposed to be the “real” purpose behind this meeting, and so we also did a bit of work. Executive Director Melissa Kesterson reviewed the highlights of the 2006 season, including milestones for the organization and our successful new programs such as the Heirloom Seed Swap and Heirloom Plant Sale this spring. Garden Activities and Education Coordinator Sheri Repucci also shared with everyone a report on the 2006 season in the Discovery Gardens, including this year’s expansion into County Farm Park. Since Project Grow could not do all the things it does without the dedication and hard work of its volunteers, Sheri and Melissa had many folks to thank for their efforts this past year.

All members of Project Grow are invited and encouraged to attend the annual meeting every fall. It is a wonderful way to “meet the neighbors” across our community of gardeners!

• The Project Grow Community Gardener • Fall 2006

Winter 2007 Classes All classes are held at the Leslie Science Center Nature House, 1831 Traver Road, Ann Arbor. For more information call Project Grow at (734) 996-3169 or visit our web site: projectgrowgardens.org Tomatoes and Peppers from seed to shining seed In this class, prize-winning gardeners Tom Scheper and Royer Held will share their secrets on how to select, start, and grow delicious, organic tomatoes and hot peppers. Come learn about the best cultivars to grow and get tips to ensure a bountiful harvest. Instructors: Tom Scheper and Royer Held.

Saturday, February 17, 10–11:30 am

So, why should you tidy your garden?

Reason Numero Uno

Enjoying and Preserving Heirloom Vegetable Varieties in your garden This class will help you save heirloom plant varieties for future generations while enjoying them at the same time. Learn about the multitudes of heirloom vegetable varieties that are maintained by home gardeners like you. Discover the importance of seed saving and key seed saving techniques. Learn how to create your own heirloom vegetable varieties. Project Grow Instructor: Royer Held.

Saturday, March 3, 10–11:30 am Organic Gardening with Project Grow Created for beginning organic gardeners, this class will teach you basic organic gardening methods. The class will cover topics such as soil quality and amendments, planning the garden and plant variety choices, fertilizers and other organic plant care methods. Project Grow Instructor: Royer Held.

Saturday, March 17, 10–11:30 am Potato Seeds, seed potatoes and sweet potato slips: growing sweet potatoes and Bolivian Potatoes in Michigan All kinds of unusual potato varieties can be easily grown in the Michigan garden. Learn about their history, characteristics, and how to raise them from seed or tubers. Project Grow Instructor: Royer Held.

Saturday, March 31, 10–11:30 am Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener Remember your high school biology class? How about a quick refresher with some ideas about how to put Mendel’s ideas to work in your garden? Learn what it takes to shape the course of evolution and create your own plant varieties. Project Grow Instructor: Royer Held.

Saturday, April 14, 10–11:30 am

2007 Seed Swap Also, don’t forget the annual seed swap! This year, the seed swap will be held March 24, from 10 am to 12 pm, at the Leslie Science Center Nature House.

Squash bugs are ‘true bugs’ that use their piercing sucking mouthparts to remove plant juices. Adult squash bugs move to plants from various adjacent (and sometimes within the field) protected overwintering sites. Adult females deposit brownish-red eggs in clusters on a lower leaf surfaces (note egg-laying action in photo). Newly emerged nymphs are small and greenish with black legs.

Studies have shown that each season’s first generation adults deposit eggs for a second generation, the adults of which overwinter.

It is especially critical to reduce the overwintering population of squash bugs by working the soil and/or removing foliage and fruit immediately after harvest. This deprives nymphs of the necessary food source to complete their development. Recently formed adults are also unable to build up the amount of body food reserves needed to see them through the winter.

The Project Grow Community Gardener • Fall 2006 •

Discovery Garden Thank Yous • E astern Michigan University’s Beta Alpha Psi student organization for their great work making the entrance area to the Discovery Garden tidy and neat.

• U niversity of Michigan’s Indian American Student Association for their incredible effort on the Gandhi Day of Service, weeding around the Wonder Sprouts gardens in the Discovery Garden and cleaning up our storage area.

• J ohn Caldwell for teaching a wonderful class on maintaining backyard apple trees in an organic manner and for sharing examples of the various organic apple varieties he grows with the participants.

• J oe Reilly for teaching an excellent class on how to plant a vegetable garden using Native American methods and for giving a tour of his Three Sisters Garden.

• U niversity of Michigan’s Community Scholars for their work in early September in the Discovery Garden when the weeds were at their worst.

