Garden notes/ Compost on Saturday/ Taylor's party/ Fermentation Workshops

Hi all!

The summer plot checks are done and many emails went out with either "notes" or "warnings." I have a lot of other notes I'd like to share with individual gardeners, but time is running out. I will be stopping by the gardens in a month to recheck those that received a warning. Please get in touch if you have questions and please, please, please love your plants by giving them enough water. Many beds look really dry and rather empty. Planting enough in the plot to cover the soil really helps keep it from drying out so much. Also, I recommend mixing the soil a bit when you water to ensure it's getting in- once it gets dry/crusty/compacted the water just doesn't get into the zone where your plant roots are.

We had a great turnout at the volunteer and garden resource day last Saturday. So great that for the first time we ran out of compost! We also moved 8 cyd of soil into our new raised flower beds- here they are in progress. We can't wait for the flowers to bloom!

 

If you need some compost, there is a giveaway from SF Rec and Parks this Saturday, along with many other great programs. RSVP for workshops at communitygardens@sfgov.org These are available to any SF gardener:

Our next garden resource day at the Ft. Scott Community Garden has been changed to the FIRST Saturday of the month- August 4 from 10am-1pm. And, excitingly, Emily will be giving a workshop about making shrubs (refreshing beverages, not woody perennials) during the day- one at 10am and one at noon (same content). Please RSVP if you'd like to attend! I've updated the Google calendar with dates of events for most of the rest of the year. Check it out and make notes in your calendar to come see us in the garden!

RSVP for 8/4, 10am shrub workshop

RSVP for 8/4, noon shrub workshop

Friday July 27 from 4pm- til we get cold we'll be celebrating the end of Taylor's internship. We are so sad to see her go, but she's well prepared for her next adventure. She has a great new job as a school garden educator not too far away. Join us for drinks and snacks (feel free to bring something to share!) and general merriment at the Ft. Scott Community Garden.

Intern corner: Emily Lovell on preserving food:

Every year in the United States about 40% of food is wasted along the farm to fork to landfill chain. The issue of food waste in the U.S. is becoming more extreme, increasing an alarming 50% per capita since 1974. Collectively, consumers are responsible for more wasted food than farmers, grocery stores or any other part of the food supply chain. The average person living in the United States wastes between 200 and 250 pounds of edible food a year!  Why should we care? Because this means that every year food waste is costing 25% of our fresh water, 300 million barrels of oil, $40 billion just from household waste leading to 33 million tons of landfill waste.

Sadly, I’ve noticed that even in our community gardens a lot produce grown is going to waste. Although composting is a great way to deal with inevitable food scraps, it’s much better to eat food than to compost it. Sometimes our gardens produce way more than we can eat before it spoils. Some suggestions on how to reduce your food waste are learning how to properly store your produce, freezing excess produce, or utilizing food preservation methods like pickling, canning, or fermenting.

Fermentation is the intentional use of microbial transformations to stabilize or preserve food products. Understanding that environment affects how food changes over time we can manipulate environmental conditions to encourage the growth or certain organisms while simultaneously discouraging others. There are many practical benefits that can be derived through fermentation: desirable flavors, preservation, improve one’s biological access to nutrients, and generating some additional nutrients. In the three upcoming months I’ll be doing a workshop series centered on fermentation. I hope to see you there!

August 4: Making shrubs

September 8: Fermentation/pickling

October 13: Sourdough

Here’s a great resource to learn more about how to properly store your food.

Food Storage Tips

July dates/ Garden updates/ Cabbage & Corn Slaw/ Summer Squash

Garden dates for July:

Saturday July 14, 10am-1pm: Garden resource day at Ft. Scott Community Garden (click for a map)

• From 10-1 I'll be at the garden with buckets of compost and seedlings to give away. This month there is: Red Russian Kale, Arugula, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Red Mustard, Broccoli, Cabbage, Tuscan Kale, and Romanesco. Tools are available for you to borrow during that time (shovels, pitchforks etc.). Please plan to return tools, buckets and empty pots to the garden by 2pm. Thanks!

Tuesday July 17: Summer Plot checks

• I'll be checking all garden plots to make sure they are planted, watered and don't have too many weeds or any vegetables flowering/making seeds that shouldn't be. If you have questions about what's in your plot, please ask before then! Plots with these issues will get a warning, and then will have one month to fix the problem. 

