Community Kitchen Garden: First Harvest!

Community Kitchen Garden: First Harvest!

by Janine Butler, garden volunteer

The volunteers and staff continue to work hard in the vegetable garden; weeding, mulching, feeding, watering and what not, and finally we are starting to reap the rewards!

Last week the first harvest was picked and delivered to Central Virginia Foodbank/ FeedMore, the recipients of all the food we’re growing here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. A bounty of 182 pounds of yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant and cucumbers were hand delivered by Karen Clowers, Horticulture Department Coordinator at Lewis Ginter.

A fridge full of goodies

This week we continued to harvest, and should have at least double the amount we delievered last week. Some of the zucchini got huge in just less than one week!

Super zucchini!

We may have to harvest more frequently; we would prefer the zucchini to be a little smaller than these whoppers as they will taste and cook better.

Included in the first delivery was a whole bunch of cucumbers (what’s the collective term for lots of cucumbers? How about a ‘cool of cucumbers’… ) We didn’t grow the cucumbers onsite at Lewis Ginter. Instead another regular garden volunteer donated them. We love this! In fact, anyone who is growing vegetables at home and has a bumper crop can donate their extra veggies. Drop them off at the visitor center here at Lewis Ginter and we will take them to the foodbank along with our contributions. We would prefer donations to be dropped off on Saturday or Monday mornings, 9am-12pm, as we will be making deliveries to the foodbank later in the afternoon. Scheduled bulk deliveries help the chefs’ plan out meals and use the vegetables more efficiently. However, if it is more convenient you can take your donations directly to the foodbank on any day and the chefs will utilize them in the salad or vegetable dish of the day.

More pictures:

Volunteers harvest squash

Volunteers put in stakes to help support tomatoes

Peppers almost ready for harvest

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Community Kitchen Garden: United We Serve

Community Kitchen Garden: United We Serve

By Janine Butler, garden volunteer

We are getting close to our first harvest! According to Tom Brinda, Assistant Executive Director of Horticulture here at Lewis Ginter, the first of the summer squash are almost ready! They are quite small, but apparently they taste better when they are smaller. In some circles serving baby squash with the flowers still intact is even quite trendy. Not only is the Central Virginia Foodbank reaping the benefits of this harvest, they can now call themselves gourmet!

This week we also gave most of the plants a healthy dose of liquid feed to help them along a bit, so hopefully we shall see a growth spurt in the next few days! And for those readers following the mystery eggplant bug story, the bugs have gone. We eliminated most of them last week, and they haven’t reappeared. Yeah!

We had about 8 new volunteers who came and worked in the Community Kitchen Garden this week. The majority of the group work for the Department of Social Services here in Richmond and got involved through the Hands on Greater Richmond program. Kimberly Brown, who works for the Dept of Social Services in the Office of Volunteering and Community Service, even brought her two young nephews. She told me that this opportunity combined her personal interest of gardening with serving her community and was excited to volunteer. As a bonus, her nephews also really enjoyed themselves and she hopes to be able to bring them back for more fun in the garden! We also had a representative from the Governor’s Office, Andrea Gaines. It’s exciting to see that local government is getting involved and encouraging it’s workforce to volunteer.

It’s all part of a bigger program called United We Serve. Recently the White House announced a new initiative asking people everywhere to volunteer to serve in their own communities during the summer. It’s a worthwhile effort, and everyone benefits. Personally, I am thoroughly enjoying this volunteer opportunity at Lewis Ginter. I feel active and involved at the same time as learning something new, and would recommend everyone to look for something that they can get involved with, either through one of the established volunteer programs or by pursuing a personal interest.

Thanks to all the new volunteers, and another big thanks to all the regular volunteers!

 

 

 

 

 

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Community Kitchen Garden: Tomato Suckers and More!

Community Kitchen Garden: Tomato Suckers and More!

By Janine Butler, garden volunteer

Do you know what I love about this volunteer gig? Every time I go to the garden I learn something new – this week was all about tomatoes (and yes, I say tom-ah-toe, not tom-ate-er).

