Wasatch Community Gardens

Coolest Broccoli Tip Ever

danthefisherman2 — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:31:26 +0000

Many home gardeners either just don’t grow broccoli, struggle to get as much as they hoped for, or it isn’t really all that good to eat in the summer heat. I can help. The coolest trick I have ever learned I picked up from Organic Gardening Magazine decades ago. Like the other brassicas: cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, collards, etc., broccoli loves water and fertility. The faster you grow these plants the bigger they can get, the milder their edible parts, and the fewer pests they will attract. But, even if you are failing you can still save your plants to get all the heads you need from broccoli plants that only produced small, off-flavor heads the first time around. After harvesting the main, central head do NOT continue to harvest the side shoots as they grow larger like everyone else does! Instead, carefully cut most of them off at the same time you harvest the main shoot. Start at the top of the plant and work downward, leaving only one or two of the very smallest shoots at the very bottom of the plant. You can still eat the shoots (and leaves) that you have cut off, even though they might not be as large and ripe as you would like. Regardless, those few shoots that you have left at the bottom will grow up to produce large heads, especially if you water and feed the plant well. Just keep following this proceedure every time you harvest central heads from those new shoots. Be careful to use a sharp knife and cut away from the plant. I pass the blade down the main stem and twist the knife outward to cut off the shoots. Sure it takes a little time and focus, but as the season progresses they will multiply to far outproduce the traditional approach, and continue to grow right into winter when they will taste their best. My “pruned” broccolis often end up growing to more than three feet tall before the hard frosts ultimately kill them. By then my wife, Karen, and I have put enough in the freezer to last until we get a new crop in late spring (unless we grow some through the winter with protection). Try this tip and you will be hooked!

City Sprouts Summer Camp

wasatchgardens — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:16:58 +0000

Two weeks ago, we started our newest program: City Sprouts Summer Camp. We’ve never had a summer camp program before, but we’re sure glad we started. It’s been a huge success! Kids, ages 4-10, join us at our Grateful Tomato Garden for week long adventures. During the week, the kids spend their time in the garden investigating a variety of plants and animals, eating delicious garden fresh food creations, making garden inspired art, and meeting amazing new friends. During the first week of classes, the kids had a great time exploring the garden and getting their hands dirty. Below are a ton of super cute pictures of the kids in action. There are still spots available for the other week long camps! Don’t miss this great opportunity! Visit our website for more information or to register your child for an amazing summer adventure.

Photos take by Judith Zimmerman

Check out more photos of City Sprouts Summer Camp or read the recent article from the Deseret News !

Mad City Chickens at Chicken Week 2011!

sugarhousemama — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 17:15:16 +0000

I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been hearing – and reading – about Mad City Chickens for years now. Finally, Wasatch Community Gardens’ 2011 Chicken Week is hosting the state debut of this epic chicken film.

That’s right. Epic. Chicken. Film. If those three words don’t send chicken-pimples down your arm I don’t know what would.

Want to find out why people are chicken-crazy? Wonder what exactly a chicken has to offer besides thighs and omelets? Have you recently been pondering how to go about getting your city’s ordinances to welcome the feathery beasts?

Mad City Chickens is for you.

Do you love your chicks? Can you hardly remember what life was like before the zany creatures graced your backyard? Want to share an evening with fellow bird-brain enthusiasts?

Mad City Chickens is for you.

And just in case you need an extra nudge…. here’s a teaser. But only because I love you. And only because tickets are on sale now and I’ve been asked to hawk them mercilessly.

Personally, I think you should pick ‘em up ASAP. We only have one showing and with the success of this film and Chicken Week in general, I can hear the stampede already. It sounds a little bit like the moment I pick up my shovel and my Six Chicks recognize that freshly dug dirt equals fat juicy worms. Yeah. A little bit like that.

For information on more WCG’s 6th Annual Tour de Coops and other 2011 Chicken Week events, visit Wasatch Community Gardens.

Plant Sale

belchingwalrus — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:21:43 +0000

I love the yearly plant sale put on by Wasatch Community Gardens. Even though we don’t have a lot of space in our container garden we still end up coming home with a dozen plants. The nice thing about that is we can use some of those plants as mother’s day gifts and still benefit from them. I love the heirloom varieties of tomatoes. This year we picked up a Black from Tula, and a Ukrainian Purple, which we will probably keep for our little garden. We may pass on the Green Zebra, the Japanese Black, and the Kellog’s Breakfast Orange. However I really like the Kellog’s, so we may have to keep that one instead.
What are your favorites?

Spring is Greener with Greens

danthefisherman2 — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 03:35:45 +0000

My wife and I ate spring greens again tonight for dinner. We’ve had greens every night this week. No they are not from our garden. They’re weeds!

It is truly surprising just how many weeds we pull and throw away that are perfectly great to eat. Everyone hears about eating dandelions. I think there are much better eating ones than that. My favorite pot greens through time are lambs quarters, but they won’t be ready for a long time. Right now the best ones are stinging nettle, storksbill, sorel, and dock – all common roadside weeds. Wait too long and they mature to inedible. Such it is with most greens.

One of my favorite weeds right now is a tree! The Siberian(=Chinese) elm is the weediest tree in Utah. Those pesky little seed pods called samaras that later blow everywhere in the neighborhoods to sprout little weed trees that are later difficult to pull are great food. They are easily stripped from the branches of any female tree while they are still green, and can be eaten in almost ANY way! Raw in a salad, in a bowl of oatmeal mush, lined in lasagna, added to soups, anything that you can think of. They are non-offensive and very nutricious.

