Raindate for Pizza Potluck/ Spring Garden Tasks

We have another rainy week ahead. I'm sending this post a little early to let you know we've moved the Spring Pizza Potluck to the raindate - this Friday, March 23, 4-7pm. If this means you can attend- please RSVP! We look forward to spending time in the garden with all of you and to eating delicious pizza!! :)

Neighborhood garden visits in the evenings are starting on Monday 3/26 at the MacArthur garden (ppd. from 3/20), 3/27 at Portola, 3/29 at West Washington, 4/3 at Lendrum Ct., 4/5 at Baker Beach 1+2, 4/10 and Baker Beach 3+4, and finally South Baker Beach on 4/12. Phew! Taylor and I are ready for a busy four weeks leading up to plot checks on April 17. We'll be bringing seedlings and compost to your garden, or you can stop by the Ft. Scott Garden on April 14 during the Saturday Garden Resource Day from 10am-1pm.

Seedlings we hope to have: lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, kale, cauliflower, and peas. Be prepared with some way to protect your tender new seedlings- a bottle with the bottom cut off works for a week or two. Just be sure to remove it before the plant starts getting too big for it, or it will get stressed out and bolt without making a food crop. If your garden has rodent issues, plan ahead to get creative with galvanized hardware cloth and make some free-standing boxes to put over your plants.

What to know about buying strawberries for your garden: if you're heading to the nursery to buy strawberries, make sure you get what you expect. If you want good sized strawberries for eating, don't buy groundcover, native, or Alpine varieties. Look for varieties like Albion, Chandler, and Seascape. Further reading from Pam Peirce and Sloat.

Here's Taylor's blog post about spring in the garden:

Hello Presidio Community Gardeners, it is almost spring time, which means it is time to plant! In this blog post I’ll be talking about March/spring gardening tasks. I’ll give you some notes about things to focus on in your garden, and even provide a list of plants for March sowing and transplanting. J 

(1)    Prepare beds for planting if you have not done so already. Pull weeds, break up any soil chunks that may have formed in your bed, and clear any brush or debris. Amend your bed with compost, manure, or organic amendments like bone, blood, and kelp meals. We have a compost giveaway every month at the Fort Scott community garden. If you missed our giveaway on March 10^th, the next giveaway is scheduled for Saturday, April 14^th.

(2)    Start vegetable seeds indoors. If you are starting seeds indoors, place pots next to a sunny window. Sowing seeds directly into your plot will work especially for those that must be directly sown (carrots, radishes, turnips) or for those that do well (cilantro, beets, fava beans, peas, squash). Buying transplants or seedlings at a local nursery is often the best option when you only want one or two plants, or need them a bit larger (brassicas, squash, strawberries).

(3)    Check planted seedlings for signs of damage and aphids. Wash aphids from plants using a strong water spray with a hose. For smaller vegetables and flowers, use an organic soap spray to control aphids. Keep an eye out for ants. Visit: SFPUC for the Pest Control Tips booklet. The Pest Control Tips booklet will help you with identifying the pests in your garden, and give you tips on how to combat them. There are other great gardening resources on this site as well, so definitely check it out! Remember that you are limited to using organic methods of pest control in your garden plots and not all the tips listed are OK in this national park.

(4)    Leafy green veggies like kale and lettuce that did well during the winter in sunny garden spots may bolt (begin ­flowering) as temperatures warm. Plant these crops in part shade for summer leafy greens.

(5)    Prune flowers that have already bloomed (early bloomers).

(6)    Many weeds will begin flowering and setting seed as rains slow and temperatures climb. Be sure to remove weeds before they can release their seeds into your garden soil.

(7)    Consult a planting calendar to see what you can sow and transplant into your garden plot this month. I took a quick look at Pam Peirce’s “Golden Gate Gardening” and came up with a quick list of crops that can be planted this month (all of these can be directly sown unless otherwise noted!):

Artichoke (bareroot), fava bean, scarlet runner bean, snap bean, beet, broccoli (transplants), cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, collards, kale (transplants), leek, lettuce, mustard, onion bulb (seeds or sets), parsnip, pea, potato (tubers), radish, spinach, squash, swiss chard, turnip

I hope this list is helpful! Thank you for reading my post and if you have any questions feel free to contact me at tjais@presidiotrust.gov

Taylor

March Dates and descriptions/ Brassicaceae family

For all the community garden members, I'll be sending a follow-up email after this post to make sure that you are getting the blog posts and that important dates are making it to your in-box.

Our next Garden Resource Day will be headed up by Taylor this Saturday, March 10 from 10am-1pm at the Ft. Scott Community Garden. I'll be away on vacation- please introduce yourself and get some seedlings (3 pots or 1 6-pack) and compost. Seedlings available:

sugar snap peas

cauliflower

purple sprouting broccoli

spinach

romanesco

lettuce

4 6-packs that may include: chard, kale, arugula, romanesco, spinach and cilantro

For new garden members, I wanted to describe what to expect at the different dates:

Garden Resource Days: at the Ft. Scott garden you can drive down Wisser Court and find us. We'll have 4 gallon buckets of compost (3-4 available per garden plot, supplies limited) and some seedlings set out (3 available per plot). Check in with the staff on duty then take what you need. If you borrow our buckets or pots to transport your compost/seedlings you will need to bring them back to the garden.
Evening Garden Visits: Similar to a garden resource day, but we come to you! We visit each of the satellite neighborhood gardens for 1-2 hours and have buckets of compost and some seedlings available. We're also there to look at your garden with you and answer questions.
Pizza Potluck Parties: A chance to gather and celebrate with community garden members and volunteers. I make homemade pizza dough 3 days before (it has to cold-ferment- so RSVP's are important), we collect any toppings from the garden we have, share homemade sauces, some store-bought cheese, and hopefully have enough greens to make a salad. You bring your place setting, beverages (adult bevs are fine), layers to keep warm, and something to share. Additional pizza toppings are welcome as well! Guests make their own pizzas and we cook them in the wood-fired cob oven. Everyone usually shares their creations and it's delicious!
Spring Planting Cutoff (April 17): Plots should be weeded, paths should be weeded, and new, visible spring vegetables should be growing (so don't put seeds in the ground on April 15).

