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US/CA EDITION YEAR 2 - ISSUE 1 路 2014 - PRICE: $5,95 US | $5.95 CAN

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CONTENTS I GARDEN CULTURE

SALANOVA

MARKETING TECHNIQUES

A WHOLE NEW LEAF

50 FALLEN FRUIT

top5 Hydroponic

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

Techniques

UBERGREEN FARM

18 I N THIS ISSUE OF GARD EN CULTURE :

58 SOIL TECHNIQUES

9 Foreword

58 Ubergreen farm above

10 Product Spotlight

62 King of organic Hawaiian ginger

16 Maximizing Yield from Container Gardens

68 Soil Techniques in hydroponics

18 Top 5 Hydroponic Techniques

72 SIP gardening

25 Air Plants are easy

76 Embrace the awesome power of air

26 Build a community connected by fruit

79 How to make soil tacos

31 Salanova lettuce â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a whole new leaf

82 Bringing the farm into the kitchen

34 Peace

86 Secret to better tasting vegetables

40 A good start

89 Is Korn still growing corn?

46 Crafting the one trunk orchard

90 Bio-solids

50 Turn surplus crops into cash

94 Looking at air

54 Mothering techniques

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FOREWORD & CREDITS I GARDEN CULTURE FOREWORD

THE TECHNIQUE EDITION

I dreamt the other night that my garden was a tropi-

CREDITS Garden Culture™ is a publication of GC Publishers B.V. ED I TO RS Executive Editor: Eric Coulombe E. eric@gardenculture.net Senior Editor: Tammy Clayton

cal forest, teeming with fragrant flowering orchids, ripe

DESIGN: Job Hugenholtz

juicy fruit and vegetables. A lushness that can only be

Then I woke up.

Special thanks the following contributors: Tammy Clayton, Annelies, Jaïr Velleman, Everest Fernandez, Jeroen Kateehm, Gaby Bronsztein, Evan Folds, Grubby, Fallen Fruit, Ben Greene, Jenn Digioa, Maya Coulombe

If you are anything like me, gardening is always on your mind. When something goes wrong, as it inevitably does, fixing it is not an option it is an obsession. When everything is going right, you want it to be better.

PUBLISHER GC Publishers Postbus 483 3200 AL Spijkenisse The Netherlands t. +31(0)181-728101

found in the deepest of jungles.

In this edition, we delve into the different techniques. Whether in soil or hydroponics, from the very first sprout to harvest time, each stage of growth has its challenges. We will give you some tricks that will help you create the garden of your dreams. Container gardening, grafting, top 5 hydro techniques, mothering, as well as using plants to beautify your home are but some of the topics explored by our team of talented writers. I have often said that Garden Culture is more than a gardening magazine. It is also a social statement about the state of affairs of our food system. We want everyone to know not just how to grow amazing indoor gardens anywhere, but why they should. Do some research, discover the truths about supermarket food, and join the gardening revolution.

w www.gcpublishers.net e info@gcpublishers.net ADVERTISING Eric Coulombe E. eric@gardenculture.net +1-855-427-8254 +31(0)181-728101 SUBSCRIPTIONS E. subscriptions@gardenculture.net D I ST R I B U T I O N PA R T N ER S USA: Sunlight Supply Hydrofarm Canada: Biofloral Rambridge ISSN: 2211-9329 © GC Publishers B.V. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic

Happy growing

tape, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the GC Publishers B.V.

Eric Coulombe Co-founder Garden Culture Magazine

Website : www.GardenCulture.net

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT I GARDEN CULTURE

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gardenculture.net

‘a plant is only as good as its

roots’

Maximizing Yield from

Container Gardens Growing plants and having a garden is a rewarding hobby; especially when your plants look awesome. It is a great feeling walking out your back door to check on your garden, and spotting the first ripe tomato of the season. It’s almost as good as eating that first ripe tomato. Maybe almost as powerful as bragging to your neighbors and friends how nice the tomato was, or how nice your garden is. The feeling is more enhanced knowing your garden is nicer than theirs. For a home gardener there is nothing better.

However, what sometimes gets lost, especially to the novice or the beginner, is what makes that plant and that fruit look great. That fact is, for most, all the attention is given to the top of the plant, when in reality, if you do not have a great plant below, you will not have a great plant up top. I am talking about the roots. The part of the plant that you don’t see, but is the reason for the top of your plant being beautiful and fruitful. If you have great roots, you will have great fruit. For many years a challenge for container gardeners has been to create a natural environment inside a container. Mimic the soil, temperature, and drainage while providing an area for the roots to grow to their potential. After all, a plant is only as good as its roots. For a long time the only option has been a plastic container. As we have learned, traditional plastic containers do not offer the best environment for plants to thrive. They do not drain well, they hold heat in, and they do not encourage a plant’s root structure to develop to its potential.

Fabric versus plastic

These reasons are why companies and home gardeners alike have made changes to their plastic container designs and to the mixes they use. Both have drilled holes in the containers to deliver oxygen and better drainage. White plastic containers are more popular to guard against heat buildup. Soil companies have made a nice business from creating mixes that drain well in a plastic container that doesn’t properly breathe or allow for proper drainage. Over the last few years, many companies have addressed these challenges, and now make both hard sided and fabric containers that offer the benefits that the container gardener needs to produce a healthy and productive plant. Growing in a hard plastic container almost always means that a root-bound plant is your result. A root-bound plant is when the roots of a plant outgrows the container it is in. This is easy to do when growing in a container that doesn’t breathe and promotes root circling. Roots need oxygen. As they grow they are looking for and seeking out oxygen. The roots of a plastic container reach the edge of the container and begin to travel along the slick sides of that container. With little to no oxygen and nothing to stop the roots, they circle around and around the container until they reach the bottom of the container and the drain holes. Finally, oxygen!

BY CHARLES

AIR PRUNING I GARDEN CULTURE

‘traditional plastic containers do not provide the best environment for plants’

Growing in a hard plastic container almost always means that a root-bound plant is your result

Aeration containers are designed to stop root circling and promote root pruning.

‘A container that will actually prune your roots?’

This is why with traditional plastic containers there are always roots coming out of the bottom of the container - it’s aerated here. At this point the plant is basically root-bound. Even though there is a void of root growth in the interior of the container. That void is there because the roots have gone elsewhere looking for oxygen. The container gives the roots very little place to grow because they are trying to get out of the 3 or 4 bottom drain holes. When this happens many problems can occur. The plant may become stunted, stretching can occur, smaller and slower flower and fruit production, and watering needs increase dramatically. Not the recipe for a great plant worth bragging about. With the new technologies that have become available to the home gardener, these problems are eliminated. Available now in both hard sided and fabric, there are containers that actually prevent root bound plants and will even promote root pruning. I am talking about aeration containers designed to actually prune your roots. Some work better than others, but all of them have the same ideas at play. They stop root circling and promote root pruning.

In an aeration container when the roots reach the edge of the container they come in contact with the oxygen that they need. Since most roots cannot grow in straight air, the forward growth stops and root pruning happens. As the roots reach the air at the container wall, the tip of the root will dry out, resulting in natural pruning. When this happens that root will branch out laterally towards the center of the container creating more roots that will grow to the edge of the container and do the same thing. This action will occur over and over filling up the entire container with roots. It’s not just the same roots circling around, but a root structure that includes many more root tips. The more tips the better as this spot is most efficient at absorbing water and nutrients. Having this well-developed root structure will allow the plant to absorb more water and nutrients. Just like humans who eat too much, a plant that can eat more will get bigger too. Roots will not grow to find nutrients. They grow when there are nutrients available. This being the case and the root structure containing many more roots tips, the plant is sure to grow beautifully and produce brag-worthy fruit. 3

gardenculture.net

BY JEROEN KATEEHM

“E ACH OF THE FOLLOWI N G SYSTEMS HAS A PL ACE IN THE W O R L D O F G R O W I N G”

top5 Hydroponic Techniques There are many ways to grow plants. Everybody has heard about hydroponics, growing soilless. Hydroponics itself is more of a catchall term that defines the soil being absent, but not the actual technique being used for growing.

top

HYDROPONIC TECHNIQUES I GARDEN CULTURE

“HYDROPONICS ITSELF IS MORE OF A CATCHALL TERM THAT DEFINES THE SOIL BEING ABSENT, BUT NOT THE ACTUAL TECHNIQUE BEING USED FOR GROWING” Let’s explore the different types of hydroponics that are most successful and commonly used. We will look at why each of these systems has a place in the world of growing. You’ll see the pros and cons for each system and why to use them in certain specific situations. None of the systems is the best per se, but in each different situation there will be a system that is best suited for the application. I’m going to make it easy to pick which type of hydro to use in any given situation suiting your needs.

NFT NFT or “Nutrient Film Technique” uses a flat growing surface positioned at a slight decline. A thin ‘film’ of nutrient solution is continuously running along the surface of the growing table. Usually plants are held in place by neoprene discs, or rooted in rock-wool cubes to create the anchoring needed so plants won’t wash away or fall over. The film of water is usually a fraction of an inch deep, with most of the roots actually being out of the water. The roots will get plenty of aeration, which in turn should lower the risk of root problems. It is however vital to protect the roots from light, and to keep them a bit moist. A cover for the growing table is important to regulate the moisture content of the air around the roots. NFT systems are usually recirculating. Nutrient solution constantly flows past the roots, and even though it’s just a thin film, there will be plenty of water moving past the plant roots. Disposing the nutrient solution after one pass would increase water consumption in a massive way, and will be destructive to garden efficiency, which you would normally expect hydro to offer. Depending on the plants and their nutrient consumption, the pH and EC levels of the nutrient solution will gradually change as it passes through the plant roots. Because of this gradual change it is advisable to increase the number of growing tables instead of their length. Since NFT is utilizing a thin film of water that is constantly flowing it’s absolutely vital that the water keeps moving. If the water stops moving for whatever reason, the plants quickly start to show severe drought problems. It is there-

reservoir

nutrient return

water nutrients air pump

air stone

timer

nutrient pump

“WITH NFT INCREASE THE NUMBER OF GROWING TABLES INSTEAD OF THEIR LENGTH” fore advisable to use two pumps for the same application. In case one of the pumps breaks the other will still keep the roots moist. Root zone temperature control can be ideal in an NFT system, but it can also become the Achilles heel. If the root zone is properly insulated from outside temperature influences it will only take a small amount of energy to increase or decrease the nutrient temperature, an essential part of hydroponics. If the root zone is not shielded from these outside influences the temperature will most likely get too high during the day. One of the biggest advantages due to this is the small amount of nutrient solution in use, although some kind of buffering is always a good thing.

gardenculture.net

DWC

Aeroponics

The key in aquaponics is to get everything the plant needs to the plant as efficiently as possible. Deep Water Culture does exactly that, it saturates the roots in a supply of nutrient solution while also adding oxygen to prevent suffocation of the roots. Deep water culture systems vary in size, each plant can have an individual unit, or you can grow a number of plants in the same container. The size of the container determines how much buffer capacity the system has, a bigger container will lead to more stability in temperature, pH and EC. The drawbacks of having large containers is that it requires a lot of water to fill them, and in some cases, a lot of energy to heat it to a suitable temperature.

The most high-tech solution to growing plants in a hydroponic setup is aeroponics. These kinds of systems are probably not suited for beginners due to their complexity. Aeroponics systems are a sort of opposite to Deep Water Culture. Opposed to a container filled with oxygenated water these systems use a container with air saturated with a mist of nutrient solution.

Plants are in net-pots filled with a medium such as clay pebbles, but can also be suspended above the water using neoprene discs. A common method used in lettuce farms is to use styrofoam boards to suspend plants. A big advantage in doing this is the ability to grow plants close together when they are small and placing them in another

reservoir

air pump

water nutrients

Plants are usually “AEROPONICS suspended with neoSYSTEMS ARE A SORT prene disks. Net-pots don’t really work OF OPPOSITE TO DEEP WATER CULTURE.” because they allow for the nutrient mist to escape which leaves salt spots everywhere it goes. The mist is usually made by pumping water with pressure through a nozzle which creates a fine mist. Obviously, it’s important that the plumbing be correct. Cleaning the system often is necessary to make sure the nozzles don’t clog up. Overall these systems probably do more to increase the risk of catastrophic failure. Like NFT, aeroponics systems don’t do well should a power or pump failure occur. Roots will dry out and leaves will soon start to lose their means to evaporate and stay cool. In theory, this is the best method of controlling the root climate and nutrient supply. How this works out in reality depends on quality of the system’s design. mist nozzle

air stone

styrofoam board when they have grown. In this way you know you have full occupancy, boosting overall production. The most important thing to remember is that the water in a DWC must have constant oxygenation. This can either be done by using a venturi type air inlet on the circulation pump, or by using air pumps. The air can also be added into the root zone directly which is even better than just oxygenating the nutrient solution. DWC is especially suited for places with high daytime temperatures and cooler nights. The buffering capacity that comes from the high volume of water slows down the cooling of the water, lowering the energy bill. The amount of overall engineering in the system is not too high, and pump failures are not as catastrophic as other hydro systems. The cost or availability of (chlorine free) water can form a prohibitive factor in some places though.

reservoir

timer

water/nutrients nutrient pump

top

HYDROPONIC TECHNIQUES I GARDEN CULTURE

Conventional Hydro The most conventional form of hydro growing is simply to replace soil with another - inert - medium. Even though this resembles soil, the characteristics of growing are totally different. The grower has full control over the nutrient supply but the water absorption and drainage characteristics of the medium can usually be maintained for longer periods of time than soil giving these simple methods advantages over soil-growth.

“CONVENTIONAL HYDRO IS PROBABLY THE BEST STARTING POINT FOR PEOPLE LOOKING INTO HYDROPONICS SYSTEMS. IT’S THE SIMPLEST TO SET UP AND THE LEAST LIKELY TO FAIL HORRIBLY.”