Tom Brinda, Assistant Executive Director of Horticulture at Lewis Ginter asked the volunteers to ‘sucker’ some of the tomato plants, which means removing all the smaller shoots (or suckers) from the plant and leaving just the main stem. The sucker grows in the axis between the stem and a branch. It was scary at first removing all the suckers as it felt like we were ravaging the plants that had worked so hard to grow.  But under the watchful eye of Jody, a master gardener and Lewis Ginter volunteer, we all got the hang of it fairly quickly.  Removing the suckers will allow the plant to direct all its energy into the main stem; this will produce less fruit, however the fruit should be much bigger in size. The plants that don’t get suckered will produce more fruit overall, but the size of the fruit will be smaller. This hopefully allows us to get the best of both worlds – quantity and quality!

The first photo is a ‘before’ shot of a tomato plant, and the second is after we have thinned it out:

Tomato Before thinning

 

Tomato after thinning

 We had about ten volunteers this week, which was great, and we managed to get quite a lot done in a short amount of time. As well as the ‘tomato suckering’, we also did some weeding and of course, we put down some more mulch! Regular readers of this blog will know that we have shoveled tons of mulch! We move a pile of it, and then the following week there is another pile that has been delivered, ready to be moved again!

 

We also planted more zucchini seeds, in the same manner that we planted the squash seeds last month – by making rows of small hills of compost, cover with soil, then roll over the black plastic barrier, cut X holes in the plastic and put in about 4-6 seeds. These seeds should germinate in about 10-15 days.  We are also starting to see some veggies growing – an eggplant, green pepper and tomatoes. There’s not too many of them right now, but hopefully soon we will have enough to harvest and then we can take it down to the Central Virgina Foodbank where it will be put to good use.

The beginnings of an eggplant!

Last week I also mentioned the mystery bug that is attacking some of the eggplants. One reader helpfully suggested that it might be a flea beetle, but I’m not sure (although I am definitely no expert). I managed to get a photo so hopefully someone out there can confirm what it is!

Mystery bugs

I would like to thank all the volunteers this week for their hard work, and again invite anyone to come by and help out. We work in the garden on Saturday and Monday 9am-12pm; it’s great fun and we would love to see you!

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Community Kitchen Garden: Weeds and Bugs – Two Guaranteed Occurrences in Gardening!

by Janine Butler, garden volunteer

In last week’s blog, I commented on how well all the plants had been growing over the last couple of weeks.  Well guess what else has been growing?  Yep, WEEDS!  I spent a good hour or so on Saturday using a cool tool called a scuffle hoe – you move it back and forth as if you were sweeping the floor, except instead of collecting dirt it wacks the top of the weeds off!  It works pretty well for the broadleaf weeds, but we also have some pesky wiry, grassy weed, which is a bit harder to get rid of.  We might have to find something else for those guys.

Also this week, we continued to put down lots and lots of mulch.  I am hoping that if we lay it down thick enough then we can squash the weeds!  I have to admit I am getting pretty good at mulching; it must be all the practice I am getting!  And something else I learned this week – mulch needs nitrogen to break it down, and tomatoes need nitrogen to grow.  Some of the mulch we have is a little ‘green’ and new, so we had to make sure that it doesn’t get too close to the plants, especially tomatoes.  You don’t really want the plants to work so hard to get the nitrogen from the soil so you should make sure that the mulch is about 12 inches from the plants.  In an ideal world you would have older mulch, but we need so much mulch that we have to take what we can get.

Tom Brinda, Assistant Executive Director, at Lewis Ginter updated me on some of the other things that they have been doing.  Basil seeds had been planted, and they were starting to sprout.  Soon we will have to thin them out a bit to make room and help them grow bigger.  The staff have also been feeding all the plants, because just like you and me they also need good food to help them grow!  Apparently you should feed every couple of weeks; we will do that in two ways 1) by using liquid food to “water” the plants, and 2) by side-feeding, where the plant food is sprinkled on the ground a few inches away from the plants to encourage good root growth.

