Hi everyone,
After being asked not to go to work on 3/16, some of us have been asked to come back to work if possible. So I'd like to continue to support all of you as much as possible during this challenging time. I hope that one bright side to being sequestered at home is more time to be outside tending your garden plots and practicing your gardening skills! And I hope you are all healthy and well.
I've looked around to see what supplies might be available. If you have any to add, please email me.
I saw some tomato plants and herbs for sale at the Marina Safeway.
Rainbow Grocery usually has seedlings and seeds.
Large stores such as Home Depot are open, with shorter hours.
Baker Creek Seeds: shipping seeds, with delays: https://www.rareseeds.com/
Territorial Seeds: doesn't have any notices about changes https://territorialseed.com/pages/vegetables
Johnny's Seeds: only shipping to commercial customers
Sloat: from their Facebook page "We have a wide selection of vegetables, herbs, and flowers in our stores -- plus seeds! Call our stores directly to inquire about curbside pickup and delivery."
Garden for the Environment has also posted some sources for garden supplies: https://www.gardenfortheenvironment.org/growing-gardeners
*added 4/6/20
OAEC “open” according to schedule for online pre-orders. For the safety of our staff, residents, and customers, we are not accepting drop-in visitors at any time. Please do not show up to the nursery without pre-ordering and getting a confirmation with a designated pick up time from us first. https://oaec.org/plant-nursery/
*as of 4/11/20 the Grand Lake Ace Hardware in Piedmont (Oakland) had some vegetable starts, but pretty much no seeds. It was a really nice nursery with a lot of other useful supplies- trellises, Safer insecticidal soap, etc.
COMPOST
I will set out compost in buckets for you to come pick up at the Ft Scott Community Garden during the following times. If you come and someone else is there, please wait in your vehicle for them to load up and leave.
Tuesday 4/7 2-5pm
Wednesday 4/8 10am-1pm
Thursday 4/9 2-5pm
Please plan to return the empty buckets on the same day- I'll need them to refill for the next round.
SEEDLINGS
I don't have many seedlings to give away right now, but seeing how short gardening supplies are (victory gardening is taking off around the country), I'll work on getting more starts to give away. That will take about 6-8 weeks.
GARDEN MAINTENANCE
I've been visiting most of the gardens to install plot numbers on the outside of the beds. While there I have done a lot of pathway weeding, which I'd like to remind you is each individual gardeners responsibility. I have no volunteers helping take care of our common spaces, so please, please find some weeds (in this case a weed is any plant) in the pathways of your neighborhood garden and pull them.
Additionally, I've been looking over the beds and sending out messages to folks whose plots are weedy or overgrown. I'm offering assistance to those who need it- please contact me if you are away, sick, or feeling overwhelmed with life! I'm willing to help out to prevent weeds or vegetables from going to seed and creating more and bigger problems in the future. We're all in this together.
PESTS
Warm weather, new growth and changing seasons mean that lots of critters are feasting on your plants. Pests can just be a gross annoyance, or they can debilitate your plant and mean you won't get to harvest anything. Don't be the source of pests that will spread around your garden- find them and treat or remove them.
Leaf miners: spinach, chard, beet leaves- remove eggs
Grey aphids: kales, broccoli family plants- use Safer insecticidal soap or similar
Black aphids: onions, garlic, leeks, chives, fava beans- ditto
UCIPM Aphids
Need a bug or plant identified? Take a photo and email or text it to me!
RECIPE
Last year's chard plants are starting to bolt- they are getting tall and ready to flower. That means it's time to harvest all the leaves and pull out the plant. What to do with lots of chard?
My favorite way to use up a whole brown bag of Swiss Chard (about 3 bunches) is Chard Pie!
Martha Stewart's olive oil crust:
2 1/2 c flour (I used white and white whole wheat. we liked whole wheat better)
3/4 tsp coarse salt
1/3 c olive oil (I've also used avocado oil)
1/2 c cold water
*combine ingredients in bowl, stir with fork, turn out and knead 1 minute
*cover with plastic wrap (I use a ziplock bag so I can wash and reuse it) and rest at room temperature 30 minutes
*Roll 2/3 of dough to 12 1/2" round, Fit into 8" round cake pan at least 2" deep.
Filling:
oil to saute
1 medium red onion
4 garlic cloves
3 pounds of chard- small dice on stems, leaves cut into ribbons
1-2 oz feta
1/3 c chopped black olives
lemon zest and 1 Tbsp juice
1-2 eggs
red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
I saute the onions, then add the garlic and the chopped stems. Since it's a lot of greens, I add them in batches and empty into a colander in the sink as the pan gets full. You want to get out a lot of the moisture (squeeze cooled greens). Then put in large bowl and add everything else.
*Add filling to crust.
*Roll rest of dough to 9 1/2" round- place on top. Pinch and seal edges. Cut vents. Brush top with milk or egg.
*You can freeze the whole thing at this point. Or bake 375F about 1 hour. I freeze leftover baked, cut slices.