The two best known mediums in conventional hydroponics are clay pebbles and rock-wool. Rock-wool has better absorption properties, and clay pebbles drain very well. Both are good mediums for root growth and are reusable. Conventional hydro systems are either recirculating or drainto-waste. They give you timed or constant flow options, depending on the medium used. A medium such as clay pebbles that drains well will do better in a constant flow type situation. Rock-wool on the other hand will perform better with a timed water supply since the rock-wool itself will absorb water to keep the roots moist. Conventional hydro is probably the best starting point for people looking into hydroponics systems. It’s the simplest to set up and the least likely to fail horribly.

drip lines

dripper manifold

grow tray reservoir

nutrient return

water nutrients air pump

air stone

timer

nutrient pump

gardenculture.net

not just a fertilizer...

W W W. B I O B I Z Z .C O M

top

HYDROPONIC TECHNIQUES I GARDEN CULTURE

Ebb and Flow A slight adaptation to conventional hydro is Ebb and Flow, plants in these systems get watered from below for a set amount of time. This is one of the best systems to use when recycling nutrients. Nutrient solution pumps out below the plants. The grower then allows the plant and medium some time to absorb the moisture, then the excess drains off again. Usually plants receive 5 to 15 minutes of high water levels, and then a longer period without nutrient solution on the roots. Technically, Ebb and Flow is a little more demanding than a conventional hydro system, using a little more plumbing to control the water height. Planting young plants requires some planning, plants need to have roots long enough to come into contact with the water. Especially if they are grown on clay pebbles. However, it is easy to move around plants in their individual pots. Unlike other systems there are drip lines connected to the pots so moving them is easy. These systems are perfect for experienced hydro growers that want to have good control of their nutrient solution as it’s easy to measure what the difference in pH and EC is in between every flooding. The difference between Ebb and Flow and conventional hydro comes down to preference. Neither is a better system, and both work about the same. It’s really up to the individual user and their location which determines which system should be chosen.

grow tray

“EBB AND FLOW IS A LITTLE MORE DEMANDING THAN A CONVENTIONAL HYDRO SYSTEM”

O ther Things to N ote All these systems still do the same essential thing, deliver a nutrient solution to the plant roots, and providing this in an oxygenated environment. Choosing which system to use has a lot to do with personal preference. The taking into account of your location is a good thing, in a cold environment a lot of water will be expensive to heat. On the other hand, a smaller buffer of nutrient solution will need more management to keep the values within the right range. A good grower can probably have success with any of these systems in any kind of situation. An experienced grower however, is more likely to pick a more simple system that has less chance of catastrophic failure. That is also the key to hydro, a small error in judgment or a power failure can result in mass plant death. A well designed system has fail-safes to make sure this does not happen!

overflow fill/drain fitting

reservoir excess solution returns to reservoir water nutrients

solution returns to reservoir via fill tube timer

timer

nutrient pump

ebb & flow cycle (pump on)

ebb & flow cycle (pump off)

AIR PLANTS I GARDEN CULTURE

BY TAMMY CLAYTON

Air Plants are easy! Between structural limitations, hectic schedules and different plants’ various needs - it isn’t always easy to have great looking indoor plants. Atmospheric Tillandsia (air plants) change everything, even for the accomplished brown thumber.

NO SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS No grow lights needed. Pot them, mount them on wood, or display them in the most unusual ways. All you need is indirect bright sunlight or standard fluorescent office lighting. They will tolerate a couple hours of direct light a day, but will need misting a couple times a week in such a situation.

THESE LOW MAINTENANCE BEAUTIES ONLY NEED INDIRECT BRIGHT SUNLIGHT OR STANDARD FLUORESCENT OFFICE LIGHTING...

Don’t assume that these super drought tolerant beauties need no water at all. Still they’re easy keepers, and normally require just one good soak once a week. Establish a hydration schedule. Soak them in a sink or bowl for 20 minutes on a regular basis. CO O L LO O KI N G Then let them air dry where TILLANDSIA there is good circulation. • Bromeliads • • • • • • • •

Bulbosa Belize Ionatha Caput Medusae Junicea Xerographica Streptophylla Usneoides (Spanish Moss) Tectorum

They aren’t real fussy about climate either. Most air plants do nicely at 50-90ºF and without the demands of precise humidity found in maintaining indoor grow rooms. 3

Space challenged? Tillandsia will fit anywhere!

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FALLEN FRUIT (DAVID BURNS, MATIAS VIEGENER AND AUSTIN YOUNG)

Build A Community Connected By Fruit by Fallen Fruit (DAVID BURNS, MATIAS VIEGENER AND AUSTIN YOUNG)

The most ancient forms of communion among people came through food. Hunters and gatherers banded together for survival, and gatherers became farmers; farming laid the ground for human’s connections to the earth and farms became the first communities. The social exchange of food forms the basis of the culture. Among all the foods, fruit holds a special place as a symbol of bounty. Signifying fertility, beauty, and hospitality, fruit is grown everywhere that people live, which is perhaps why of all foods we most like to give fruit as a gift. The gift model, giving without expectation of return, forms the basis and connecting thread of Fallen Fruit’s work.

An activist art project founded by David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young, Fallen Fruit started as a mapping of all the public fruit in our Los Angeles neighborhood, Silver Lake. We encourage everyone to harvest, map, plant, and sample public fruit, which is what we call all fruit on or overhanging public spaces such as sidewalks, streets, or parking lots. We believe fruit in public space is a resource that should be commonly shared, like shells from the beach or mushrooms from the forest. Fruit is universal and uniquely democratic, crossing all classes as a symbol of generosity and bounty. It is a healthy food, unrefined and unprocessed; eaten virtually off the tree, it symbolizes the uncomplicated goodness of nature, beauty, fertility, and hospitality, not the excess or waste of commercial or industrial culture. We’re intrigued by the status of fruit hanging from a tree in public space. Los Angeles is a city of moderate density spread over a large area peppered with lawns, shrubs, trees,

and even survivors of long-gone fruit orchards, and public fruit is found on almost every block. Bananas, peaches, avocados, lemons, oranges, limes, kumquats, loquats, apples, plums, passion fruits, walnuts, pomegranates, guavas, and more grow year round in every neighborhood in the city. Urban public fruit, whether deliberate or accidental, is more efficient to grow than farmed fruit because it eliminates the cost of transport. Since it is not a monocrop, as in an orchard of a single variety of apple, there are fewer pests and less chemicals required to treat them. A further irony is that most public fruit in Los Angeles is organic, blessed by neglect. We began mapping the public fruit in our neighborhood, just the triangle between our three houses. We appear in our first images wearing plastic suits and rubber gloves, as if we’d fallen to earth from another world and began by investigating what there was to eat. The conceit was to

PUBLIC FRUIT I GARDEN CULTURE

“FRUIT IS UNIVERSAL AND UNIQUELY DEMOCRATIC, CROSSING ALL CLASSES AS A SYMBOL OF GENEROSITY AND BOUNTY. IT IS A HEALTHY FOOD, UNREFINED AND UNPROCESSED; EATEN VIRTUALLY OFF THE TREE ”

make ourselves look unnatural, wrapping ourselves instead of the fruit in plastic, which is how fruit increasingly appears to us in the world. Perhaps a bit of our own alienation manifests itself in these images. We coined the term “public fruit” as it expressed the way in which a certain public or communal or shared quality was lacking in these streets. Overlaid with our fascination with space is our interest in fruit. Three forms of fruit presented themselves very quickly: the private, the public, and the fallen fruit — no one’s fruit, the waste of fruit. Whose banana is this, we began to wonder, this banana that presented itself at arm’s length on a city sidewalk? Certain residents prune their fruit tree’s branches at the very edge of their property, and not an

inch further, while others clearly let their trees spill into the public sphere. As we came to know neighborhoods and spoke to people who lived there we learned that some residents were indeed inviting strangers to pick. Their generosity is a grassroots model for alternative thinking about public space, property, and resources. An outgrowth of our maps and public urban plantings, we regularly stage Public Fruit Jams, inviting the public to join us in making communal jam. The Public Fruit Jam is our favorite public project because it forms dynamic temporary communities. Since its beginnings it was always considered an experiment in public participation and social relations.

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Represent this premium nutrient from Holland in your store.

PUBLIC FRUIT I GARDEN CULTURE

“URBAN FRUIT IS BLESSED BY NEGLECT, ALMOST ALWAYS UNTENDED AND THUS ORGANIC” The jam is a classic collaboration. The ingredients can be anything the participants bring, as well as fruit from the communal table. Funded by arts grants and taking place mostly in galleries and museums, these free events bring strangers together around a table to cook. The fruit is picked from the streets or grown at home, though participants with store-bought fruit are not turned away. We don’t use recipes, just simple proportions, and the jams are negotiations among each group of three to six people. Collaborative and experimental, the process echoes ancient rituals of communal food preparation in contrast to the anonymity of contemporary urban life. Unusual jams are more tempting than the kinds you see in a store: apple pumpkin jam or quince and pear with lavender. (Almost any fruits can be jammed, even bananas, if you dare.) Urban fruit is blessed by neglect, almost always untended and thus organic; it is like the electric wires or the water systems underground, a layer of urban infrastructure that could be utilized far more than it is. Many people are uncertain about its basic edibility. They don’t need to worry; it is entirely safe to eat. Even automobile soot simply wipes off. It’s essentially organic status, never sprayed or fertilized, often barely watered, is striking to the health-conscious consumer. In a playful way it starts a conversation on our relationship to the natural world, and to each other. 3

“THE PUBLIC FRUIT JAM IS OUR FAVORITE PUBLIC PROJECT BECAUSE IT FORMS DYNAMIC TEMPORARY COMMUNITIES”

“The social exchange of food forms the basis of the culture”

1st Public Fruit Park Planted The Forbidden Fruit guys recently finished their first installation in Los Angeles. They’re already planning a new one in the city of London, UK for 2015. Learn more about their unique venture at www.ForbiddenFruit.org.

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This is a job for The power of...

Ready to use! No mixing or pH correction needed. Just spray your plants in full sunlight and watch them...

MILDEW

BUGS

TEMPERATURE

NUTRITION

COMMON PROBLEMS:

HOW DO I FIX MY SUDDENLY IN A SECRET PLANTSÉ. BUGS, CANADIAN LAB... MILDEW, DEFICIENCYÕS AND SLOW GROWTH??

www.opticfoliar.com

BY TAMMY CLAYTON

SAL ANOVA I GARDEN CULTURE

Grow Your Own Series

A Whole New Leaf

a v o n Sala Lettuce

“BESIDES BEING SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL, SALANOVA HEADS PRODUCE 42% MORE FRESH GREENS PER SQUARE FOOT THAN ANY OTHER LEAF LETTUCE VARIETY”

A TRULY EFFICIENT CROP Heads up! There’s something to get excited about in lettuce land. Salanova lettuces have much to offer the indoor gardener and urban farmer, whether you’re growing fresh food for your own table or feeding your community. Besides being simply beautiful, the heads produce 42% more fresh greens per square foot than any other leaf lettuce variety. Salanova Crispy, Lollo, Oakleaf and Butter are delicious new stars for the salad plate. You’ve got a choice of green or red leaf in each type, making it a cinch to produce your own salad mix in either soil or hydro culture.

Excellent pest and disease resistance combined with very little waste. Salanova is the result of many years of traditional breeding. The leaves are precisely arranged around the core, making it simple to a choice of green or red leaf in each type. Coring has never been easier. Using a sharp knife or a special cutter developed just for freeing these awesome greens from the stem, you’ll be done in one swift movement. A fast growing crop, with staggered germination, it is possible to have uber fresh lettuce always available for a lovely garnish, a sandwich crisper or a full-blown salad. Mix it up for a gourmet look and taste. One commercial grower of Salanova in Germany seeds 3 different varieties per growing block for instant salad variety at market where it’s an instant hit with bouquet flair. Why select plain green lettuce when you can have three colors and types of goodness instead? A trick that you can easily duplicate to get more exciting salads in the small grow room too.

THE COOLEST FRESH LETTUCE IN TOWN Creating a beautiful salad is super easy with these varieties. The leaves are much smaller than regular lettuces. They’re ready to eat, as is, and require no chopping or tearing into bite size pieces. Just one cut to remove them from the head is all the prep work

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SALANOVA I GARDEN CULTURE

“HARVEST A HANDFUL AT A TIME OR AN ENTIRE HEAD”

OPTIMIZE YOUR SPACE: SAL ANOVA VARIETIES GIVE YOU FAR MORE YIELD THAN OTHER LEAF TYPES AND HAVE AN IMPROVED SHELF LIFE. ON TOP OF ALL THAT, THE SEED IS ORGANIC AND THE PL ANTS ARE GMO FREE.

needed. The leaves are thicker than standard leaf lettuce, giving you more crunchy goodness and better shaping that keeps a salad from turning into a glob after adding the dressing. With all this eye-catching color, flavor and fresh convenience, it’s pretty hard to resist Salanova lettuces - as a grower and as a consumer. You can also optimize your space, because Salanova varieties give you far more yield than other leaf types and have an improved shelf life. On top of all that, the seed is organic and the plants are GMO free. For more business info, visit www.business.salanova.com. In the US & Canada you will find Salanova seed available at www. JohnnysSeeds.com.

ABOUT THE VARIETIES With so many lettuce types on the market, it’s hard choosing a selection to grow. The process of elimination gets much easier after investigating Salanova. While it is a comparable green to baby leaf lettuces, it offers so much more, including stronger leaves at maturity, and a noticeably increased 3D structure. Salanova selections are easily divided into incised leaf and multi-leaf types. You can use both types a few leaves at a time too, so it’s a vegetable that fills anyone’s needs. Harvested as living lettuce with roots attached, they remain fresh without refrigeration.

INCISED TYPES Incised varieties, Lollo and Crispy, have rather frilly, deeply cut leaf edges and give a mixed salad weight, more texture and loft. The Lollo types provide a flavorful base that gives a baby leaf salad much needed structure, loft and weight. The newer Crispy types provide that iceberg crunch as well. All of these hold up well to dressings. Separating the bunch is easily done with a single slice of a sharp knife across the lower stem.

Growing Salanova Like all lettuces, this is a cool season crop. One you can easily grow on a sunny balcony, patio, in a flower bed or backyard garden in spring and early summer, but it’s perfect for indoor gardens year around. Salanova varieties finish out at one foot across, so be sure to give it room. From germination to harvest takes 8 weeks in the outdoor garden, and 6 weeks in the indoor hydro garden. Seeding every 3 weeks will keep you in a never-ending supply of fresh salad greens.