We also had some mystery guests this week and they seem pretty fond of the eggplants and peppers.  We are still working to find out what these insects are.  These bugs are quite round in shape, and a brownish color.  I will try to take a photo of them the next time I am out there – if anyone has any ideas what they could be then let us know!  We had a new volunteer this week, a teenager and  Tom put him on bug removal duty.  I will stick to mulching thank you very much!

After bug duty the teenage finished planting zucchini seeds. I was really impressed by his enthusiasm — it’s great to see teenagers taking an interest in planting and growing stuff.

I have also been impressed lately by tales from my friends and neighbors who are growing their own veggies.  My neighbor Susan has already got a spicy green chili pepper (just one, but more should be on the way) and a couple of peas.  My friend’s husband Dan has a fantastic garden going on in his backyard – I am trying to rope him into volunteering here!

I hope that you too are all having success in your own gardens! And if you’d like to join the fun, remember we are here working on the Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter every Monday and Saturday from 9 am to noon, so stop by and give us some help, if you have a green thumb.

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Community Kitchen Garden: Look What’s Growing!

Community Kitchen Garden:  Look What’s Growing! by Janine Butler, garden volunteer What a difference a couple of weeks can make!  Look at these pictures that were taken this morning:

Look how the squash seeds have grown!

The squash seeds that we planted a couple of weeks ago are doing great.  I can’t believe that they could grow so big in such a short time!  The seed package did say that germination would occur in 10 -15 days, but as I have never grown squash before I didn’t quite believe it.  Well, seeing is believing! The rest of the plants are also doing very well.  It is so exciting!  Everything is growing!

Cabbages planted by children from New Directions Daycare

I am especially pleased with the cabbages – if you remember back to the Planting Day Celebration, the children from New Directions Daycare played an important part in planting those rows of cabbages.  It’s great to see that they have taken root so well and I hope the kids get a chance to come back and see how the plants are growing – I’m sure they would get a big kick from knowing that what they planted is actually thriving.

Rows and rows of tomatoes!

Lots more plants and seeds have been also been planted in the last week by the volunteers and staff at Lewis Ginter and, in fact, the majority of the site has been planted.  However, the sheer scale of the garden is a huge task.  This is where you can play a part: Lewis Ginter needs you!  We are calling out to anyone who would like to volunteer to work in the veggie garden.  Work will be taking place on Saturday and Monday mornings, 9:00am – 12:00pm, and anyone and everyone is welcome to come and play in the dirt!  Come once, or come all the time!  No experience is needed however the work may be hard at times, involving shoveling mulch and digging, but believe it or not it is lots of fun!  You can contact the volunteer department for more information, or just show up onsite on Saturday and/or Monday at 9am.  If you have a pair of gloves, sunscreen, and a full water bottle then you may wish to bring those along. If you can’t volunteer, we would still love for you to come and visit the garden at anytime.  Southern States has kindly donated packets of seeds to be given out to visitors, including watermelon, radish, pumpkin, cucumber and lettuce.  Yummy, sounds like the makings of some great salads to me! I hope that you are all having much success in your own gardens at home!

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Community Kitchen Garden: Planting Day Success!

By Janine Butler, garden volunteer

Today was awesome!   About a hundred people participated in the celebration planting day this morning, including a group of 20  4- and 5-year-old students from New Directions Daycare.

It was great fun watching the children get in the dirt and plant cabbages, bell peppers, eggplant and tomatoes.  It comes so natural to children – they have no fear or anxiety over whether they are doing it in just the right way, its all about getting it done.   They worked with folks from the Virginia Master Gardener Program and volunteers who did a great job explaining to the children what they were planting and why.  I overheard one master gardener asking a group of children gathered in front of several tomato plants if they ate spaghetti, and did they put ketchup on their burgers?  When the kids all said yes, she explained that spaghetti sauce and ketchup were made from tomatoes – and the look on the kids’ faces was amazing when they started to make the connection between the plants in front of them, and the sauce that goes on their spaghetti!   They couldn’t wait to get those plants into the ground!

The kids get down in the dirt!

New Directions Daycare partners with FeedMore.  It was great for them to come out and give a helping hand with the planting so that the students had a chance to learn about growing food locally and giving back to the community.

