Garden Challenge

in the summer of 2009, we had a great little container garden on our back porch, as well as a plot in the community garden next door. i also discovered the site “public fruit trees”, and spent many hours scouting out trees with a basket and fruit picker. then there was the “free farmer’s market” down in the mission, which kept us supplied with produce for a pregnant mama and hungry unemployed papa. sunday afternoons became a celebration as we brought back our greens and bread and giggled over our “free lunch”.

this summer, of 2010, i dream of upping it a few notches. and thus, we came up with our Garden Challenge:

our goal for this july, august, and september is to source ALL our produce from either our garden, the free farmer’s market and public and/or wild food sources. and it all needs to happen for pennies, as we are a very, very low-income family.

we will need to find, for free, exchange or a few pennies:

• more containers for the back porch garden. we could really use a large, deep rectangular wooden box container for tomatoes, as well as 1/2 wine barrels to extend the garden out onto the sidewalk in front of the house.
• potting soil
• starts. do you have a few seedlings or cuttings to spare?

and that’s really it, at least for now! the list may grow as the season goes on. however, we already have a vermicomposter for fertilizer and a source of compost. of course, extra would be great! (and probably necessary if this really takes off.)

we are not only doing this to save money. money is actually the least of my motivators. so…why then? because:

• we simply just want to see if we can. i really want to test the mettle of the urban homesteading idea.
• if we can do this, anyone can. and i hope anyone will. food prices are skyrocketing, as are the costs of industrial agriculture to our stressed earth. i dream of seeing all households with large victory gardens in their yards and on the sidewalks.
• the idea is inspiring to us, and i hope it is to others, as well as educational for my neighbors and all the many children who live in my hood.

our final goal is to give back with:

• donations to the free farmer’s market twice a month. even if all we can do is show up with home-made bread and jam from the plum tree out back.
• a celebratory dinner with friends and contributers and neighbors, in september to celebrate the equinox.

can you help us? do you have a donation, or would you like to get involved? are you a neighbor? leave us a message here, or contact me at rebirthmidwife@gmail.com

February 17th Update:

i had a great initial response from folks. thank you especially to jan, shane and america, who have all offered up help in the form of starts, seeds, containers and info. at the moment i feel a little stymied, because i need dirt. there’s a part of this that feels ridiculous to me. that i want to garden and am held up by lack of soil. welcome to the life of an urban homesteader.

see, i don’t really want to buy it. last year i spent the little bit of disposable income i had on bagged soil from OSH. aside from large pots for tomatoes, it was my biggest expense! i have even less money than last year, and let me tell you, it’s not a long way to the bottom.

america gave me a great tip about sunset scavenger recycling here in the city. composting in the city of san francisco is now mandatory. the compost that the city creates is sold to commercial entities in the form of “jepson prairie organics”. surprisingly however, they don’t sell retail. there might be a way around this…if anyone has info, please pass it on? this was my least expensive option, since they sell a cubic yard for less than $20. now i’m looking into driving up to petaluma to the dump there, where i can definitely buy some earth as an individual. if i add in the cost of gas to get there, is it worth it?

March 8th Update:

we hit pay dirt!

i shot an email to tree, who organizes the free farmer’s market in sf (see link at right), with a hunch that he might have tips for getting free/cheap soil. not only did he write me back right away, but he also offered up four great big bags of used potting soil that they were keeping at their permaculture farm. we picked it up last friday, and tree happened to be there so we got a chance to chat. tree is a real sweetheart, and all the work he does is a true labor of love. if you haven’t checked out the free farmstand website blog, you’re in for a treat. last summer, the free farmer’s market was sometimes the difference between a week of good meals, and a week of toast. tree gives away all the food he grows in his various garden patches…so much so that he rarely gets to eat any himself. thank you for the soil tree…we will make good use of it, and hopefully have goodies to give back to the farmstand.