MULTI-LEAF TYPES Forming heads with a multitude of uniform baby leaves arranged around a central core, the multi-leaf Oakleaf and Butter varieties add flavor and color so desirable in a beautiful salad. Use them alone or as a group to create the popular baby greens mix. Fast and clean coring is done with one cut using the ingenious Salanova cutter, with no waste whatsoever. 3

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The barn is on fire. It’s too late to put it out. We’ll just let it burn. ~ Everest Fernandez,

E C A E P

‘Haiku for Stress’

PEACE I GARDEN CULTURE

BY EVEREST FERNANDEZ

The night was old and I needed a cab home. I’m a happy, “love everybody” type of drunk—a good drunk—but not a good walker. Don’t get me wrong—I was perfectly capable of strolling home, I just didn’t want to. Some people relish the nocturnal stumble, the elephant meat kebab, the falling face-first into bushes, the urinating into trash cans and the acquisition of traffic cones and other urban souvenirs, but not me. Just get me home to bed, bed, bed. Taxi!

Magically it appeared to come out of nowhere, its rear door stopping perfectly adjacent to me as if somehow reading my need. All my right hand needed to do was regally reach out for the handle. Don’t you just love it when stuff like that happens? “Hey! Wait your fucking turn you prick! We were waiting here first!”

That sore contempt in their eyes was real, not just macho posturing. Still, what exactly were these women so pissed about? It was as if they inhabited an entirely different world

That’s how I became aware of the presence of two rather angrysounding Welsh women who were apparently also standing in the vicinity of the taxi rank. Ah … not so magical after all. “I’m dreadfully sorry,” I said in my plummy English accent, “I didn’t see you there.”

Alas a plummy English accent counts for even less in Wales than it does in England and there I was stood alone in its Chlamydia-ridden capital, Cardiff, late on a Saturday night, beneath the bright lights of St. Mary’s Street. If that means nothing to you then grab your mobile device and allow a Google image search of “cardiff st marys street vomit” (vomit is optional) to put you unequivocally in the picture. The cantankerous Celts were fiery with an overblown rage and my well-enunciated apology seemed only to fan the flames. I surmised that their evening had fallen short of expectations somehow and now their crosshairs were set on yours truly. Perhaps they’d mistaken my “didn’t see you

there” as some sort of underhand slight against their resplendent femininity? I mean, how dare I fail to notice them! Had I unwittingly punctuated decades of bitter anguish with one final, camel’s back-breaking insult? “Please, go ahead,” I smiled and made a passive, open-handed gesture toward the cab’s open door. “Fuck off twat, it was ours anyway!”

The mouthy one barged past me and, in a comically petulant display of noncompliance, stomped over to the other side of the cab. The suspension sank and both doors slammed shut. The less vocal of the pair seized her final opportunity to issue one last scowl through the car window as their wagon of joy sped them away into the night. And then, mercifully, they were gone. I felt sober again but, before I could wonder about where my buzz had gone, another identical taxi emerged from around the corner. (Taxi ranks work like that.) This time I glanced left and right to see if there was anyone else I hadn’t noticed but the coast was clear. On the way home I pondered the possible origins of such bilious aggression. It seemed more vehement coming from females—I could see they really meant it. That sore contempt in their eyes was real, not just macho posturing. Still, what exactly were these women so pissed about? It was as if they inhabited an entirely different world.

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“Anybody can become angry – that’s easy. But to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that’s not within everybody’s power and is not easy.” ~ Aristotle

Few words have loftier ambitions than “peace”. Take the word “table” for instance. Whether it’s a small table, an eighteen-seater, or even Table friggin’ Mountain, it’s still pretty humble furniture in the house of semantics. Table is as table does. It is what it is. Wooden, plastic, metal or rock. Peace is another thing altogether. For one, you can’t buy it flat-packed from Ikea. In fact, it’s not available to purchase, period. Even labeling it is tricky. Best to keep schtum about it—just as with words like “silence” and “ineffable”. Silly words that only destroy that which they seek to describe like a clumsy, stubby finger prodding a Ming vase to check if it’s real. The incessant planetary soap opera played out on our flat-screened goggleboxes makes us all too apt to externalize our notions of peace—or lack thereof. The 24-hour news implies that peace is something that first needs to happen “out there” in far off lands before there’s even a faint hope of its tender arms spreading out to a planetary hug. Peace is a distant prospect, an ideal. But right now all we have are “peace problems” begging to be solved—complicated, global quandaries necessitating the involvement of fulltime professionals such as Kofi Annan—certainly nothing for you to worry your pretty little heads about.

Recently Tony Blair recounted a “ghastly roll call of terror attacks in the obvious places” and listed “Syria, Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Pakistan” as examples. (He broadly cited “religious extremism” as the cause of all the troubles and not economic inequality, debt slavery, poverty-by-design, land grabs / illegal occupations and drone strikes.) Compared with all this “major league stuff” going down around the globe my petty little taxi rank squabble might seem trivial and insignificant. And yet I think there’s a gem in here somewhere—a veritable pearl in the mire. The world is not separate from us. It is us. We have created it! The catastrophic wars we see on our TVs are just the enlargement of our everyday lives. Once you see this clearly and the importance of your role within the vast matrix of human relationships then it’s hard not to become radically peaceful. What was once an

PEACE I GARDEN CULTURE

What I’m not going to be is afraid because fear is the destroyer of peace. If you begin to address your fear then peace is already in the mail.

isolated microcosm of meaningless existence becomes a dynamic, pulsating epicenter of loveliness. Peace suffuses out of you, infecting others whether they like it or not.

“Peace is every step.” ~ Nhat Hanh

Anyway, back to our Welsh ladies. Clearly they wanted a drama—a shouting match— perhaps even a few fists, boots and claws. And yet all they received from me was a big blob of soft, gooey, hippy peace dough—a warm gift to take home and examine, squeeze, stretch and pummel at their leisure. After all, who knows what those poor women had gone through that day? I certainly didn’t. Perhaps they were sisters (as I recall they sort of looked related) who’d just boxed-up and buried their old man after he’d finally succumbed to decades of stress created by the incessant fiscal demands of a heartless English landlord? Yeah. That would fit… Seriously, would I feel the same if there were unmanned robotic aircraft hovering above my head? Well—to be honest—that really depends on whether they were about to drop a bomb on my head or deliver an Amazon order. What I’m not going to be is afraid because fear is the destroyer of peace. If you begin to address your fear then peace is already in the mail.

“A man who is not afraid is not aggressive, a man who has no sense of fear of any kind is really a free, a peaceful man.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

The acclaimed documentary maker Adam Curtis suggested that western governments, realizing that there was no more power to be gained by selling the people a dream of a brighter future (robots doing all the work for us, etc), decided instead to extract their power and raison d’être from a different place in the human psyche—the power of nightmares. (Also the title of his excellent three-part BBC series.) Instead of presenting us with dreams, governments claimed to protect us from our nightmares. This segways us neatly to the role of the mainstream media, specifically that of keeping most of us in a perennial state of fear—whether by some nefarious decree or cosmic side-effect. The threat level can be orange, red, maroon or flashing epileptically—but the unnamed, non-specific “threat” is always there—if we acquiesce to give it residence. Our fear makes us controllable. Virtually anything—the mass surveillance of our everyday telecommunications, the censorship of the Internet, the militarization of our police force, or even forced medication through fluoridation of our municipal water supplies—all of it can be vaguely rationalized through the necessity of societal protection. Peace isn’t to be found in heightened homeland security or some distant, imagined utopia. It simply waits patiently for our recognition, the cessation of our selfish struggles, our quests for knowledge, wealth, power and all the rest of it. Peace is realizing who you are at the deepest level. (Everybody and everything.) Peace is the ending of the illusion of separation from the rest of the universe. Peace is so ubiquitous, so persistent and pervasive you’ll find it in the most unlikely of places—and yes, apparently lurking within the pages of obscure indoor gardening publications. 3

“There is no ‘way to peace,’ there is only ‘peace.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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The ORIGINAL

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A GOOD

S TA R T Indoor garden productivity requires good practices and techniques from the beginning. Abundant harvests from any herb, fruit or vegetable plant depends on seed quality - and everything that happens during each of its growth stages. Even in your garden, excellence is never the result of inferior materials or shoddy workmanship. Remember that and deliver perfect conditions from the very start.

BY TAMMY CLAYTON

A GOOD START I GARDEN CULTURE

“MAXIMIZING YOUR HARVEST WHILE REDUCING COSTS STARTS WITH DISCOVERING YOUR SEEDS’ NEEDS FOR GERMINATION AND PROVIDING THE BEST CIRCUMSTANCES”

Always obtain seed from reputable sources. An established seed house is best. Your seed will be fresh and come from disease-free plants. It will also be handled and stored properly to make sure the best germination results are possible. Stick with suppliers who have signed the Safe Seed Pledge as your GMO-free source for garden seed. Check out: www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org

There are cool season and warm season plants. Understanding this is important. Before you get started, you need to create the perfect season for your selected crop. Cool season plants grow beautifully in an environment that will send warm season plants like tomatoes into a sickly tizzy. You can grow both types simultaneously with separate germination chambers and grow rooms. You can’t force a plant’s vigor in the wrong conditions. It leads to weak plants, climatic disease issues and poor harvests... or total failure.

“A SEED IS A DORMANT EMBRYO. EACH ONE COMES PACKED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THE NEW PLANT NEEDS TO GROW ROOTS, LEAVES, FLOWERS, FRUIT AND SET SEED TO CONTINUE THE SPECIES”

A seed is a dormant embryo. Each one comes packed with the knowledge the new plant needs to grow roots, leaves, flowers, fruit and set seed to continue the species. Powering it up requires only consistent moisture, air and the right temperature. It comes with its own start-up energy source. They need no fertilizer or nutrients during the germination stage. Light isn’t even needed for the first week or two.

SETTING THE STAGE A plant’s idea of the gray area between right and wrong is a pretty slim window. In your indoor garden, you can’t blame poor germination on thieving birds and squirrels. If your seeds don’t germinate, either you have not purchased quality seed, failed to monitor environmental conditions, or ignored this particular seed’s needs.

Maximizing your harvest while reducing costs starts with discovering your seeds’ needs for germination and providing the best circumstances. Seeds sprout in cooler conditions than for flower and fruit stages. It’s Nature’s way of protecting their fragile parts from more intense sunlight and long, hot days. Maintaining the proper temperature is easily done with a heat mat beneath your germination chamber. This will allow for faster, more robust and uniform development. Do invest in a grower’s mat with a thermostat to avoid cooking your seeds or sprouts.

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Essential: start off with good seeds and always read the package

SELECTING THE MEDIA

ALL THE NUTRITION NEW SPROUTS NEED IS IN THE COTYLEDON. JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE SIGNS OF LIFE, DOESN’T MEAN IT IS TIME TO FEED. PATIENCE. YOU NEED ROBUST ROOT SYSTEMS FOR AN OPTIMUM HARVEST, WHICH DEVELOP AT THIS STAGE.

Unlike planting outdoors, you want thoroughly moistened media for indoor garden seeding. There are a variety of materials you can use, dependent on your growing system. Some people swear by the wet paper towels enclosed in a plastic baggie routine. Handling just sprouted seeds is a delicate matter. You run the risk of breaking or damaging the fragile young root or shoot. You don’t have to work this hard or introduce such intricacy to getting a grow going. Jiffy peat pellets (a.k.a. pucks) aren’t your best option. Issues include slow germination and root growth, poor air flow capacity and high acidity. Finally, it is the nature of peat moss to tie up nitrogen. Thinking of using Jiffy peat pots filled with potting mix? Wood pulp added to their composition increases this removal of nitrogen for breaking down. There is also a danger of peat pucks holding too much moisture causing rot, diseases or damping off. Rockwool starter cubes or propagation plugs commonly used in hydroponics offer a perfect balance of air, moisture and drainage. Sprouting varies by seed type and takes 2-8 days. Consistent saturation and a pH level of 4.5-5.5 is needed (dependent on seed type) and accomplished by soaking the cubes for 24 hours. Chlorinated tap water can harm sprouting action. Use distilled water or mineral water instead. Adjust the soaking solution’s pH level to correct your water’s pH and that of the rockwool’s alkalinity. Do this by slowly adding acid solution to lower pH or alkaline solution to raise it. Measure the water pH until you meet the desired level for the plant type. Put your prepped rockwool starters in a standard nursery tray with a dome. Sow the seed at the required depth. Keep the

A GOOD START I GARDEN CULTURE

DON’T GUESS READ THE SEED PACKET.

THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING THE RIGHT PLANTING DEPTH ENSURES THAT THE SEED CAN ABSORB ENOUGH MOISTURE TO ACTIVATE covered tray in a warm, moist place until vegetation appears. Note that proper temperature ranges are generally only 5-7 degrees apart. Five degrees might not seem like much, but you aren’t a plant. Deliver the happiness zone. Seed starting mixes shouldn’t have huge chunks of material. It should hug your seed loosely without leaving large tunnels exposing the seed or roots to too much air. Mist if you must moisten again soon after sowing. Overhead watering causes light media and seed float resulting in losing planting depth and central placement. For small seed at a shallow depth, this could mean failure to sprout due to ending up on top of the media.

Rockwool starters

If you continue to supply enough pH balanced water, your new plants will swiftly send roots down deep and in all directions seeking a food source. The harder they search, the more developed the roots will become. Nature provides plenty of nutrition with the seed to fortify young plants until they reach the vegetative stage of growth.

A QUESTION OF DEPTH Most seeds grow best when covered with media to their preferred depth, though some seed types can do well on the surface with enough moisture. Plant too deep or too shallow, and your germination success is doubtful. Don’t guess - read the seed packet. The purpose of planting depth ensures that the seed can absorb enough moisture to activate. A seed must absorb 50% of its weight in moisture to germinate. Poor drainage, improper planting depth, and loss of moisture due to evaporation are all things you can’t allow to happen if you are going to eat. Depending on what you want to grow, it can vary from 1/8 inch to a full inch or more. As a rule of thumb, fine seeds need a shallow depth, while large seeds get planted deep.