In the opening presentation Fay Lohr, President/CEO of FeedMore (the umbrella organization for Central Virginia Foodbank and Meals on Wheels of Central Virginia) commented on some startling statistics;   FeedMore has distributed over 10.6 million pounds of food and grocery items in the last nine months.  The programs that they offer make sure that those in need, including children, the elderly and the homebound, will continue to receive healthy food when  they need it most.

A few more facts from FeedMore:

– more than 723,000 people have received food through the foodbank since July 2008; more than 33% of them were children

– of the 36 localities they serve, 25 localities have childhood poverty levels above the state average

– the number of meals they prepare and deliver per day has risen from 3,000 last summer to 3,800 anticipated this summer; a 27% increase.

The staff and volunteers at Lewis Ginter are thrilled to be working on this vegetable garden, and the chance to help fight hunger in our community.  For me, volunteering on this project is such a great opportunity – I get to do some gardening which I enjoy, I get to learn lots of new stuff about growing vegetables which I have never really done before, but best of all I get to contribute to my local community.   If you would like to volunteer at Lewis Ginter then I encourage you to sign up!

Today we planted about 15 rows of plants, with each row having about 10-15 plants.  We had two rows of cabbage seedlings, 5 rows of assorted bell peppers, 1 row of eggplant, and lots of rows of tomatoes.  Most of the plants take 70-80 days to mature, but one variety of tomatoes – Early Girl Hybrid – matures in about 50 days.  Just a month and a half before we can reap some rewards!  Additional plants and seeds will be planted in the next few days, and throughout the season.

Cabbages in front row, bell peppers behind

Attendees at the planting day celebration were each given a free packet of seeds.  Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is encouraging people to plant an extra row in their gardens at home and donate the produce to FeedMore.  I got a packet of squash seeds.  I’m not sure that I have space in a sunny spot in my garden at home, but I know one of my neighbors’ does!

If you told yourself that this year you would plant a garden, but haven’t got around to it yet, then I challenge you to go out and do it this weekend! It’s not too late!

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Community Kitchen Garden: Are you a Locavore?

by Janine Butler, garden volunteer

　In November 2007 the Oxford University Press announced locavore as the Word of the Year.  No, until recently I had never heard of it either.  But now it seems that I keep hearing, and reading, the word ‘locavore’ more and more often.

What is a locavore?  One definition from Dictionary.com: a person who attempt to eat only foods grown locally.  Example: Locavores grow their own food or buy foodstuffs grown within their region.
　
It’s funny though how growing and eating your own vegetables is now popular, even ‘trendy’ enough to have a new term coined.  I remember my Granddad, and many other people of his generation, having an ‘allotment’– a plot of land where he grew his own food. It wasn’t anything special, or out of the ordinary.  It’s just what people did.  He might even have thought the word locavore a bit silly.

But I don’t think that it’s silly.  I think it is great.  I’m not saying that we should abandon big box stores, far from it, but I do think that placing more emphasis and thought on where the food we eat comes from is a good thing.  Buying from and supporting local businesses is also important and a worthwhile cause.
My cousin in England (Hi Selina!) told me about a small town near Leeds, England, called Todmordon where the whole community has taken the locavore movement to the next level.  The town has developed the Incredible Edible Todmorden plan and aims to be self sufficient in vegetables by 2018.  Public flowerbeds have been reclaimed, and turned into vegetable patches and herb gardens.  Local schools are planting fruit trees instead of ornamental trees.  Wasteland near a railway station now has growing beds for all kinds of vegetables. It must have taken a colossal amount of effort to get this plan going, especially convincing the local government to get involved!  I think what they are trying to accomplish is amazing and truly inspiring.

I’m not sure that this is a plan that could happen easily in Richmond.  But we can all participate in smaller ways.  The Community Kitchen garden at Lewis Ginter is one way we can give back to the community.  As I mentioned last week, the Planting Day Celebration is scheduled for Thursday May 14, 9:30am – 10:30am.  Prep work still needs to be completed, but unfortunately the rain is not cooperating right now!  This Saturday a small team of staff and volunteers were supposed to be out there in the garden, mainly spreading mulch and cleaning up the site ready for the Planting Day Celebration.  However, the constant rain that we have had this week has made the ground far too soggy to work in, and so the work has been postponed until next Saturday.  Planning and preparation are essential for a good garden, but Mother Nature seems to be the deciding factor! 