Friday July 27, 4pm: Taylor's End of Internship Potluck Happy Hour at the garden

• Join us for snacks and drinks at the Ft. Scott Community Garden to celebrate the amazing year Taylor has had with us in the Presidio. She has transformed the herb garden, started a brand-new Intern CSA and made innumerable contributions and improvements to our program. Her cheerful, enthusiastic, and welcoming presence will be missed!!  

Garden updates:
Here we are - it's summer! The plants are needing our attention this time of year- water (2-3 times a week), pest management, probably a little organic fertilizer. San Francisco, and the Presidio specifically, is such a unique place to grow vegetables. Our best season is early spring resulting in bumper harvests right now. But the plants struggle during the dry, windy summer, when most of the country is knee deep in corn and tomatoes. At least the weeds have died down a bit!

In the gardens we're harvesting cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and pounds of squash. Radishes, carrots, greens, potatoes, leeks, and onions are filling out the intern CSA boxes, starring on the volunteer snack tables, and occasionally showing up on plates at Arguello and The Commissary. All the peas are done and ready to replaced. The cherry tomatoes are just starting to appear. And we're looking for open spaces to fill in so the harvest will continue into the fall.

We hosted 33 folks from Salesforce at the Ft. Scott Community Garden last Tuesday. They helped clean up- removing vegetation, flowering weeds, leaves etc., plus potwashing and mulching. They also helped with some pest prevention- adding wire onto the bottom of new raised beds in the herb garden and in our soon-to-be dahlia and edible flower gardens. We continue to appreciate their hard work in our garden and the donation pending to cover a new potting and storage shed!










Finally, here's a cool shot of a Western Fence Lizard hanging out at the garden beds in West Washington. I also spied a Western Bluebird at the MacArthur Garden. What have you seen?

Recipe Recommendation:

Looking for a great recipe to use that giant cabbage you grew? I love this and it's great for picnics since there's no mayo! You can grow the cabbage, carrots, cilantro, and green onions! We'll be making some for an upcoming block party at the Presidio Native Plant Nursery this month.

Cabbage and Corn Slaw with Cilantro and Orange Dressing

Bon Appetit, July 2007, Yield: Makes 8 servings

1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/3 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
2 (8-ounce) bags coleslaw mix (bagged?! nope- from the garden!)
4 ears of fresh corn, shucked, kernels cut from cob
2 medium carrots, peeled, coarsely grated
1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, cored, cut into thin strips
6 medium green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Whisk orange juice concentrate, rice vinegar, and canola oil in small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Dressing can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

Combine cabbage, corn kernels, carrots, red bell pepper strips, sliced green onions, and chopped cilantro in large bowl. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper. Let stand 15 minutes for flavors to blend. Toss again and serve.

Interns take note: Summer squash

-by Emily Lovell

A question I get asked frequently when I’m in the gardens is “What can I plant right now?” One suggestion I have is summer squash, but you’ll have to hurry! Most summer squashes can be planted through the middle of July in San Francisco but that date is fast approaching. In our San Francisco climate, I would suggest growing zucchini (maybe an heirloom variety), which is the most vigorous type of summer squash and the most resistant to blossom-end rot.

Blossom-end rot, another topic that has come up a lot recently in our garden community, is a physiological problem commonly associated with cucurbits or members of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae. This occurs when a fruit begins to mature but the tip starts to decay. Sometimes this is because of a nutrient imbalance, root damage or uneven watering. In foggy climates, such as San Francisco, blossom-end rot tends to be caused by the squash blossoms staying too moist, sticking to the fruit and rotting, rather than drying up and falling off. To try and prevent blossom-end rot, remove the blossoms when the fruit starts to swell. The squash should still continue to develop and can then be harvested when fully developed. If you’re interested in using squash blossoms in a recipe just note that harvesting the blossoms before there is a developing fruit means that a fruit will not develop. Remember, the smaller the squash when you pick it, the better it will taste. A good rule of thumb when harvesting squash is to wait until the fruit is at least 4 inches long but never more than 10 inches. (Jean's note: squash have male and female flowers- the male ones can be harvested without reducing plant yield; consider hand-pollinating the female flowers to ensure that rotting isn't caused by lack of pollination)

In closing, I’ve included some summer squash blossom recipes that use a lot of ingredients that might be growing in the gardens right now.

Squash Blossom Recipes:

Spring Vegetable Lasagna with Heirloom Tomato Béchamel

Squash Blossom Frittata

Panko-Crusted Baked Squash Blossoms with Garden Herb Ricotta

Squash Blossoms Stuffed with Beet Hummus (Vegan)