FEEDING THE BABIES All the nutrition new sprouts need is in the cotyledon. Just because you have signs of life, doesn’t mean it is time to feed. Patience. You need robust root systems for an optimum harvest, which develop at this stage. Seedlings are fragile, and even a weak nutrient solution can burn leaves and roots, as well as make them focus on producing top growth. Don’t mess up their programming!

SEEKING THE SUN Once small seedling leaves appear, plants start reaching to find sunlight. Remove the dome and get your seedlings under lights right away. Cover all roots to prevent damage and support rapid growth. If you don’t act fast enough, they will stretch and get leggy searching for the sun, leading to less robust plants and harvest. Give them 12-16 hours a day under CFL lamps. The heat of HID grow lights will overheat or fry tender seedlings. Closely monitor temperature and moisture. In 10-14 days actual leaves and rooting through the bottom of your media are present. It is time for transplanting. Your young crop has entered the vegetative stage. Now they need intense light, growing temps and nutrients. 3

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GARDENS 速 SIMPLIFIED.

WHEN ONLY THE BEST WILL DO SANCTUARYSOIL.COM

GRAFTING

THE ONE TRUNK ORCHARD “MULTI-GRAFTED FRUIT TREES ARE PERFECT FOR SMALL GARDENS” Seeds and cuttings aren’t the only way to acquire new plants for your garden. Grafting is more tedious, but allows a gardener to accomplish things with plants not possible in any other way. It is the technique of joining the parts of two or more plants to create one plant. Ornamental plants used in landscaping and flower gardens are more commonly seen grafted than with fruits or vegetables. In the realm of food plants, grafting is usually found in trees - but not always.

GRAFTING I GARDEN CULTURE “GRAFTING ALLOWS YOU TO STICK STEM CUTTINGS TO A MORE DEVELOPED ROOT SYSTEM, OR A MORE ROBUST AND DISEASE RESISTANT VARIETY TO MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE... POSSIBLE”

WHY LEARN ABOUT GRAFTING? Let’s say you have a tomato variety that is now impossible to find seed for. Maybe you live in a cold climate that makes it difficult to grow really awesome tomatoes to vine ripened harvest due to early frosts. Grafting allows you to stick stem cuttings to a more developed root system, or a more robust and disease resistant variety to make the impossible... possible. It can also make certain crops possible at all. All sweet orange trees are grafted onto sour orange variety stock because sweet orange trees are highly susceptible to root disease. In the 1880s a Texas scientist actually saved the wine industry in France by grafting French grape varieties onto wild grape roots when a disease epidemic threatened to drive the French varieties into extinction. Wild Texas grapes are immune to this grapevine plague and are the only reason fine French wines are enjoyed around the world today. While lots of people would love to have an organic fruit orchard just outside their door, small yard space makes it impossible. Multi-grafted fruit trees are perfect for small gardens. It’s your one trunk solution for orchard variety harvest in limited space. This growing technique lets you have several types of apples on one tree; or peaches, pears, cherries, plums and citrus. As long as you stick to the same type of fruit, it works well.

Multi-grafted fruit tree

THE FRUIT COCKTAIL TREE

NO YARD AT ALL?

Sometimes it is possible to graft types of fruit trees to a single trunk that are less similar. Stone fruits and citrus plants are easily adapted to each other, making for successful grafting of a wider variety of fruit grown in one spot. The Fruit Cocktail Tree gives you a source for tree-ripened fruit salad even in a tiny outdoor garden. Stone fruits are those that have pits, like cherries, peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines. Citrus gives you limes, lemons, grapefruits, oranges and tangelos variety. You’ll find both orchard-on-a-trunk delights available pre-grafted from online nurseries. Or you could try your hand at grafting and create your own Fruit Cocktail Tree. Not only could it be an interesting project, what if one type of fruit on a readymade tree isn’t hardy where you live? What if you want only heirloom varieties or a different mix than you can buy?

You can grow fruit trees in large containers where they will never get more than 6 feet tall. A sort of bonsai orchard in a movable box that produces full size fruit. So it’s possible to grow truly dwarf fruit trees on a rooftop, the balcony or patio. This method would also allow you to take your orchard with you if you move to a new residence. Be sure you have proper winter storage for outdoor container grown fruit trees in a cold climate. Frigid winter temps aren’t kind to roots above ground. If you live in the north, container grown fruit trees with proper winter storage will allow you to grow fresh peaches and less hardy crops that would never fruit when planted in the ground. A garage or seasonal room will work for overwintering. You just need to make sure the temperature never drops below the lowest range for any given tree.

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GRAFTING I GARDEN CULTURE

WHAT DO I NEED? Obviously, you will need to gather the plants you will use to make your grafted wonder. Depending on the type of plant (woody or soft stemmed) you need to decide if it is best to do stem or bud grafting. The best way to start your research is searching for answers online. Next you will need the proper tools and supplies. Grafting is a precise science, so don’t set yourself up for failure by trying to improvise. For small projects, look for a grafting kit online. The basic kits aren’t that expensive, so it is within most people’s budget to arm themselves with the stuff that is proven to allow success. At the very least you need a grafting knife, grafting tape and grafting wax. To do bud grafts you also need rubber bud strips. A good grafting kit will also include a guide booklet you can follow step-by-step.

INVEST IN QUALITY PLANTS No matter what type of grow you want to do, never forget that ‘quality in, quality out’ applies to gardening too. The better the health of the plants you use to graft your new tree, the easier it will be for you to succeed. The main tree you use for the trunk should have a welldeveloped root system for faster growth and better graft support. A more whip-like version of what you’re budding or stem grafting makes more economic sense

“DECIDE IF IT IS BEST TO DO STEM OR BUD GRAFTING”

as you only need a small piece for your project. Well developed root systems will cost more as they have been kept in the nursery at least a year longer for this purpose.3

Suitable Veggies for Grafting • Tomatoes • Peppers • Eggplants • Melons • Cucumbers

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Marketing Techniques

T u r n Surplus Crops i n t o Ca$h You know the routine; you’ve spent months looking after your crops, cared for them and watched over them carefully. After all your hard work, on the day you harvest your unable to sell your gorgeous harvest at the farmers market because it rained, it’s a holiday, or just bad luck. Perk up! Turn that surplus harvest into an opportunity to experiment with new exciting approaches to direct to customer business models that are a rising trend across the nation. Mobile farm markets are riding high on the heels of the white-hot food truck trend. It’s a new take on the old fashioned neighborhood ice cream truck. Instead of selling ice cream to screaming kids running after a lighthearted tune coming from a colorful van, you are selling your locally grown food to enthusiastic urban hipsters. Calling them to your mobile market with Twitter, FourSquare, geo location apps like Google Latitude or blasting obscure indie techno music from your speakers in dense urban neighborhoods. Pick your vehicle for your mobile market wisely, just remember that character matters. Think converted airstream trailers, ironic postal jeeps or your grandfather’s old pickup. For some great examples, be sure to check out Lomo Market in Raleigh-Durham, NC (www.lomomarket.com) or the Honeybee Mobile Market (http://www.honeybeemobilemarket.com/). Cost: About the price of a small row tractor. Mobile markets created from trailers, trucks or vans are great for when you have planned stops and a bit of cash. Perhaps you need something cheaper and easier to do without much planning required. Consider a slower, more approachable alternative: your bike pulling a trailer full of produce. Turning your bike into a mobile produce stand offers a charming, approachable venue to sell to urban dwellers as they stroll through their neighborhoods and downtown restaurant districts. The slow speed of a bike-borne market makes it easy for

people to stop and buy, keeping you from having to stop for extended periods and having to get permits or ask permission from establishments. There are a few farmers experiencing great success with this technique. If you’d like to try it out yourself “the Mattapan Mobile Farm Stand” is a great design, view Mattapan Mobile Farm Stand it here: www.matt apanfoodandf itness.org. Cost: A new implement for your tractor. Celebrate your unsold surplus as an occasion by cook“A BIKE-BORNE ing a farm dinner MARKET MAKES IT at your farm from EASY FOR PEOPLE TO your surplus crops. STOP AND BUY. NO Agritourism has PERMITS NEEDED.” proven a very profitable venture for many farms. There is actually more money in selling the small farming experience than the products you’ve produced. Create a “dinner club” and spread the word through your Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest accounts. Contact a couple local food bloggers and invite them to a couple in exchange for posting about the “privileged opportunity” to attend

BY BEN GREENE

GOING TO MARKET I GARDEN CULTURE

“PICK YOUR VEHICLE FOR YOUR MOBILE MARKET WISELY... CHARACTER MATTERS”

your farm surplus dinner. And if your ‘farm’ is in an urban basement or small backyard greenhouse? Improvise! People love the unique and unusual. Its not just where you’re growing, but what you’re growing that they’re after. Follow the recipe for success other’s have done well with. Don’t have enough diversity in your surplus to create an entire dinner? Create what you can and make it a potluck, where the cost is half price if the attendees bring a dish. Lots of candles, white linen covered picnic tables and ample mason jars are sure to create the perfect mood. Some great examples of farms using on-farm or local pub dinner clubs effectively are the Rogowski Farm (rogowskifarm. com) and the Land’s Sake Supper Club (http://www.landssake.org/). Also check out dinner clubs that travel to many dinners like the Highlands dinner club (highlandsdinnerclub.com) and City Provisions (cityprovisions.com) Cost: Free meal for friends in exchange for labor and supplies. Of course, the best option is to eliminate next week’s surplus! Surplus produce is often surplus because your customers are not familiar with your crop’s use, preparation or just simply haven’t been inspired to use it. Give them some sug-

“CALL YOUR SHOPPERS TO MARKET ON TWITTER AND FOURSQUARE” gestions by grouping the produce together in “meal packs”. For example, create a stir fry kit by placing your Asian greens with a recipe and some bulk seasonings together. There are many online resources that allow you to type in your ingredients and an ideal recipe will be generated from your input, my favorite is gojee.com. This makes it easy to find a recipe and create soul food meal kits, salad kits, kids lunch kits, tapas kits, ethnic meal kits, or create special diet kits like gluten-free, diabetic or paleolithic diets. Cost: Extra labor and sleek packaging. The prices for these new economic models are within reach and the most ambitious are often no more expensive than a piece of production equipment. Instead of increasing your production this year by 10% with new equipment, consider receiving twice the price you’d normally receive with an investment into unique approaches to direct to consumer marketing. 3

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Mothering TECHNIQUES HOW TO CARE FOR A MOM

BY JENN DIGIOIA

MOTHERING TECHNIQUES I GARDEN CULTURE

“IT ONLY TAKES ONE MOTHER PLANT TO CREATE A WHOLE GARDEN OF PLANTS”

Genetically speaking, everyone has a mother. In the horticultural world, being a mom means you either produce seeds sexually or clones asexually. There are a few different techniques you can use to reproduce plants without needing pollen from a parent plant(s) to produce seeds. The newest, most scientific way to do this is tissue culture. This uses a series of chemical processes to grow a full size plant from a tiny piece of plant tissue, in a test tube. While this method isn’t practical for most gardeners, it is definitely neat! There are two methods any gardener can easily use: grafting and cloning. WHY D O I NEED A MOTHER PL ANT? To get more plants for your garden. Our need for cloning stems from the gardener’s mantra: bigger, stronger, faster. One of the big reasons for avid gardeners is to retain exact copies of very rare plants. Cloning can even keep your grandmother’s heirloom tomato strain alive for generations to come. It only takes one mother plant to create a whole garden of plants. No waiting for spring to buy plants or for seedlings to mature. Using cloning to sustainably manage your vegetable garden just makes sense. You can make clones of plants that you consume the most of... forever. Cloning is a necessity for some plants. Most of the bananas we eat today are clones! A devastating genetic mutation in the edible varieties made the fruits of the banana plants sterile. In nature this usually means a road to extinction. Savvy farmers propagated the yummy fruit plants, spreading them around the world centuries ago. Thanks to this process of cutting the ‘suckers’ from the base of a plant in the vegetative stage and cloning them, we still have bananas today. Nor would we have French wine. A set of devastating disease and pest plagues almost wiped out the vines. Cloning via grafting with resistant roots saved France’s vineyards more than a century ago. Obviously, cloning and mother plants are important to know about. Nature has cloned on its own forever. Strawberry plants are a perfect example. The plant will send out a ‘runner’ shoot at the base parallel to the ground. When it reaches fertile soil, it automatically produces roots, forming a new

plant. This allows the mother to search out more fertile ground or better sunlight for her offspring. A mother always wants the best for her children and the strawberry mom is no exception. In your garden, you can aim the runners to root into a pot or a desired spot. After the runners have established roots they can then be cut from the mother plant for sale or replanting. Most plants won’t do this naturally, conveniently creating clones as the strawberry plant will. So it is important to know what to look for when selecting a mom. You will be making exact copies of her so choose the best, strongest looking one you can find. Keep her planted in a pot that’s large enough to hold her root mass. The new fabric pots on the market like smart pots or root pouches are great for mothering purposes. The fabric is a felt-like material and allows air thru the walls, yet it is enough to not allow light in. This pot can prevent root rot and root circling known as being ‘root bound’. Both can stunt or hinder growth at best.

FEED ING YO UR MOTHER Most nutrient product lines have a ‘grow’ formula that, when fed lightly, will work great for your mom. A few examples for this are: Botanicare’s Pure Blend Pro Grow with a liquid N-P-K of (3-2-4), Fox Farms Grow Big (6-44) or General Organics Biothrive Grow (4-3-3). Need a lot of clones? You may want to train a young seedling to be your mother plant, pruning her to promote more branching before taking any cuts. We can do this by

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MOTHERING TECHNIQUES I GARDEN CULTURE

“IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN SELECTING A MOM” simply trimming the top new growth of the main branches as the plant gets bigger. Remember, less is more when pruning anything! Be sure to make cuts above at least two sets of growth so that when you cut one main stalk, two branches will form from the leaf sets below. You can continue to use this manipulation trick as the mother plant grows until you have enough branches to accommodate your cloning needs. For faster branching, try an extra nutrient boost using a marine algae product such as Nitrozime or Bioweed. These help to create the burst of new shoots at the right time. It can also help with the rooting process, so include it with the week-ofcutting feeding too.