In the meantime, look around your community – perhaps there is a patch of unused land that you can give a veggie makeover?

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Community Kitchen Garden: Planting Day is May 14th!

by Janine Butler, garden volunteer

Planting day has been scheduled!  If you’d like to come witness the planting of the Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter,  mark your calendars for Thursday,  May 14 from 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.  It promises to be a fun event, with local schoolchildren stopping by to help plant as well as staff and volunteers from Lewis Ginter and FeedMore.

I’ve been anxious to start planting —  when I first found out about this project I wanted to get my hands dirty in the soil the very next day!  That probably would have ended up a disaster because as all successful, and not so successful gardeners know, a good garden requires lots of planning and lots of patience.

Tom Brinda, assistant executive director for horticulture and education at Lewis Ginter, wrote a great article that was featured in last Sunday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch where he gives out some really good advice on how to get started with your own vegetable garden. One of the most important pieces of advice is to till and amend the soil, and this was carried out this week here at Lewis Ginter. Pete Rose Inc supplied us with 30 dump truck loads of compost at half price, and delivered it for free.  Good job guys!

One truck load down, 29 more to go!

If you are planting your own garden at home, make sure you don’t skip this step – good veggies grow from good soil!

The fifth of an acre that has been prepared will produce the bulk of the 10,000 pounds of vegetables that we are striving for.  However, another aspect of this project is education and so there will be two other smaller beds that will be used for demonstrations and teaching purposes.  These will be staged as residential-sized, intensive gardens that will show how to maximize planting in a smaller space.  The demonstration gardens located near the Conservatory will be a bit more accessible than the main planting area, and visitors to Lewis Ginter will be able to stop by and see what’s growing.  I will make sure to keep you updated on the demonstration garden and related activities and events.

I can’t wait to start planting.  Are you as anxious as I am to see things growing and producing?  I want to start reaping the rewards NOW and get that food into the hands, and mouths, of those that need it most!  But gardening and growing reminds us that usually the best results come from solid planning and preparation.  So if you are planting a garden at home then take the time to pick the right site, dig the beds, add the compost, and select good plants – I am sure that it will pay off in the long run!

Enjoy the rain that is forecasted this week – it’s good for the plants!

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Community Kitchen Garden: Plans for Planting

by Janine Butler,  garden volunteer

I went to a local store at the weekend with my neighbor, Susan, who was buying a few plants for her own home vegetable garden.  She bought a cool looking yellow tomato, a pepper, and a cucumber, and she already has some squash at home that she started from seeds a few weeks ago.  She plants a garden every year, and this small number of plants is enough to enhance their meals throughout summer, yet still be easy enough to maintain.

But how many plants do you think you would need to fill a fifth of an acre, and generate 10,000 pounds of produce?

How about:

• Broccoli – 800 x 4″ plants
• Sweet potato – 70 cuttings
• Summer squash – 800 x 4″ plants or seeds
• Zucchini – 800 x 4″ plants or seeds
• Cabbage – 500 x 4″ plants
• Basil – 300 x seeds or plants
• Egyptian onions – 300 sets
• Tomatoes – 400 x 4″ or 6″ plants
• Sweet peppers, green – 400 x 4″ plants
• Sunflowers – 200 seeds
• Buckwheat -10,000 seeds 

 

Wow! That’s a lot of plants and seeds!

I got this list of plants from Tom Brinda, Assistant Executive Director of Horticulture and Eduction at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, who told me that a number of factors were used to determine what ended up on this list. First, the needs and desires of FeedMore (the recipients of all this produce)  were considered to make sure that we grow food they can actually use.  Rhubarb might make a nice pie, but large quantities could be a challenge for the chefs at the FeedMore Community Kitchen to incorporate into daily menu planning!