Do all these seedlings look the same to you? They are all "Brassicas"- plants in the Brassicaceae or Mustard family. Here's where botany comes in handy to gardeners, and some careful labeling! Kale, cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage seedlings are coming up in our flat- they have the same cotyledons (seed leaves), but as they develop true leaves differences will be visible. Eventually the plants will produce the crop they have been bred for - all derived from the same wild field cabbages of the Mediterranean. Why is this useful? Related plants succumb to the same pests- in this case: root maggots, Cabbage White larvae, and grey aphids among others. It may also be information you need for crop rotation, spacing, or fertilizing. These seedlings will hopefully be available at the April 14 Garden Resource Day. 

Garden tools

Wow, what a difference a few weeks makes in the temperature! It's chilly out there! Are you keeping your seedlings warm under a plastic cloche? It will help your plants grow a little faster during the cold weather. Cut the bottom off a juice bottle and put it over your seedling. It acts like a mini-greenhouse and keeps the birds and slugs at bay. 

Here are some other useful garden tools, in a blog post by Taylor.

We look forward to seeing you and your happy vegetables in the gardens!

March 10, 10am-1pm Garden Resource Day at Ft. Scott Community Garden 

Blog Post #9: Garden Tools

Hello community gardeners of the Presidio! This week I thought I’d go over some basic gardening tools. I’m going to outline the tools below and explain how they may help you cultivate and care for your raised beds. There are links to a good example of that tool, or helpful websites.

Gardening gloves: So this is incredibly basic but really helpful. Whenever I forget my gardening gloves in the truck, I end up trying to get dirt out from under my fingernails for days afterwards. Gardening gloves are really helpful for protecting your hands and your skin! They can protect your hands from vegetable plants that have tiny thorns (such as zucchini) and weeds that have large thorns (blackberry).

Kneelers: Before working in the Presidio Community gardens I had never heard of kneelers. But they are so awesome and so simple! A kneeler is basically a foam pad that you can kneel on (or sit on) while working in your raised bed. This tool may be especially helpful for those of you whose garden beds are on top of cement. Kneelers save your knees and are great for days when you are out in the garden for a long amount of time- weeding out your bed or replanting your bed. You can find kneelers at gardening stores or you could just repurpose an unused cushion.

Snips: Snips are basically just sharp gardening scissors. Snips are great for harvesting, thinning, and light pruning. Jean and I use snips when we are harvesting small and delicate plants like broccoli, peas, beans, cherry tomatoes, and leafy greens. We also use snips for cutting off the flowering parts of plants and for other general pruning.

Pruners: Pruners are a step above snips- a little more heavy duty. Pruners are best for harvesting from woody plants (like rosemary and sage) or thick and bulky plants (like tomatoes and zucchini). Cutting back bulky plants is also much easier with pruners as they will provide a sharp and healthy cut that won’t do any serious damage your plants. Pruners are also helpful for when you need to clean up overgrown tomato or zucchini plants from your bed and netting!

Hori-Hori: Another name for the Hori-Hori is digging knife. It basically looks like an 8 inch blade/trowel combination. Jean and I use Hori-Hori’s CONSTANTLY in the garden. They are fantastic for weeding because the blade allows you to cut through tough soil and easily retrieve tap roots and rhizomes. I think the Hori-Hori is a great tool to choose if you have a ton of oxalis or mallow weeds that pop up in your raised bed.

Cultivator: Great tool for loosening the top layer of soil (i.e. for disrupting all those small weeds before they go to seed) or to help the water penetrate garden soil in the dry summer.

Digging Fork/Shovel/Spade: I’d say a digging fork or shovel is the best way to break up your soil or turn compost into your bed in preparation for planting. A digging fork looks like a large fork and it helps with digging into a bed that has really tough, hard soil. You can also use a shovel or spade for the same task. All three of these tools are very useful in the garden, you’ll have to test out what works best for you. Shovels may be more helpful when you are trying to dig large plants or root balls out of your bed.

Plant support structures: Tomato cages, pea trellises, cucumber and bean trellises. Trellises and other support structures are vital for your climbing plant’s success! Check out whether your plant needs to climb horizontal or vertical trellises and then buy a structure or make your own. It’s not too difficult to create a trellis with string and a little bit of lumber. Another plant support structure that I’ve talked about in a previous blog post is a wide-mouthed plastic bottle. Plastic bottles are great mini-greenhouses for small seedlings and transplants. Place a wide plastic bottle (with its bottom and top cut off) around your seedling and it will provide your plant with warmth AND protection.

Plant ties: Trellis are essential for climbing plants and can give you more growing space by going vertical with your plants, but many plants need help getting using the trellis you provide. Plant ties- plastic, jute, string, foam covered etc.- are your tool for getting the plants off the ground and onto the trellis.

I hope this tool list is helpful (or at least a good reminder). Email me if you have any questions about a particular tool or where to find the tools listed above! tjais@presidiotrust.gov

Taylor