M AK ING G O OD BABIES Cloning is best done in the vegetative stage of growth for almost all plants. You will need to set up a light to provide 18 hours of light for your mom to keep her in that stage (ready) for vegetative propagation. Mother plants need a regular schedule for nutrients and water. Being careful not to overdo it on either. Overfeeding can lock out essential nutrients your mom needs to thrive. Overwatering can cause a multitude of mold, fungus and bug problems. An over flux of food or water in your mom’s system when it comes time to take cuttings can also make rooting more difficult. Giving your mom the right food before cloning her can make a world of difference in the babies. Remember whatever is in her system at the time of cutting will also be in the system of the clone. A good rule of thumb is to cut your normal fertilizer mixing directions in half a week before taking cuttings. Adding a bit of vitamins and hormones to that week’s feeding is also a good idea. A dose of Superthrive is also great for the expectant mother. Follow label directions for mixing. When deciding how much to water take the simple route and touch the growing medium. You want moist media, not wet. If the media dries up between feedings just use plain water to supplement.

TAK ING THE CUT Always start the cutting process with clean equipment and have everything ready to go. You will need a sterile blade or scissors, growing medium or rooting plugs, a rooting hormone to aid in the process and of course your mother plant. Choose a branch for the cutting that includes new growth with at least 2-3 sets of leaves. Cut at a 45 degree angle and quickly get the cut end into the rooting hormone, then push the dipped end down into growing medium. Mist cuttings daily with water to keep them happy until roots begin to form.

THE MOTHER OF INVENTI ON & SPEED Grafting takes the root system of one plant called a ‘rootstock’ and fuses a cutting called a ‘scion’ to the top. The plant created has the genetics of the mother plant and the rootstock will supply the uptake of nutrients through its root system. You can use the grafting technique to get creative, combining different mixes of colors and types of desired crop characteristics of rootstock and cuttings. It can also allow your plants to overcome stress factors like diseases or pests, and even the soil quality of an outdoor garden. Grafting can make your indoor garden more efficient. Grafted vegetable plants can also deliver an earlier harvest and a much longer harvest period. Reproducing ready to bloom plants offers a variety of benefits. Success starts with a healthy, happy mom and knowing when to make the cut. 3

UBERGREEN FARM ABOVE

“ N OT H I N G Q U I T E L I K E I T E X ISTS EL SE WH ER E” Sustainable urban farming hits the roof - literally, and on several levels. In the low income food desert known as the South Bronx, Sky Vegetables is paving the way to greener inner city neighborhoods everywhere. It’s a farm that residents will no doubt look up to for multiple reasons, the most obvious being that the totally closed unit occupies the rooftop of a newly constructed 8-story apartment building.

on the greenhouse project took While urban farms aren’t new to “THE MARRIAGE OF New York City, the Sky site toward 2 years to complete, and started G R E E N B U I L D I N G the north end of the metropolis the first crop in February 2013 TO R O O F TO P isn’t a touring stop. It’s a serious with a first harvest planned for G R E E N H O U S E F A R M ” agricultural operation that will suplate spring. Along the way, Agoaply fresh, locally grown food to the da formed partnerships with a team of highly qualified professionals, each with a distinct neighborhood via harvest boxes through community supset of skills and knowledge to take the fledgling farm from ported agriculture programs, as well as through markets across the Bronx borough. All produce is grown without startup to success in short order. The scientific advisory pesticides or insecticides in greenhouses that will use solar board includes Will Allen from Milwaukee’s Growing Powpower and rainwater harvesting. Unlike many other urban er, and Michael Christian from American Hydroponics. farms across the country, Sky Farm is a totally hydroponic The South Bronx is a place that has distinct cultural groups, each with their own organizations. In forming partnerships operation. with local neighborhood groups, Sky Vegetables ensure Partnerships Are Big At Sky that good food is being made available to people living in Keith Agoada, founder of Sky Vegetables, began planning the blocks surrounding the farm. Plans include hiring and the now functioning rooftop farm in 2009. Construction training from the neighborhood to fill the duties of caring

UBERGREEN FARM I GARDEN CULTURE

BY TAMMY CLAYTON

“SKY VEGETABLES IS PAVING THE WAY TO GREENER INNER CITY NEIGHBOURHOODS EVERYWHERE” for the crops, harvest, distribution and community outreach. Since his initial concept to what is now a reality, Agoada always saw teaching people in the neighborhood how the growing operation ticks as part of his big picture.

Green Innovations Arbor House, that sits beneath Sky Farm, is not your average affordable rent building. Freshly completed by Blue Sea Development, 124-unit housing project is a model in green building and sustainable living for the city, the state, and literally all of the United States. Adding a vegetable farm to the roof is like the icing on the cake. “It is an exciting project,” as Laurie Schoeman, NYC Community Relations Manager for Sky puts it. Nothing quite like it exists elsewhere. Innovation abounds between the marriage of green building to rooftop greenhouse farm. The partnership between

Sky Vegetables and Blue Sea is one to be proud of. For residents, the place is full of healthy lifestyle perks from the living green wall in the foyer to music in the stairways, and on to energy efficiency that will allow them more affordable utility bills. While residents might not be able to access the farm casually, it provides important heating and cooling benefits to their homes. Arbor House is constructed mainly with recycled materials, and was awarded both a Platinum LEEDS certification and NAHB Green certification.

The Crops and Systems Under the direction of master hydro farmer, Joe Schwartz and his assistant Kate Ahearn, winter crops provide the neighborhood with lots of fresh greens, including kale, 5 kinds of lettuce, chard and basil. Warmer weather will bring more sunshine and the crops will change to take ad-

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GARDEN CULTURE I UBERGREEN FARM

Vertical garden in lobby

“ANTICIPATED YIELDS OF 300-400 TONS OF LOCAL FRESH PRODUCE ARE EXPECTED EVERY YEAR”

vantage of that, versus the use of grow lights that is needed to supplement on days with less than 6 hours of sunlight. Grow lights are also used for germination to ensure the process is smooth. All growing equipment used in the rooftop farm comes from American Hydroponics. Sky Farm will employ 20 full time and 10 part time workers. They’re using NFT and flood and drain setups for seed germination. Anticipated yields of 300-400 tons of local fresh produce are expected every year from the 8000 square foot growing space.

Aiming High Sky Farm and Arbor House in the Bronx offers the world a model for sustainable development and building integrated agriculture. On a mission to improve city dweller’s health and nutrition, Sky Vegetables also seeks to help localize the economy, help educate community residents and youth to growing fresh food, create new jobs, as well as promoting healthy eating through community programming.

On a mission to improve city dweller’s nutrition, Sky Vegetables also seeks to help localize the economy, help educate community residents and youth to growing fresh food, create new jobs, as well as promoting healthy eating through community programming For Sky Vegetables, anticipation for germinating that first crop’s seeds spanned years. It’s not the end of new beginnings for this urban agriculture company. They are already busy planning the next Sky Farm. Where it will appear has not been decided, though possible locations exist. One thing you can most likely count on, it won’t grace the top of just any building. The project will no doubt be greener than green. 3

BY TAMMY CLAYTON

King of Organic

Hawaiian Ginger

BikerDude

“Biker Dude Organic Hawaiian Ginger is cream of the crop”

Hugh Johnson will tell you that he’s just a dirt farmer from North Carolina, but Biker Dude Organic Hawaiian Ginger is cream of the crop. A brand with such a reputation for quality in the U.S. that picky retailers, discerning chefs, and high-end organic consumers know it by name. The branding alone is unforgettable. The quality is superior.

If you’ve eaten fresh ginger, you haven’t really experienced it at its finest, until you’ve had Biker Dude Ginger. You won’t find it just anywhere, but those who frequent Whole Foods, and other specialty organic grocery stores, have easy access to the best ginger available in the country. It’s the only brand of ginger you can buy that is completely disease-free.

“Puna Organics is the oldest organic ginger farm in Hawaii”

Not that all other fresh ginger in stores is harmful if eaten. Ginger is so prone to plant pests and diseases that it’s surely tainted when grown in soil. The trick for traditional growers is getting the crop out of the ground before the root quality diminishes to an unsellable state. It’s a field crop relying heavily on chemicals to bring it to the harvest stage. Biker Dude Ginger stands apart from the competition by a mile. It never touches the soil - or the average grocery store shelf. Grown in a remote part of Hawaii, even the seed is pristine. A feat possible only through tissue culture. Like many root crops, sterile ginger is grown from pieces of a mature root. All ginger seed produced in soil may already be infected with fusarium or bacterial wilt. When fusarium strikes,

ORGANIC GINGER I GARDEN CULTURE

the grower is lucky to harvest half of the crop. If it’s the dreaded bacterial wilt, the entire crop is lost, and the disease remains active in the soil for 10 years. Both of these pathogens are huge problems due to Hawaii’s wet climate. Up until about 5 years ago, Hugh grew ginger for the U.S. market organically in soil. Farming is hard enough, but the persistent soil-borne disease issues brought him to join forces with Daniel Kelly. Dan brought tissue culture and off-ground growing in coir to Biker Dude Ginger production. Puna Organics is the oldest organic ginger farm in Hawaii, and light-years ahead of the competition, which is why their fresh ginger is in big demand on the high-end organic market coast to coast. Hugh and Dan have other irons in the fire, and edible ginger is only part of the Biker Dude enterprise. They also grow organic turmeric, and can import fresh ginger and turmeric to Canada as a food. The Puna Organics operation is more diversified than edible harvests. They sell coir from inland Thailand too. Their coir is much lower in salts than

“the only brand of ginger you can buy that is completely disease-free”

any other product on the market, because it doesn’t come from a coastal area. Always aged 2 years, and washed to have below .5 EC. In 2014, they’re introducing 10 varieties of medicinal ginger. They also sell disease-free organic turmeric and ginger seed to mainland growers. You can grow organic baby ginger in most climates, even in the northern states, and it’s a huge hit at farm markets everywhere. For market growers, fresh baby ginger is an exciting crop with a lucrative price tag for produce that has a waiting market. They’d love to ship their top quality ginger seed beyond the U.S., though importing regulations are tricky.

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ginger tissue culture

“Ginger is best grown in bags off the ground using drip irrigation.”

“A field crop relying heavily on chemicals...”

And finally, Hugh and his wife, Elvira run a sustainable resort serving up a funky blend of southern hospitality and aloha in the middle of beautiful Hawaiian nowhere. Ginger is best grown in bags off the ground using drip irrigation. It’s a crop that requires hilling, like potatoes and leeks. Sunburn is an issue without covering the rhizomes as they develop, decreasing it’s marketability, so it’s not well-suited for hydroponics. It’s most efficiently grown

Want more info on Puna Organics? www.hawaiianorganicginger.com

“their fresh ginger is in big demand on the high-end organic market” outdoors or in a greenhouse, and not under lights. The crop takes a full season to reach the baby ginger harvest state in subtropical climates. Toying with the idea of growing baby ginger from rootstock bought at the grocery store? Unless it’s Biker Dude brand - don’t plant it in the ground! Fusarium spreads like the plague on your hands, shoes, clothes, and garden tools. You’ll infect your soil with pathogens that can attack a lot of other crops in your garden.

ORGANIC GINGER I GARDEN CULTURE

RECIPE

Homemade Ginger Ale Love ginger ale? Make your own - it puts the stuff you buy at the store to shame. Best of all, it’s super easy to whip up. Add some ice and enjoy!

Ingredients: • • • • • •

2 cups peeled, coarsely chopped fresh organic ginger (about 10 ounces) 3 strips lemon peel (about 4 inches each), yellow part only 1-1/2 cups sugar 4 cups water 3 quarts chilled club soda Ice cubes

Directions: Put ginger, lemon peel, and water in a 4-quart pan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat a bit, and simmer 10 minutes uncovered at a low boil. Add sugar, stirring constantly, and continue to boil until reduced to about 3 cups - about 15 minutes. Cover a large bowl with a fine wire strainer, and pour in your ginger mixture to separate solids from liquid. Discard the lemon peel, but save the candied ginger. It’s great for topping ice cream, stirred into yogurt, among other uses. Cool the syrup, pour into a glass container, seal tightly, and chill at least 1 hour until cold. Can be stored up to 1 week. For each 16-ounce serving, mix 1/4 cup ginger syrup with 1 cup cold club soda and pour over ice. Additional ginger syrup and/or sugar may be added to taste. Yield: 4 quarts. 3

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GARDEN CU LT U R E

caught your EYE? we’ve got an eye for green business GARDEN CULTURE OFFERS ADVERTISERS: · EXCELLENT EXPOSURE · STRATEGIC PLACEMENTS · GREAT RATES MORE INFO ON WWW.GARDENCULTURE.NET

Soil Techniques in hydroponics “Does a human truly know what a plant WANTS?”

When people are first introduced to hydroponics many marvel at the concept of roots growing in water and the “technology” involved, or the magic of producing yields ten and even twenty times larger per acre than those accomplished in soil. While these are certainly real and relevant ideas, the reality is that a plant is a plant. Even if it was growing on Mars it would still require the same basic requirements provided by Mother Nature. The name of the growing game is how to deliver these most efficiently and effectively. This is best accomplished by considering what the plant wants, not what we want to get out of the plant. Think of it this way, it is one thing to allow a plant to grow, but it’s another entirely to allow your plants to thrive.

BY EVAN FOLDS

SOIL TECHNIQUES I GARDEN CULTURE

“A PLANT IS A PLANT - REQUIRING THE SAME BASIC ELEMENTS EVEN IF YOU’RE GROWING ON MARS”

For instance, as is attested to by anyone who has used them, a basic hydroponic nutrient is sufficient to grow a plant successfully. In other words, it’s designed to provide everything the plant requires to grow, which amounts to anywhere from 15-17 elements, depending on who you ask. Now let’s ask ourselves a question. There are over 90 Earth-bound elements on the periodic table, so why would Mother Nature make an element not needed in the garden? Think about that. Does a human truly know what a plant wants? The fact is that using natural and “organic” products allow people to use a wider variety of elemental nutrition unconsciously without choosing to bring these materials to the table because they are diverse by Nature. This is the basis for the generally accepted concept that hydroponics delivers higher yields, but “organics” brings a higher quality. There is truth to this idea. But it is also true that you can get the best of both worlds. In order to express these ideas fully it helps to have a clear delineation of soil growing versus hydroponic growing. In the simplest terms, hydroponic gardening is an emphasis on growing the plant, while growing in soil is a focus on growing the soil, or more directly, growing microorganisms. Microbes are beneficial to plants directly through making perfect plant food and helping them eat it, as well as indirectly by acting as a preventive measure towards root and foliar disease and pest infestations. It is an apt analogy to compare the living organisms that make up the soil food web to that of the ocean food web. Microscopic organism activity supports the entire ecosystem of the ocean, such as photosynthetic bacteria or plankton. In general terms, the big fish eats the small fish and all survive by attaining biological balance. The strength of the system is in the diversity and the magic is found, not in a single component, but in the symbiosis and synergy of the web of life.