on sunday morning, we hoofed it (har har) over to the mar vista stables off of skyline blvd., and shoveled ourselves some poop! well, jeff shoveled while i took care of fern who was terrorized by the wind. we fed some horses, pitied the shetland ponies and scratched the ears of the horses for “rent” (you can pay to ride a horse along the beach). the place felt a little like a sad glorified zoo, but we’re grateful for the manure, and even the most bored of the saddled fellas still perked up at a good neck scratch.

now my back porch is filled with black plastic garbage bags of soil and shit. i’m a bit mystified as to how to mix it all together, without doing it a tiny bit at a time everytime i want to plant something. maybe i could put a tarp down and dump out all the bags, adding compost at the same time, rake it all together and then re-bag it? any suggestions?

today i mixed a small amount with some organic veggie fertilizer, planted the first of our seeds and watered them with “worm juice”. the seeds are leftovers from last year, and a bit of a motley crue. but right now we’ve got many little pots of green onion, swiss chard, cucumber, parsley, basil and white bishop’s lace flowers, sitting on a small table in the sunroom.

fern watched me do the planting, and tonight we included the starts in our goodnight ritual.

April 13th UPDATE:

the sugar pod peas and radishes are in their permanent containers, the garlic from last fall is thriving in the plot next door, and the seedlings are all doing well. the newest additions include (hopefully) many seedlings of several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, and some heirloom shell beans too. they are in a little mini greenhouse that the ever lovely america gave me.

not the best picture, but you get the idea. this is about 1/2 of the seedlings, plus the greenhouse.

last summer i planted foxgloves (my favorite) in a terracotta pot, thinking that with our long growing season, perhaps i could get a late fall bloom. alas, they did not flower, but to my surprise they survived the winter and sprung up again a month or so ago. i have been waiting to see if they would start to shoot up, but i knew it was a long shot, given that they were crammed in a planter far too small. i love our plot in the community garden, but it is such a snail haven that i am quite leary of planting anything i want to actually see survive. i’ve had luck with larger starts, and sunflowers, but seedlings disappear overnight. so i am thinking i will use the plot for medicinal herbs and flowers. i took the foxgloves down this morning and popped them out of the planter. i knew they would be rootbound, but get a load of this!

that’s not the planter. those are roots!

so packed in were they, that you can see an exact mould of the manufacturers stamp in the bottom. lordy!

sorry guys!

there is a big mother foxglove in a plot nearby, so she and i had a chat and she is more than happy to watch over the babies and help them adjust. i really had to hack the roots apart to separate them out, plus it’s a good idea to saw off the bottom of a severely bound plant to help it re-root. but i am afraid they will feel traumatized for a few days. how wonderful it will be if they make it, and i have strong visions of a fairy garden this august.

so in terms of what we need, i am really lacking in PLANTERS. mostly BIG ones. like big rectangular wooden boxes and 1/2 wine barrels. there’s no way we can buy them, and we haven’t seen any come up on free cycles. jeff potentially could make planters out of lumber if anyone has some sitting around. i have little pots that will do for some things, but if my tomato extravaganza is going to be successful, they need some elbow room!

also, i will have more to say in upcoming weeks about another garden in the mission that i am looking to become a steward of. “the esperanza sustainability center” is a full lot garden in the mission district, that gets lots of light and is extremely warm. the current directors are thinking tomatoes! eggplant! melons! peppers! plus there are old bathtubs with lettuce and greens, an herb spiral, newly planted fruit trees, a cob oven, a lounge area under a dome and a tortoise that roams around and adds prehistoric charm. i’m very very excited to become involved. most of the produce will go to the free farm stand, with perhaps a little left over for the workers.

grow your own food folks! it’s the way to go!!