Second, Virginia Cooperative Extension   offered advice and suggested preferred plants for the region to ensure better growth success.  Lastly, some plants were picked for more practical purposes – tall sunflowers will complement the work of scarecrows and hopefully shoo away unwanted birds!  Many of these plants have been purchased using monetary donations, and Wetsel, Inc., a wholesale garden supplier, has kindly donated some of the seeds, and we are thankful for everyone’s generosity.

Also this week I was privileged to visit with Kristin VanStory, Director of Communications at FeedMore, the parent organization that covers Central Virginia Foodbank, Community Kitchens and Meals on Wheels.  She led me on a wonderful tour of the Community Kitchens and the distribution center.  I was amazed to see the quantities of food that goes through the Foodbank process, yet saddened that so many people require its services in order to survive and to feed themselves and their families.  The kitchen staff and volunteers do a great job of getting food out to those in need.  I am so glad I got to see the kitchen where they produce all the meals; it really helped me understand just how badly they need food donations and how beneficial the fresh local produce grown at Lewis Ginter will be to the FeedMore programs.

You may not have a fifth of an acre at home in which to grow veggies, but if you do decide to plant a garden this year like my neighbor Susan, think about planting an extra row or two, and donate the extra bounty to a local community kitchen near you. They would be more than grateful!  In fact, come along to the Spring Plant Sale next week, April 30- May 2, for some inspiration and maybe purchase a plant or two to start your own garden!

Have a great week in the garden!

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Community Kitchen Garden: Breaking Ground

by Janine Butler, Garden volunteer

You may have already heard some of the buzz about an exciting new project here at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden — the plan is to plant a Community Kitchen Garden and grow 10,000 pounds of fresh produce this growing season, with all the produce from this garden being donated to Central Virginia Foodbank (and its parent organization FeedMore) to help fight the battle against hunger.

As a new volunteer at Lewis Ginter I will get to witness this project from start to finish over the next few months and will be updating this blog with all the news: what’s sprouting, what’s growing, even reporting on things that should have grown but maybe didn’t.   It’s going to be a great learning experience for me, and hopefully for the community following along with this blog.  Although I like to garden at home I have never planted a veggie garden before, except for the one cherry tomato plant I tried to grow several years ago which didn’t turn out too good – I think I got a whopping 3 whole tomatoes!  Luckily for me and the veggies this project will be run by knowledgeable experts, both Lewis Ginter staff and volunteers.

Work has already begun to prepare the site, and last Monday Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Executive Director Frank Robinson and Feedmore President/CEO Fay Lohr were onsite to break ground, along with William Darr, of CT Purcell, Inc.,  who in the true spirit of community involvement kindly volunteered the time and heavy equipment to dig up one fifth of an acre that will be used to grow the veggies.

Feedmore President/CEO Fay Lohr (left) and Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Executive Director Frank Robinson help break ground on the Community Kitchen Garden

There’s still more prep work needed to be done though before we can plant. The area being used has not been planted with anything in many years, and so after the ground has been dug up it will require about eighteen inches of organic matter to be tilled in so that the soil will be nice and rich and grow lovely big vegetables. And if anyone is willing to donate enough organic matter to cover a fifth of an acre, then that would be fantastic! After that, the backhoe comes back and levels off the soil in a process called ‘toothing’. This will all be completed in the next few weeks as planting is scheduled for the beginning of May. I am eager to get my hands in the soil and start planting.

Lewis Ginter has pledged 10,000 pounds of food contribution to the foodbank. It’s a worthy goal, and one that I am confident we can reach. I hope you will join me on this adventure and that perhaps it inspires you to plant your own veggie patch or get involved with a community garden in your area. In fact if you are interested in getting involved with this or any other project at Lewis Ginter, they are always looking for volunteers!  I am quickly learning that volunteers are such an integral part of  the Garden; walk around the gardens at any time and you will probably run across a few volunteers, and if not then you will definitely see some of the results of their labor.

I hope to do my part too. I am looking forward to the upcoming months. I would also love to hear your comments about the Community Kitchen Garden. Or tell me about other projects that you know of or are involved with.

Happy Gardening!

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