The same is true in the soil. Microorganisms, or microbes, are the plankton of the soil food web. Up to 50% of the food plants make for themselves in photosynthesis is actually fed through its roots as an exudate to attract microbes. There is an intelligence to this system, and take note that this teamwork is generally absent from a conventional hydroponic system offering only 15-17 elements and water. Thinking about these systems properly is very important. In fact, it is the very act of treating soil environments like hydroponic applications that cause so many of the issues we experience on our farms and in our residential landscapes. Artificial products do not feed microbes. And microbes make plant food, people don’t. Given this understanding, the trick is in how to get microbes and the natural processes of Nature to support the yield enhancing benefits of hydroponic applications. One of the best ways to do this is using living compost tea. Compost tea is the act of growing microbes using diverse food and mineral sources within aerated water. The result is microbiological reproduction and the perfect plant food being created. While many choose to maintain “cleanliness”, in all reality considering the above arguments, the most important place to use compost tea is in a hydroponic system. For instance, budget fertilizers contain maybe 7-8 total elements, a hydroponic fertilizer maybe 17, but a good compost tea recipe contains over 90 elements. Not only are there more elements, but they are more available and there are more forms of them. Nature makes isotopes, or different forms of the same element. Never heard of it? Look it up. So there’s the total number of elements and the form potential of those elements, but let’s take it one step further. The different elements actually work together to produce superior results in the garden. That’s right. It’s accepted knowledge in good agronomy that, for example, you want manganese at ½ of iron, or

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“THERE ARE OVER 90 EARTH-BOUND ELEMENTS ON THE PERIODIC TABLE, SO WHY WOULD MOTHER NATURE MAKE AN ELEMENT NOT NEEDED IN THE GARDEN? BASIC HYDROPONIC NUTRIENTS HAVE ONLY 15-17 ELEMENTS” that zinc is 1/10th of phosphorous in order for plants to have adequate access to these elements. In other words, certain elements unlock others in proper ratios. The idea is not to figure all of this out, it is arguable if that is even possible. But one thing is for sure, if you don’t put all the players on the field... your team will not win as many games.

elemental connection

The above illustration illustrates this. The fertilizer solution constantly aerates the roots from the bottom as they grow into the solution.

The diagram on the right is not proof of anything. It was put together by many people through many anecdotal experiences. And it is only scratching the surface. But most of the important information cannot be measured directly. Such is life. Regardless, it provides a window into the complexity and potential of balanced growing with natural potential and hopefully challenges the grower to think outside of the box of good enough. We need to start asking ourselves what we’re missing before all we are left with are empty genetically modified plants. But that’s another article. (Note - A smilie was here) Even one step further, it is important to consider elemental diversity from a plants perspective, but it may even be more important to consider it from a microbes perspective. Microbes create and use enzymes to do their work and every element on the period table has an enzyme potential. It’s called a co-factor, meaning the specific element defines the enzyme and acts as a backbone, so to speak. So in a very real sense, without all elements in your garden it’s like hiring microbes to build a house and giving them only half the tools.

Compost tea can, and should be, used in every garden. Water culture hydroponics is a technique most vulnerable to root disease because the roots are constantly submerged in the reservoir solution.

The organisms that cause common rooting diseases are always present in a hydroponic reservoir in the same way that mold grows when a room is humid. Again, it is weak plants and inferior conditions that allow them to express themselves. This grower had some browning roots that were limp and looked disease prone (pic at left). The roots were not yet rotten, but slime coated and the plant growth was limping along. root slime

Once the severely damaged roots were removed, and compost tea was added to the reservoir, BOOM, the fresh new white roots are popping out like crazy. The picture to the right shows the difference only 48 hours after adding compost tea to the reservoir.

no slime left!

SOIL TECHNIQUES I GARDEN CULTURE

“UP TO 50% OF THE FOOD PLANTS MAKE IS ACTUALLY EXUDED THROUGH ITS ROOTS TO ATTRACT MICROBES” Below is 72 hours after adding compost tea to the reservoir with images of two more plants that were in the same system. All of them have pearly white roots exploding from the root system. The above images are the middle plant below.

WITHOUT Compost Tea Pearly white root system after 72 hours with compost tea Here is another side-by-side from a customer using compost tea in hydroponics. In the image to the left you see rooting before adding compost tea. The image to the right shows the same plant 48 hours after adding it.

before addition of compost tea

after 48 hours with compost tea

Following is a side-by-side we did in-house in an ebb & flow hydroponic system. They were grown next to each other in separate systems. The plant on the left was the control and grown with a base hydroponic fertilizer and water. The plant on the right received 1 cup per gallon of compost tea with the same base hydroponic fertilizer. The results speak for themselves.

WITH Compost Tea

Many already use hybrid approaches using “soilless” mixes containing peat moss or coir fiber. They cost less and are a suitable for making custom mixes. They are also more suitable for establishing healthy microbiological activity. And if you’re wondering. Don’t be concerned about killing microbes with artificial hydroponic nutrients. You’re not helping them, but microbes are extremely resilient and, generally speaking, if you are not harming plants with the salt toxicity you are not hurting the microbes. Besides, microbes actually act as a clearing solution. Most hydroponic growers tell themselves that living compost tea solutions will “contaminate” or “gunk up” their systems with bioslimes and all sorts of other scary things, when, in fact, the opposite is true. Use compost tea at a 1:20 ratio on reservoir changes and you will have the cleanest reservoir you’ve ever seen. Try it. Just goes to show that sometimes life is not as it seems. Consider the perspective that the first thing that we should know is that we don’t. The humility in this approach is where real progress is made. Happy growing. 3

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(self irrigating planter)

“THIS TECHNIQUE IS ALSO KNOWN AS PASSIVE HYDROPONICS” The problem with standard containers and planters is the you must pour lots of water in through the top to get good consistent moisture to all the roots. Potting mix has sharp drainage to protect roots from rot, so you have very low moisture retention as all unabsorbed moisture quickly exits at the bottom. This is great on automated irrigation. At home, it results in plants enjoying a heavy drink, getting parched, binge again existence... and the cycle continues for the length of their life. Not only is this a huge waste of water, it throws your plants off-balance. First they’re lovin’ life. Next they’re battling stress. Then it’s back to living large again when you come by with the watering can. You know what this kind of constant mood and energy swing does to you. Imagine what it does to plants and their ability to grow food! PLANTS AREN’T MADE FOR CONTAINERS autopot

Container growing any plant means being super vigilant in staying on top of your watering. Let it get too dry and you have foliar damage at best. This situation can maim or kill even a rugged plant quickly under the midday sun outdoors. Inside a building won’t make parched potting mix any friendlier. In fact, it’s much more critical. Modern homes and offices are climate controlled, free of dew and rainfall. With a SIP system, or self irrigating planter, you can still enjoy just picked delicious produce at a far lower cost. You’ll also use way less water and none of it is wasted. The bonus with these growing systems is that you have greatly reduced your risk of crop loss because you forgot to water.

BY TAMMY CLAYTON

SIP GARDENING I GARDEN CULTURE EARTHBOX SHOOL GARDEN

homemade set-up

You can also go away for a week and not come home to dead plants. The biggest benefit might be that your harvest will ripen more quickly than in a traditional summer garden and with a higher yield. Here’s the really cool part. You can grow totally organic food this way - indoors or outside. SIP gardens are perfect for an empty corner, a windowsill, rooftop gardens, patios, balconies, classrooms, greenhouses and even your office. For best results indoors, do plan on using full sun intensity grow lights.

HOW DOES THIS WORK? Any self watering planting system will hold a great deal of water in a reservoir with a storage capacity ranging from one to many gallons. Some are battery operated drip systems and others use natural gravity, water pressure and a specially designed container. An important note about inexpensive automated drip systems. Your tap water could cause problems with valve functioning. Claber makes one you’ll find easy to locate that can water 20 plants for 40 days, but the reviews are anything but glowing. Why bother if it’s not reliable? Gravity is free and far less prone to issues. Plants know exactly how to make this system work. The simplest form of self irrigating system uses what is known as wicking or capillary action. This has long been used for starting

“WITH A SIP SYSTEM, OR SELF IRRIGATING PLANTER... ENJOY JUST PICKED DELICIOUS PRODUCE AT A FAR LOWER COST. YOU’LL ALSO USE WAY LESS WATER AND NONE OF IT WILL BE WASTED”

seeds. Here your containers sit on an absorbent mat with ends that drop over a riser stand to draw water from the pan below. In a seed starting tray like this, a clear plastic dome keeps moisture from simply evaporating and disappearing too quickly. Self watering growing systems today also enclose the water tray and reservoir for this same reason. Old fashioned methods of wicking into containers used cotton rope to pull water from the reservoir into the container where the media and roots could do their thing. Technology and advanced knowledge has improved this technique of low maintenance growing. Some SIP systems still use a wick, others use the wicking action naturally present in soil or moisture holding media. Water is heavy, but with proper aeration, any of it stored below is drawn up into the substrate easily without a wick. That is what capillary action is all about. When fine tunnels are available in the soil or potting mix, water can defy gravity and rise. Your plants make full use of it where it counts most - at the root zone. A huge reduction in water use and foliar issues from overhead watering. You can increase your water conservation with the use of lightweight sheet mulch covering the surface of the growing media. Additionally, these techniques allow fruits and veggies grown anywhere with minimal labor while delivering high yields in a very compact space.

HOW DO I GET ONE? You can buy ready to use systems online, at local garden centres and hydro shops. What you can grow this way runs the full gamut. There are shallow planters perfect for herbs and greens to those large enough to grow sweet corn and full-sized tomato plants. Plant a mixed mini plot in a single container, or a whole garden of goodness growing in several containers at once.

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SIP GARDENING I GARDEN CULTURE

BR ANDS TO INVESTIGATE

“CONTAINER GROWING ANY PLANT MEANS BEING SUPER VIGILANT IN STAYING ON TOP OF YOUR WATERING”

All of these function without timers or power, though you do need electricity for grow lights for reliable indoor gardening. If the SIP system has a pump, it operates using gravity triggered by water level when needed. This technique is also known as passive hydroponics.

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Gravity triggered pump Passive hydroponics Natural capillary activity Reservoir feeds & waters up to 4 weeks 2 pot system kit with reservoir Used in homes and commercial growing Expandable system with 1-2 pot trays Larger reservoirs available Priced from $70 More info: www.autopot-usa.com

autopot

You can build your own SIP planters. Check out these great plans that could cost as little as $6 to complete here: http://www. seattleoil.com/Flyers/Earthbox.pdf. Practice some savvy repurposing or recycling, and you might do it for less. If you’re new to growing food, the DIY directions YOU CAN on that web page BUY SIP explains what you PLANTERS OR need once you’ve BUILD YOUR got your planter OWN built. There are also winterization tips if gardening solely outdoors, but you can grow indoors and outdoors with one unit - depending on the season. A note about building your own. Look for plastic tubs that are safe, like recyclable symbol 5 on the bottom, which identifies food grade polypropylene construction.

WHICH IS BETTER?

quadgrow slim

Factory produced systems are probably much more durable and they are the closest thing to a plug and play SIP garden possible. If you’re not real handy and can afford them, buying a ready made gardening system might be your key to success. 3

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All images courtesy of EZCLONE, INC (http://www.ezclone.com/)

“Pamper your cuttings”

Embrace the Awesome

Power of Air If you’ve got the need for speed let go of your dirt and water! Aeroponics, cultivating plants in an air or mist environment without a growing medium. Aeroponics often uses misting nozzles to create a humid environment that roots thrive in.

Cuttings are ideal for aeroponic systems because the roots grow much faster than in growing medium and they are less prone to diseases because the roots are in air instead of lying in growing substrates that provide a habitat for pathogens. Cuttings rooted in aeroponics are ideal for transplanting into hydroponic and soil based growing systems. Often, many growers use aeroponic rooting machines like the EZ-CLONE aeroponic cloning machine or they may create their own system from a plastic storage bin and spare plumbing parts from their local hydroponic retailer.

“Cuttings are ideal for aeroponic systems because the roots grow much faster...”

Here are the some simple steps to use a rooting machine to turn your fresh cuttings into a rooting extravaganza!

STEP 1. Fill ‘er up! Fill your machine with room temperature water. You might be inclined to throw some nutrients into the water at this stage, but your cuttings will not uptake the nutrients because they lack roots. As you begin to notice roots, you can gradually add nutrients to feed your cuttings. It’s recommended to use non organic mineral based nutrients over organic nutrients because the plant can immediately absorb the nutrients. There are numerous nutrient mixes on the market designed for rooting cuttings. Look for nutrient products with phosphorus to encourage the growth of your roots. Try to get you’re your EC between 0.4 and 0.6.

STEP 2. Environment Controls Pamper your cuttings with an ideal temperature of around 75 degrees Fahrenheit and try to keep the highest temperature to below 84ºF to reduce stress. The nutrient solution should stay between 79-84ºF. Keep an eye on the submerged pumps, air vents, and placement on appliances, or strong sunlight that could vary the temperature of the nutrient solution.

BY BEN GREENE

CUTTINGS I GARDEN CULTURE

“Use non organic mineral based nutrients”

: “If you’ve got the need for speed let go of your dirt and water!”

STEP 5. Go Forth and Grow! STEP 3. Light it up! Cuttings require much less light than they will need during later stages of their life. Avoid intense light and direct sunlight as it distracts the plants from rooting. Window sills are fine, but growers prefer the control of 55 watt T5 fluorescent lights placed 12-14 inches above the cuttings. The lights should stay on for 18-24 hours a day for maximum growth.