Discovery Garden @ The Farm Donates to Food Gatherers

By Sheri Repucci This year, as many of you know, Project Grow and Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation built a new Discovery Garden at County Farm Park. Due to construction delays, the garden was not fully operational until the first of July, a very late start by all accounts. As a result, we had only a handful of gardeners take advantage of this wonderful site. So what did we do with all that available garden space? Volunteers and Project Grow staff set about planting about half of the raised beds with vegetables that could be donated to Food Gatherers. And wow, did that work out well!! So far we have donated three huge bushels of the multi-colored kale—truly a beautiful sight to see in that quantity—as well as loads of green beans, lettuce, tatsoi (a dark green that tastes like spinach crossed with horseradish), radish, and beets galore. To date, we have donated 44 pounds of produce from the County Farm Park Discovery Gardens.

But the growing season is not quite done! We have yet to harvest the weightiest of the vegetables, including a huge patch of butternut squash from the Three Sisters Garden theme garden (I’m guessing two dozen squash await us), one whole plot of turnips, and it’s looking like we will have at least one more packed bushel of kale to send along as well. So, if I were to predict what our final donation amount might be, I’m guessing we will end up having supplied over 80 pounds of fresh, delicious, healthful vegetables to Food Gatherers just from our new Discovery Garden plots.

Many thanks for this go to our DG @ The Farm volunteers, to the County staff who have been most generous with both their resources and their time, and to mother earth for helping these vegetables grow. Thanks to all!

• N icholas Wallace, Pioneer High School student, for harvesting vegetables this fall from plots over at County Farm Park, for donation to Food Gatherers.

(News flash! After this article was written, our last significant delivery to Food Gatherers was made and, sure enough, it was exactly 40 lbs, though my guess on the number of butternut squash was too high, since there turned out to be only one dozen.

So this year DG @ The Farm did indeed produce 84 pounds of food for some of the less fortunate members of our community. Good going!)

Thank You!

Newsletter Crew

Project Grow would like to thank the following hard-working volunteers who by their commitment during 2006 made such a difference:

Sarahjane Velick Allin Terre Fisher Liz McDowell Pam Schwarzmann Susan Simon

Site Coordinators

Project Grow Board Members

Airport – Judy Shapiro Catholic Social Services – Royer Held, Marcella Trautman Clague – Sarah Bradley County Farm Park – Sandy Franz, Damaris Sufalko, Marcella Trautmann, Jeanette Fontanive Greenview – Tom Scheper Lakewood – Mervyn Juchartz University Reformed Church – Tim Utter Zion Church – Dan Clark

Chris Ernst Terre Fisher Laurie Kotchenruther Richard Manczak Catherine Riseng Mike Scholl Kerry Sheldon Damaris Sufalko Marcella Trautmann

Food Bank Coordinator Angie Kutyna

• The Project Grow Community Gardener • Fall 2006

Project Grow would also like to thank the following individuals who have advised, guided, and supported Project Grow in 2006: Cedric Richner Erica Kempter Mike Levine Greg Vaclavek Tom Shope Bob Bricault Ray Essell Bob Tetens Tom Leabu Kevin Ernst Bob Dascola Christen Smith Jason Frenzel Frances Krawke Kirsten Levinson Kate Murphy

2007 Organic Gardener Certification Classes Required Courses: Introduction to Organic Gardening: January 30, 6:30–8:30 pm This 2 hour session will introduce you to the fundamentals of organic gardening: the environmental benefits of organic agriculture and landscaping, and organic standards for food and landscaping. You will learn which materials are considered acceptable for use in organic gardening and how to apply the organic standards to your gardens and landscapes. We will also discuss the benefits of buying local and organic food.

Required: Students enrolled in the Project Grow/WCC Organic Gardening Certificate program must take this class.

Soils, Compost and Organic Fertilizers: February 1, 6, and 8, 6:30–8:30 pm In this course discover the richness of soil, from its physical and chemical properties to soil biology and beyond. You will learn how to evaluate soil and give it the boost it needs. You will also explores the wonderful world of compost, learn how to use organic soil amendments, and learn about the benefits and drawbacks of various cultivation techniques. Required: Students enrolled in the Project Grow/WCC Organic Gardening Certificate program must take this class.

Advanced Organic Vegetable Gardening: February 13, 15 and 20, 6:30–8:30 pm In this 3 session course, you will see how easy it is to design, create and maintain productive, organic vegetable garden. You will learn garden planning and layout, and local recommended planting dates. You will get in depth information on the many crops of the vegetable garden, including cultural requirements, plant spacing, recommended varieties, and harvesting tips. Finally, we will show you foolproof methods so that you can select, start and grow your own seedlings. The course pack contains valuable local information including resources and reference material. Required: Students enrolled in the Project Grow/WCC Organic Gardener Certificate program must take this class.