Everyone knows about wild asparagus, but it is not only difficult to find, but the competition between pickers and damaging “old wives tales” about how to harvest it have destroyed much of what used to exist. I’d have to personally shoot someone before telling them where and how I harvest it. But there are vast quantities of other edibles all around us that are just as good to eat, just as healthy for us, and no one else is fighting to get to it first.

Signup for my Wasatch Community Gardens greens workshop from 10 am till noon on April 30th at the Tomato Garden, OR signup for my community education class at West High on Monday nights starting on the 25th. In the class we will be eating wild stuff every week, doing a class end pot luck, and an informal field trip. Cattails, plantain, mountain berries, morels, burdock roots – everything is game! Maybe even some road kill and dumpster diving (just kidding, … or not?)

After all this rain we’re doing prickly lettuce for dinner tomorrow night. Boiling only three minutes though!! Everyone has milkweeds growing in their gardens. And how about that purslane and pigweed later in the year? Its all good with me.

The Bright Promise of Spring…Daffodils!!

wasatchgardens — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:57:36 +0000

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Aspen Orton

As I was letting my dogs outside this weekend I noticed two things. One, I had forgotten my shoes; and two, next to my cold bare feet were a few little green shoots sneaking up in the dirt. Oh my joy was boundless! What were these sweet little soldiers I asked? After a quick Google search and some help from my grandmother I learned that these early bloomers (pun intended) were daffodils.

Daffodils are one of the most varied flowers on our planet, especially in America. Depending on which botanist you talk to there are between 40 and 200 different daffodil species, subspecies or varieties of species and over 25,000 hybrids! Daffodils come in all shapes and sizes; from 5-inch blooms on 2-foot stems to half-inch flowers on 2-inch stems; from sunshine yellow to delicate light purple, daffodils have a little something for everyone.

Where climate is moderate, kind of like Utah, daffodils flourish among the first of the early spring buds. Daffodils are constantly recurring flowers, or perennials, meaning the bulbs rebuild underneath the soil during the cold season for the next year. As daffodils are fighters, under good growing conditions they can live for years, maybe even outlasting yourself. Many spring bulbs tend to die out, but daffodils increase and multiply over the years, making them a reliable boost to the spirits when the chill just doesn’t want to leave yet.

The flowering season for daffodils is six weeks to six months, depending on where you live; for our purposes, here in Utah bulbs happen to last between 3 and 4 months. Daffodils often grow in large clusters, covering flower beds and even entire forest floors in seas of yellow. It is no small wonder that daffodils are known for symbolizing friendship, the sight of one of their cheerful faces or even the early splendor of their shoots can bring a smile to anyone’s face.

Here are some steps to growing and maintaining daffodils:

Choose a fairly dry, sunny place, with slightly acidic soil.

Plant your daffodils so that the pointed end of the bulb is at least two times as deep as the bulb is high.

Daffodils need lots of water while they are growing.
After blooming, don’t cut the foliage until they begin to turn yellow which is usually late May or June, then you can dig them up.
Wash the bulbs thoroughly and let them dry completely.
Store the bulbs in as cool a place as you can find, preferably a place with good air flow.
Enjoy their beauty year after year!

Little Indoor Garden

wasatchgardens — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:39:48 +0000

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Aspen Orton

For many people, living through the winter months with a smile on their face can be a trial, if not nearly impossible. Not being able to traipse around outside with the grass between your toes and fragrant dirt under your fingernails can drop endorphin levels like the temperature in January. One way to beat back the winter blues is to start your own garden in your kitchen; yes, that’s right, your very own garden in the center of your home.

Not every plant flourishes in the winter, inside or out. Herbs, by nature, are naturally resilient and can thrive just about anywhere, including the kitchen. Herbs are also very low maintenance and can turn even the blandest meal or soup into a family sensation. A few winter herbs that don’t seem to mind the snow outside and the heater at full blast inside are rosemary, mint, sage, and thyme.

A simple, even elementary, way of growing sweet herbs in your kitchen is to grow them in the plastic trays you buy some of your produce in, like strawberries and raspberries. When the produce has run out, don’t throw the trays away, but rinse and keep the trays to grow your herbs in. When the trays have been rinsed and dried, line them with a few layers of dampened paper towels and sprinkle the seeds onto the paper towels in the trays. Now, the trick to getting the gentle herbs to flourish is to give them the right amount of light that they need; or in other words to trick them into thinking that the world is still warm outside. The plants need to grow new leaves that have adjusted to the lower levels of light in a house, and these new leaves can be the difference between beautiful green life and dried up death, so make sure to take the time to acclimate them.

The best way to get the plants used to poor light is to store the trays in a cool dark place. Jill Ettinger from Organic Authority says that keeping the herbs in a paper grocery bag in a dark cool place can be very beneficial and help the plants to germinate, and when they are about an inch tall, move them in celebration toward the windowsill. Now the best thing for the plants is southern light exposure. I have heard from many reputable sources that a yin and yang balance of light and shade are needed to keep the seedlings moist, otherwise excessive sun will dry them out.

After a few weeks when the plants are several inches tall you can trim (trim being the key word, you don’t want to cut them down to the quick) the fresh herbs and use them at your pleasure to spice and enlighten all your many delicious winter meals. Don’t let the winter blues keep you from enhancing your green thumb, but let the winter months be a “warm-up” for spring fever by growing your own delicious green herbs in your kitchen window.

Sources:

Jill Ettinger-Guide to 5 Indoor Winter Gardening Sensations-Organic Authority.com

Gail Kavanagh-Growing and Storing Herbs in Winter-Do It Yourself.com

Picture-Mountain Valley Growers.com