STEP 4. Place your cuttings into the aeroponic machine Many aeroponic machines use neoprene foam inserts. Ensure that your foam inserts are clean and free from debris to prevent disease. You should insert the cuttings into the slit in the foam, allowing 2” of the stem to dangle into the misting chamber. Only bare stems should be placed in the misting chamber.

Expect the leaves on your cutting to wilt slightly for a few hours while they are becoming adjusted to their new environment. If the cuttings continue to wilt, mist the leaves with water. If it looks like you may lose a couple of cuttings after the first 24 hours, go ahead and create a replacement for those. You should begin to see white roots forming on the cuttings by day 3. At this stage you can begin to add your nutrient solution. Keep an eye on the machine and ensure that your nozzles don’t clog, this is very important, because extended periods of dry air will lead to a quick death for your cuttings! On day 7, you should notice a proliferation of roots forming. This is just the beginning! Give your cutting 4 more days to develop its root system and mature into its own plant. Root hair formation is a sure sign that your cuttings are ready to transplant. If you’re not in a hurry to plant, your plants can survive for weeks in the aeroponic machine. Go forth and grow! 3

gardenculture.net

SOIL-TACOS I GARDEN CULTURE

BY: TAMMY CLAYTON, PHOTOS:GABY BRONSTEIN

HOW TO MAKE SOIL TACOS FOR GROWING MICRO GREENS 1

Use 46” of good 2-ply paper toweling. Cheap brands or recycled towels don’t work. Try Bounty or Brawny..

Fold other half of the toweling over to cover your growth media in the tray.

Sprinkle a handful of seed over the wet surface. Mist the seed. Cover with an empty tray.

Lay one end of toweling in tray. Spray the towel in the bottom of the tray with water to hold in place.

Tuck the paper towel in between media and tray on the end and both sides.

Mist with plain water 3 times a day. Constant moisture and you’ll have this 2 days later.

Add your micro green growing mix. Spread and smooth it out. Only half fill the tray’s depth.

Wet down the top of your soil taco with water from your sprayer.

Remove the tray on day 3. The yellowish sprouts will quickly green up under lights.

Give the micro greens a treatment of Earth Tonic Concentrated Ocean Water now and once a week until harvest. Water the trays daily. Here’s Gaby Bronstein’s micro greens potting mix recipe: 80% peat moss, 20% perlite. Add a little oyster shell to improve pH, a little Earth Recharge from Progressive Earth, and a tiny bit of worm castings. Mix well and moisten before filling micro green growing trays. 3

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BY GABY BRONSTEIN

Bringing the Farm into the Kitchen… Growing Micro Greens Indoors at John Ash and Co.

Thanks to chefs like Alice Waters and John Ash in California, the “Farm to Table” movement has seen exponential growth in restaurants across the country in recent years. The philosophy of farm to table is simple one, based on restaurants using locally grown, seasonal ingredients on their menus. In most cases, this establishes a relationship between the restaurant and the farm. Often times, the restaurant may actually be on the same property as the farm. This blended model not only allows the chef to give input on what’s grown, but it also allows for harvesting the fruits and vegetables at peak ripeness and plated within minutes harvest. Foods delivered to your plate with this method not only have peak flavor, they also have maximum nutritional value.

FARM TO TABLE I GARDEN CULTURE

“very few, if any restaurants grow their own micro greens”

Germinating Russian red kale

I find it interesting even with the rapid growth of the Farm To Table movement, very few, if any restaurants grow their own micro greens on-site. The restaurants I spoke to buy their micro greens from local farms or farmers markets, and refrigerate them for a few days before using them. I realized this presented a unique opportunity to help restaurants to not only increase freshness and nutritional value, but to also lower food costs simultaneously. Much of the cost of micro greens is the packaging, delivery and marketing, and nothing is more nutritious pound for pound as garden fresh micro greens.

Gaby Bronstein and Sous-chef Devin Kellogg (left)

“the Farm to Table movement has seen exponential growth”

Following a good friend’s suggestion, I contacted some restaurants to see if they would be interested in me helping them grow micro greens on-site. I did a quick internet search where I live for “Top Restaurants Santa Rosa California.“ The number one response was “John Ash & Co. ” PERFECT!!! Not only is John Ash and Co. one of Sonoma County’s top restaurants, but the namesake, John Ash, is both the “The Father of Wine Country Cuisine,“ and one of the pioneers of the Farm to Table movement. I emailed the Executive Chef, Thomas Schmidt, with the proposal of helping them grow micro greens indoors on-site. I

asked if I could deliver a sample so he could see what we could produce there. To my joy and amazement a response to my email arrived immediately, because the chef was interested! I made arrangements to deliver samples and to speak with Chef Schmidt later on that week. Arriving at the restaurant for our meeting, I could see he was pleasantly surprised that I brought flats of LIVE micro greens. The samples included Arugula , Red Russian Kale, Daikon and Red Rambo Radishes, Broccoli, Opal Basil , Snap Peas, 3 types of Mustards, as well as a Spicy and Mild Mix. The vibrancy and flavor of my micro green samples impressed Chef Schmidt, but he was a little concerned about how much space would be needed to grow enough micro greens to supply the restaurant. I explained that if we used Growlab Horticultural’s Clonelab Tall (with some shelves added) from that we could grow 20 flats in an area of 2’W x 4’L x6’H. The micro greens take 5 - 14 days to grow, and we would have no less than 10 flats a week ready for harvest. We located an unused

gardenculture.net

FARM TO TABLE I GARDEN CULTURE

Aragula in Soil-Taco

Red-Rambo radish seedling

space behind a door in the staff break room … PERFECT! This was an empty space just a few steps away from the kitchen. Less than one week later, the micro green garden was up and running. To ensure the restaurant’s success, we started seeds at my indoor garden shop, The Garden Spout. I prepared the soil using a new technique I saw being used in a micro green forum I follow. This technique involves making what I call “Soil Tacos.“ We cut out a long sheet of paper towels. We place the beginning of the towel in the flat, we then add soil and finally we wrap the paper towels back over the soil and tuck it in. This Soil Taco method serves 2 main functions. Firstly, many micro green seeds are quite small, and when planting such fine seed they can fall into the cracks of the soil, burying them too deep for good germination rates. Secondly, and this is even more important and useful, is how clean the paper towel method is. Most micro greens can simply be plucked out of the paper towel with the roots attached, and harvested free of soil, making cleaning as simple as a quick rinse.

Etoliation

The last thing I do before delivering these starts is to thoroughly water them with Earth Tonic, an ocean water concentrate with added biodynamic preparations. Besides the small amounts of compost in the soil mix, the Earth Tonic is the only plant food used. Ocean water has all the elements on earth in their most natural form. When used properly these solutions help grow even more nutrient dense crops, which translate into stronger flavors as well. From this point on, the restaurant staff only needs to make sure the micro greens do not dry out. We set up a simple system that allows them to water all the flats in less than 5 minutes. Making this process easy helps ensure that it is not forgotten.

“growing micro greens couldn’t be easier!”

The seeds are sown directly on the paper towel, and are then covered with a sheet of white plastic. This gives the seeds the darkness they need, and protects them from drying out since they are on the surface. Without this plastic sheet, the seeds dry out very quickly unless they are misted multiple times a day. The planted flats are then placed on a heating pad, and left to do their thing with nothing more than a daily misting for 3 days needed. Now it’s time for finishing off the crop. All the seeds have germinated and started growing in that short span of time. Removing the plastic, you find many seedlings are yellow colored due to the lack of exposure to light. This green pigment deficiency is called “etiolation.“ Within a few hours of exposure to light the micro green seedlings green up nicely.

Within 2 days from this point, the Chef can harvest the micro greens as needed. To serve patrons the most vibrant greens, while at the same time ensuring little to no waste, harvesting will take place as often as 3 - 4 times in a service. In the following weeks I will be training the culinary gardener at John Ash how to prepare the soil mix for the Soil Tacos, and the planting procedures so they can become fully self-sufficient… but growing micro greens couldn’t be easier! Anyone can grow them. I would even go as far to say it’s the easiest crop of all, and offers the highest possible nutritional value. So get a Micro Green Garden growing for Macro results. 3

gardenculture.net

SECRET

T O B E T T E R TA S T I N G V E G E TA B L E S “These (cooking) methods preserve nutrients, provide great flavor, a nice crunch and does not cook it to baby food hell. ” Attention all home growers! Did you know there are ways to make your vegetables taste better than they already do? What if I was to tell you this way only involves some rapidly boiled water, a couple of bowls, a strainer and about the same amount of time it will take you to read this article? It sounds crazy, I know, but bear with me for your own benefit.

What if I told you these methods would preserve nutrients, provide great flavor, a nice crunch and won’t involve any genetic “enhancements?” Oh what is this wondrous witchcraft I’m spouting, you may ask? It’s called blanching and steaming. It may sound familiar. It may sound like it’s a myth. But it is real. So what is the difference between blanching and steaming? How can I do this myself without a trained chef? Well that’s where I come in. Blanching is a process of flash cooking and cooling. You take a pot of rapidly boiling water and add a bit of salt. Put your fresh veggies in (cutting off stems and cleaning beforehand). Cook for around two to no more than five minutes (depending on the veggie toughness factor; broccoli takes longer than green beans, etc.), and then immediately transfer to an ice water bath for about thirty seconds. That’s it! So why should you do this few minutes of labor? I recently visited a small, family owned dining establishment in Lancaster, CA. While I was there I spoke to head chef and manager of Barones on the Blvd, Thomas Powers. According to chef Powers, blanching is reserved for vegetables with a cell structure that will break down when overcooked. Veggies like broccoli, cauliflower and squashes he says. When you overcook these types of veggies, they turn to mush in a pale shade of what was. But, chef Powers says, if you blanch, you preserve the crunchy bite, the lush color and best of all, the nutrients. Blanching does quick cook the fresh veggie, but does not cook it to baby food hell. But wait! Don’t leave your love seat just yet. All this talk about blanching may have made you jump up and go on a food adventure. Yet we haven’t even touched the other way to make crunchy, nutrient rich veggies, steaming.

BY BRIAN BURK

TASTY VEGETABLES I GARDEN CULTURE

Instead of asking a professional chef for steaming advice, I went to my local resident expert and parent, Lucy Burk. My mother has been cooking veggies and local foods for years. She has worked in various restaurants as well as feeding my well for eighteen years of my life. I don’t know a better cook. When I asked her about what steaming is, she stated, “Steaming is a method of using high heat (to boil water) to steam the vegetables without making them wilt.” Just like blanching, this method preserves flavor and nutrients. This method is quicker, because you don’t need the ice bath step. But, you may lose some color. Any vegetable can be preserved this way. All you need to do is get a boiling pot of water on your stove. Add a bit of salt for flavor. Once the water is boiling, put your veggies in a good strainer and place it on the top of the pot. The veggies should be ABOVE the water, not soaked in it. Vegetables that are more dense may take about four or five minutes to steam. Veggies that are less dense could take around two or three minutes to cook. Again, like blanching, this method preserves flavor and texture. Now there are some differences between blanching and steaming. Blanching can preserve the color more than steaming will, but you may lose some nutrients since the vegetables are being fully immersed in the boiling water. Steaming may cause some loss of color, but will keep more of the nutritional benefit. Serving time wise, blanching is better if you’re planning on serving a bit later in the day or the next day. Steaming, on the other hand, may be better if you’re planning on serving your fresh vegetables right after the steaming process. When you look at it side by side, you can’t go wrong either way. Blanching or steaming will get you great results as long as you don’t cook the vegetables too long. Too much cooking, with either method, will result in mushy lumps of lost nutrition that you couldn’t pick up with a fork. Also, make sure you clean and cut off all the non-edibles BEFORE you do either method. So you have your home garden, try something new. When you have that party, or friends come over for some dinner, or maybe you’re making some food for yourself and you want some great healthy flavor, try one of these methods. Go ahead. Get up and do it. 3

STEAMING IS A METHOD OF USING HIGH HEAT... THE VEGGIES GO ABOVE THE WATER

“TOO MUCH COOKING WILL RESULT IN MUSHY LUMPS OF LOST NUTRITION”

gardenculture.net

BY ERIC COULOMBE

KORN I GARDEN CULTURE

Korncorn? g n i w o r still g

Right now the band’s garden is growing kale, basil, and other yummy veggies. Unfortunately, the corn

crop didn’t really work out. Like so many indoor gardeners Korn had to learn their gardening lessons the hard way. They killed every plant in their first grow. Instead of throwing in the towel, total failure seemed to increase their resolve to make it work. The original plan proved to be a little over ambitious, we needed to simplify. Once again, my buddy Nick and I were off to Bakersfield to build a garden for Korn. We completely tore down everything and started again from scratch. We built a beautiful 12’ x 4’ 5 channel NFT garden. Lit on one side by an OG reflector running a 1000W ‘blue’ bulb, and the other end has an Inda-Gro Induction Light with “pontoons.” Korn was touring when we were there so they didn’t get to see the garden then, but when they got back they were quick to call. They are loving the new design and can’t wait to see it full of life. Just reading Korn’s 2013 touring schedule will make you tired. They just released their 11th studio album, The Paradigm Shift, and have been all over the world promoting it. We were there working on the first garden when they were recording it. At one point during the build Ray Luzzier came down and gave me the drumsticks he used to record that day. I took a picture of him and my kid’s stuffed animal. Now they are back, and will be spending a lot more time in the studio, and in their garden. I am very pleased to say that the Hydro Nerds will be maintaining the garden, which pretty much guarantees its success. Stay tuned as this garden is about to take off. 3

gardenculture.net

“BIOSOLID” IS A MISLEADING PUBLIC RELATIONS TERM”

BIOSOLIDS (A.K.A. SEWAGE SLUDGE)

90 90

“A PROBLEM BY-PRODUCT OF SEWAGE TREATMENT...”