Continued on page 6

The Project Grow Community Gardener • Fall 2006 •

2007 Organic Gardener Certification Classes Continued from page 5 Organic Pest and Disease Management: February 22 and 27, 6:30–8:30 pm It’s easier than you think to safely and effectively control pests and diseases using organic methods. In this course, you will be introduced to organic management of pests (insect and animal) and disease of vegetable and landscape plants. We will cover prevention, identification and organic control methods. You will also learn how to minimize or even eliminate pest damage by keeping soil and plants healthy.

Required: Students enrolled in the Project Grow/WCC Organic Gardener Certificate program must take this class.

Landscaping with Native Plants: March 1 and 6, 6:30–8:30 pm Bring nature a little closer to home with native plants in your landscape. From small residential gardens to larger scale meadows and woodlands, native plants can benefit the health and diversity of your local ecology. Learn how to successfully establish and maintain native plant landscapes. The class covers everything from planning and plant selection to installation and maintenance. The class also includes a course pack of useful local information, resources and reference material. Required: Students enrolled in the Project Grow/WCC Organic Gardener Certificate program must take this class.

Organic Weed Control: March 8 and 13, 6:30–8:30 pm Weed control strategies must be tailored to specific plants in order to control weeds and invasive species without the use of pesticides. In this course you will learn to identify common weeds and invasive plants of Southeast Michigan including those of landscapes, vegetable gardens and natural areas. We will cover weed prevention strategies and organic control methods for these pesky plants. Required: Students enrolled in the Project Grow/WCC Organic Gardener Certificate program must take this class.

Advanced Organic Lawn Care: March 15, 6:30–8:30 pm In this course designed for homeowners and landscape professionals alike, you will learn everything you need to establish and maintain lawns organically. Topics include site preparation, turf grass establishment, cultural practices, fertilization, and weed, pest and disease control. The course pack will contain useful local information, resources and reference material. Required: Students enrolled in the Project Grow/ WCC Organic Gardener Certificate program must take this class.

Elective Course: Easy Organic Fruit Growing: April 12, 17, and 19, 6:30–8:30 pm Have you ever eaten a pawpaw, serviceberry or wild black raspberry? Ever wonder why so many of us put so much work into growing annual vegetable crops, but seldom plant perennial fruiting plants? Southeast Michigan has an excellent climate for easy organic fruit production and few homeowners take advantage of it. Learn how to incorporate fruiting plants into your home landscape such as berries, vines, shrubs, and lesser known fruit trees. Emphasis is placed on growing fruit organically in Southeast Michigan without very much hard work. This class is an elective for the Organic Gardener Certificate Program and is open to all.

To register for classes, contact Washtenaw Community College: (734) 973-3543 or www.wccnet.edu/lwl (go to the Enrich Your Life section then click on Gardening). Also, feel free to call the Project Grow office for more information: (734) 996-3169

• The Project Grow Community Gardener • Fall 2006

Community Profile: Robin Massey-Rudd, Discovery Garden Volunteer Robin, by profession a residential care provider for seniors, has been an active volunteer in the Discovery Garden for the past three seasons. A tireless advocate for seniors and armed with a love of gardening, she frequently brings wheelchairbound seniors on Wednesday evenings to garden in the Easy Access plots, and I swear, to tease the rest of us with how large and bountiful her gardens are.

pumpkins, radish and leaf lettuce. The corn didn’t make it, but otherwise she got a great harvest that year. From there her gardening talents went dormant, not harvesting another vegetable until she joined the Discovery Garden gang three years ago. Now, she’s not only an amazing gardener and a certified organic gardener, but she is one of our most active volunteers in the gardens, helping out wherever help is needed and then some. Thank you for finding us Robin.

Observing her gardening talent and knowing she has just completed the Project Grow Organic Certification course offered through Washtenaw Community College, one would think Robin has been at this for quite some time or, at the very least came from a family of gardeners. Oddly enough, this is far from the truth. She has only been gardening for three years and took the most unusual path to get here.

As the story goes, one day when she was 14 and while her mother was away at work, she dug up a hugh patch of grass in the backyard and planted seeds she’d found that were long forgotten in the basement. Without any knowledge of gardening and without amending the soil the garden bloomed with

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The Project Grow Community Gardener • Fall 2006 •

1831 Traver Road • Ann Arbor • MI 48105

Non Profit Org. US POSTAGE PAID Ann Arbor Michigan Permit No 289

YARD & GARDEN SERVICES Weed-free Marsh Hay for mulch.

Garden Roto-tilling large or small Compost deliveries.

Debris removal.

All landscape & agriculture products and services available.

Kevin Ernst 1-734-668-0776