Earth Day UPDATE:

our garden is coming along nicely, and last week i transplanted quite a few more seedlings. now keeping the peas and radishes company are swiss chard, carrots, red russian kale and broccoli.

be vewy caweful. i’m pwanting cawwots.

a rare glimpse of yours truly. a not so rare sneer at having my photo taken unawares.

something is making holes in my radishes, and i suspect earwigs, or maybe even sow bugs. but more probably earwigs. and i can’t help but think “OH COME ON.” they have a whole garden next door to destroy. leave my poor little container veggies alone.

i’m starting to feel a bit concerned about planters. i need large ones that are 18″ deep. we also need soil. jeff and i sat down yesterday and looked at what we could potentially spend on soil, and it ain’t much. we certainly can’t afford planters. if anyone has tips on unused planters that are just sittin’ around, it would be much appreciated. we comb free cycle, but with so many folks getting into gardening, planters seem to be in short supply.

in other news, the shell beans that i planted are doing a fairy tale number on us, going from non-existant on friday before we went out of town, to 3 inches high when we came back on monday! fee fi fo fum!!

OH HAPPY DAY!! april 30 update

the first harvest! the first radish!!!! how wonderous is this day, is this life! GLORY!!

May 13th Update

we’ve had several great boons to our garden challenge recently. the first occured after i returned home from a may pole dance. i had jumped over the (little) fire (with babe in arms!) with the intention that the flames burn away whatever is hindering my success in all endeavors. when i got home, jeff was heading out the door in a rush;

“there was just a listing on freecycle in vista valley for 17 cubic feet of potting soil left over from someone’s raised beds!” he said breathlessly, and scurried down the stairs.

he was back 1/2 hour later with the dreamiest dirt, and lots of it!

the lack of soil and planters was definitely becoming an issue for our garden. the next day, we were all out in the neighborhood, and passed a large, heavy wooden bureau that was missing it’s back and shelves. turn that puppy on it’s side, and it made the PERFECT planter for 6 tomato plants! deep and wide and ooo la la.

then, as a mother’s day present, jeff’s mom sent me a financial gift that enable us to buy even more soil, planters and seeds. (thank you again and again kathy!)

it’s funny sometimes, how just a little bit of intention will go such a long way. here’s some photo documentation of the last few weeks.

after the first big planting

ehn! ehn! must. hold. on.

cuz i eat me spinach

first harvest of spinach and chard. lunch!

just in this corner...rose bush, cosmos, salvia, heirloom zinnias, cucumber, basil, chives (seeds), butterfly guara (seeds) and marjoram (also still seeds)

in this spot: beets, chard, spinach, shell beans, marjoram, 2 types kale, 4 types onion, and sweet peas

you can see the large tomato planter in the middle

cawwots

this is where you will find us at breakfast this summer

motherwort about to bloom. i will probably plant this in the garden next door soon as it's getting too big for it's britches.

anticipation

down stairs in the page street garden, we also have tons of garlic, along with: clary sage, red clover, foxgloves, chard, kale, quinoa (just planted seeds) and broom corn (also just in seeds). in the house, i have several more cucumber starts that i think will go to the free farmer’s market and i just planted 10 sunflower seeds as starts, to give us joy come autumn.

July Update:

the garden is in full swing, and some of the plants (chard, spinach) i have already let go to seed. because this was an experiment, and one that i could not financially control, i have already realized what i would do differently next time.

since i expected to obtain much more soil and pots than i actually did, i had a large variety of seedlings that i planted. however, with the limits we had, what i ended up growing was more a hobby garden, not so much a “feed my family” garden. lots of variety, not much quantity. if i had to do it all over again, i would just plant one or two things…like lettuce and kale. but it’s still a great garden! the toms are going gangbusters, zinnias are starting to pop, the cosmos is off the hook and i’ve even had some volunteer red poppies from the compost that i used.

they have tripled in size since i took this pic

sea shell cosmos

the other hard truth about this experiment...plants just really don't like containers. these broccoli produced enough florets for a bite sized snack...broccoli in the ground is 3 times bigger. but thank you plants, thank you.