BY GRUBBYCUP

BIO-SOLIDS I GARDEN CULTURE

“CLASS B BIOSOLIDS MAY BE APPLIED TO FOOD CROPS OR GRAZING LAND” Gardeners and health conscious consumers may be shocked to learn that the organic sounding ingredient “biosolids” found in some potting and compost mixes is actually municipal sewage sludge. “Biosolid” is a misleading public relations term for semitreated municipal sewage sludge. The sludge is sometimes sold or given to consumers and farms for use as a free or low-cost fertilizer. It is also used in some low grade potting and compost mixes. While biosolids do contain about 4% nitrogen, and several micronutrients, they also contain elevated levels of harmful bacteria, heavy metals, medical waste, and other hazardous materials. An estimated 3-5 million dry tons of biosolids fertilizer is in use annually on farms, in landscapes, and by unwitting homeowners.

and 1% domestic waste can still be considered “biosolids” after treatment since it contains some domestic wastewater product.

The details of treatment vary, but they generally start with using a bar screen to remove large objects such as shopping carts that could damage the processing equipment. The waste is then allowed to settle. The portion that sinks to the bottom is the sewage sludge, and the portion that floats is known as scum. The water between the two layers is “CONTAIN ELEVATED then removed, filtered and treated, LEVELS OF HARMFUL Biosolids are a problem by-product and released into rivers or oceans. BACTERIA, HEAVY of sewage treatment. Since the ban The scum from the top is someMETALS, MEDICAL WASTE, AND OTHER on ocean dumping went into effect, times collected and reintroduced to HAZARDOUS waste management companies have the collected sewage sludge from the MATERIALS.” increased efforts to sneak more and bottom. Most studies on sewage treatmore of the toxic substance into the conment effectiveness have centered around sumer food chain. Waste products enter the the removed wastewater effluent layer, and sewage system through toilets, sewers, industrial not the leftover sewage sludge. and medical drains, and then collected at sewage facilities. Untreated sewage contains everything dumped into the Treatment to convert the sewage sludge into “Class A sewer, not only human waste products, but anything else biosolids” can be accomplished by aerobic composting, anthat gets poured down a drain. Considered to be a dangererobic composting, heat drying, or pasteurization. These ous biohazard, untreated sewage generally contains human methods reduce the amount of active live pathogens prespathogens, and at least some form of medical waste. It can ent in the material. Class B biosolids have less stringent realso be a chemical hazard depending on the amount of drain quirements, and use restrictions. It can only be applied to cleaners, solvents, heavy metals, radioactive materials, or areas where public access is “limited”, such as commercial other potentially toxic chemicals present. food crop production. Some studies suggest that at least some of the inactive pathogens in the sludge may reactivate The EPA defines sewage sludge as a solid, semi-solid, or liqwhen exposed to wet conditions (such as watering of plants uid residue generated from processing domestic sewage in treated with sludge). a treatment works. “Sewage sludge includes scum or solids removed in primary, secondary, or advanced wastewater Biosolids may be spread on agricultural fields, which they treatment processes and any material derived from sewage consider as “surface disposal sites”. Cattle and other anisludge” (The Standards for the Use or Disposal of Sewage mals meant for human consumption are allowed to graze Sludge– Part 503 - US Environmental Protection Agency). It on surface disposal sites as long as there is documentation also mentions that material containing 99% industrial waste that steps are taken to “ensure protection of public health

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NEW for 2014 See what you’ve mist.

Instant Humidity Pest Control Fogging Drip-Free Foliar Feeding Fungicides/Mildecides Improved Propagation

APPLICATIONS INCLUDE FOGPONICS When traditional hydroponic/aeroponic methods are combined with a gentle fog, upper air roots receive the benefits of unlimited oxygen, stable humidity and your choice of stimulants and/or supplements. The results will amaze

PROPAGATION Whether you’re starting from seeds or cuttings, once the initial roots emerge from your starting medium, growth explodes. The accompanying photo shows a habanero pepper seedling just 47 hours after sprouting from a seed.

FOLIAR FEEDING Foliar treatments are literally inhaled by leaves since the Nutramist Cyclone fog is so fine. Leaves are never left soaking wet which helps prevent dreaded mildew and mold outbreaks.

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BIO-SOLIDS I GARDEN CULTURE

“99% INDUSTRIAL WASTE AND 1% DOMESTIC WASTE CAN STILL BE CONSIDERED “BIOSOLIDS”” and the environment from any reasonably anticipated adverse effects of certain pollutants that can be present in biosolids.”(also from The Standards for the Use or Disposal of Sewage Sludge– Part 503 - US Environmental Protection Agency). Class B biosolids may be applied to food crops or grazing land as long as the edible portions do not touch the surface of the soil, and harvest is at least 30 days after the last application. If the edible portions come in contact with the soil, the last application must have been over 14 months before harvest. Grazing animals cannot be allowed back on the pasture for the first 30 days after application. People without protective suits are also restricted from the site for 30 days on a farm, or 1 year for public access (although these restrictions are lower for the actual food produced in such fields).

to treated liquid wastewater effluent.” (Household Chemicals and Drugs Found in Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment Plants - United States Geological Survey). Another study found elevated levels of these types of chemicals found in earthworms taken from areas of repeated biosolid use. (Environmental Science and Technology – Colorado State University of Pueblo, USGS)

“EQ” biosolids show lower (but measurable) levels of heavy metals and pathogens, and are exempt from these restrictions. These biosolids can be sold or given away in bulk, mixed with soil amendments and sold to consumers, or bagged for direct consumer use.

We don’t have to spread sewage sludge on our food crops and home gardens; alternative uses include using it as a fuel source for bioreactors, or used to help restore landscapes already damaged from mining and landfills.

Although the information on long-term effects of the use of biosolids is inconclusive at this time, a USGS study of long-term intensive land disposal of treated sewage in Cape Cod has shown the damage caused to a nearby aquifer will take at least decades to return to pre-contamination conditions. (Toxic Substances Hydrology Program United States Geological Survey).

“USED AS A FREE OR LOW-COST FERTILIZER”

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) purchased nine off the shelf samples of biosolids available to consumers for study. They tested the samples for 87 different pollutant chemicals selected for their ability to pass through current treatments essentially intact. Out of the 87 chemicals tested, 55 were present in at least one of the samples. Every sample had 25 chemicals in common, with one sample having measurable levels of 45. Some of the organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs) they all had in common include an antimicrobial disinfectant, an antihistamine, an antiepileptic drug, and steroids. These contaminants were found to comprise up to 1,800 ppm of the biosolids tested. The study concluded that “the results indicate that biosolids have high concentrations of these emerging contaminants compared

The intentional misrepresentation of the product to the consumer is a cause for concern. Amendment products that contain biosolids may or may not be labeled clearly as such, and the meaning of the organic sounding word “biosolid” is not commonly understood by the public. Foods grown under conditions where they are exposed to biosolids, even under direct contact, are not required to bear any indication to allow the consumer to make an informed choice in making purchasing selections. When in doubt as to whether a product contains biosolids, contact the manufacturer. If they do not use sewage sludge in their products, they will likely be quick to say so. If they do use biosolids, be prepared for an obtuse or confusing answer as they try to cover up the reality of their ingredients. 3

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Looking at Air (Climate Techniques) When all of the beverage from a drinking cup has been imbibed, it is considered to be “empty”, and admittedly that definition tends to work as far as drinking needs go in gardening. It is sometimes helpful to remember that it is not empty at all, but

“PLANTS GROWN IN STILL AIR TEND TO HAVE MORE PROBLEMS”

rather full to the brim with air.

In a natural setting such as a meadow; an ocean of air washes over and though the plant life. Waves of air push away excess humidity and oxygen, and they carry carbon dioxide in. When a plant is removed from its native habitat, the natural sources of light, rain, and wind are lost, and the gardener becomes responsible for meeting the environmental needs of the plant. Indoor gardeners take their plants away from the wind, and fans or other environmental measures are used to replace it. Plants grown in still air tend to have more problems with molds, insects, and disease. Moving air from fans helps to keep moisture from collecting and encouraging mold spore growth. Fans can also help remove excess heat, to help defend against heat loving spider mites. Indoor gardens tend to have more trouble with heat than cold. This makes sense if you consider you are adding energy into a closed room in the form of electricity, which converts into light and heat by the lighting fixtures. The plants absorb and use some of that energy, but the rest can cause heat buildup if the amount of heat generated by the equipment is higher than the amount of heat removed from the room.

Hot air is just high energy air, and by removing it close to the heat source, you can pull the energy out of the garden before it transfers much of its heat to the surrounding air. To lower the garden temperature to growing temperatures it is more efficient to vent off the hottest air than it is to try to dilute it with cold air. Since lights are likely your largest source of waste heat in the garden, they are one of the biggest climate concerns. Whenever possible, keep the ballast outside of the garden proper. As part of their functioning, ballasts generate a fair amount of waste heat, and any heat you can avoid putting into the garden is heat you don’t have to worry about dealing with. Tents in particular should have the ballasts located outside of the garden environment. Using sealed and vented hoods are a way to remove the waste heat from bulbs quickly and efficiently. A fan and ducting brings cooler outside air to the hood, then across the bulb, where it captures heat, before being sent out of the garden. Ideally this creates a closed path for outside air to pass through the garden and return without mixing with the

BY GRUBBYCUP

CLIMATE TECHNIQUES I GARDEN CULTURE

“THE “EMPTY” SPACE AROUND US ISN’T ALL THAT EMPTY. ATMOSPHERIC GASES LIKE OXYGEN, CARBON DIOXIDE, AND WATER VAPOR ARE ALL TRANSPARENT TO OUR EYES”

air in the garden room itself. The total amount of air moved is small, and concentrated around the heat source, so you’ve dealt with much of the heat before it spreads. When designing ducting layouts, keep in mind that wide turns are better than sharp turns, and that unwanted hot air rises. If a passive air vent is required to replace vented air (depending on how airtight the garden is), the incoming air needs to be taken from cooler air from the outside of the garden and located opposite to the exhaust vent. To calculate how many cubic feet per minute of ventilation you need, start with calculating the size of the garden in cubic feet. You do this by multiplying the height, length, and width of the room. A 8’x10’x10’ room would make for 800 cubic feet of garden space. A single 800 cfm fan would move the room’s area air mass every minute, and a 400 cfm fan would do the same every two minutes. Two 400 cfm fans would again clear the air once a minute, and so on. Read the listed cfm on the box, but keep in mind that fans are usually rated while under a very low load, so any ducting can reduce cfm dramatically. Since the lights are usually the largest source of waste heat in the garden, when you’ve dealt with that, then controlling the temperatures in the rest of the garden usually becomes a lot simpler. If hot air is collecting in a particular area of the room, try to vent it off. Although more expensive initially, using solar-powered fans to give an extra boost during the hottest part of the day without adding to the electric bill. If the garden still needs more cooling, bring in cooler outside air or air-conditioned cold air. One of the reasons that the temperature around the lights is so important, is that the cooler the lights are, the closer you can get them to the plants. Since light is broadcast across an area; a plant at 1’ away from the light source receives 4 times

as much light energy than one at 2’. Ideally, you want the tops of the plants in the “sweet spot” where they are close enough to the light to grow well, without being so close to the light that the heat damages them. Fortunately, with a couple reasonably priced meters, it is easy to find exactly how far away the “sweet spot” for plant growth is. The two devices you need are a light meter ($20-$100) and a quick acting digital indoor thermometer ($10-S20). Put the temperature sensor next to the light sensor, and hold them below the light. Ideal temperatures are between 7085ºF so raise and lower the sensors until you find the place where it reads 80ºF, and check to make sure the light levels are at least 25,000 lux (in general, more is better). That is as close to the light as the tops of your plants should get. Then lower the meter until the light level drops to 20,000 lux or so, that is about the bottom of the “sweet spot” where unblocked light is still strong enough that it’s useful. By using this pair of meters, it becomes very clear that having the light cool enough placed reasonably close to the tops of the plants that has a strong benefit in the amount of light available to the plants. Bright sunlight is about 100,000 lux and free, which is why even partial natural lighting can often be cost-effective. Aside from transporting excess heat out of the garden, air circulation is also important for evaporation and available carbon dioxide (CO2). Evaporation in a garden is important to remove stray droplets of moisture that may collect. This moisture, if left unchecked, can encourage unwanted mold and bacterial growth. Mold does not grow as well in low humidity, so one of the first steps to treat a mold issue in an indoor garden is to increase air circulation (although you must do so with care and not to spread the pathogen in the process). Excessive evaporation however, indicates low humidity, which can attract dreaded pests. Too low of a humidity level can

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CLIMATE TECHNIQUES I GARDEN CULTURE

“WAVES OF AIR PUSH AWAY EXCESS HUMIDITY AND OXYGEN, AND THEY CARRY CARBON DIOXIDE IN” lead to spider mites and too high leads to molds. If the garden is kept between these two extremes, things tend to go a lot smoother. If a problem with one or the other arises, change the environment to disfavor the pathogen. Mist spider-mites regularly, and let areas of mold outbreaks dry out a bit more than usual. Photosynthesis in plants requires light and heat energy, water and carbon dioxide (CO2). Chlorophyll collects light in leaves. Plants use part of this energy to split water molecules into free oxygen gas (O2), and hydrogen (H). The hydrogen is then bonded with carbon dioxide (CO2) to form the sugars the plant can use to grow. If light and water are already present in sufficient quantities, then you can increase the heat slightly as carbon dioxide levels will raise. Without air movement this process can result in the plants sitting in a cloud of oxygen and not receiving enough carbon dioxide. CO2 is naturally occurring in fresh air, but it is also sometimes added to the garden environment artificially. In the garden, CO2 is usually generated by chemical reaction, combustion,

biological reaction, or slowly released from pressurized tanks. My preference is for the gardener, who is as much a part of the system as anything else, to spend time in the garden, and contribute their breath to the system. If you think that your garden isn’t getting enough CO2, consider bringing a friend in and do some heavy breathing together. Human beings are fairly large animals, and generate quite a bit of carbon dioxide when exercising, just make sure there is enough fresh air to be healthy for the humans involved. The “empty” space around us isn’t all that empty. Atmospheric gases like oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor are all transparent to our eyes, and therefore easy to forget, but these gases in the proper amounts are important for proper plant health and growth. We live in an ocean of air, complete with currents, flow, and volume. By giving plants the fresh air and airflow they need, not only will the plants be happier, but it can help keep molds and moisture loving fungus gnats at bay. 3

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