A Victory Garden

Raspberries!

I’ve been away for a few days, and when I wandered out this morning to pick some raspberries for breakfast, I was able to pick several pints. What I didn’t eat went in the freezer.

Rasps are easy to grow, but be sure to buy certified virus-free stock. Plant them in full sun (though they’ll still bear if they get some shade). I prefer to plant where I can mow around them, as they spread quickly. If you do some research, you can find lots of ways to fuss with spacing, pruning, fertilizing, etc., but I prefer to keep it simple. I put them in well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter, make sure they get at least an inch or so of water a week during the growing season, and throw down couple of inches of compost or well-rotted manure in the spring. I mulch when I plant them, but after the first year or so, they are growing so thickly they don’t need the mulch.You are supposed to prune out the old canes but I never bother and always get a good crop.  That’s about it. 

Most rasps bear in the spring/early summer. Some are fall-bearing. The spring/summer ones fruit on canes that are in their second year. The fall ones fruit on canes that have sprouted that year. Some do both, giving a small fall crop on first year canes and then a main crop on the same canes in the spring. The fall-bearing ones can be mowed down each year, since they fruit on the current year’s canes. 

You know the berries are ripe when they slip easily from their core. Also, be aware that wineberries, a wild type of raspberry, are quite invasive. They grow wild in much of the eastern U.S. in the same ecological niche as blackberries. They don't really taste like cultivated raspberries, but are quite edible. They just don’t have the same great flavor.

Blueberries and Changing Times

I have 6 blueberry bushes that I planted about 6 years ago, 2 I planted about 2 years ago, and 2 I planted this year. The 6 are amazingly productive – I just picked 2 pints off of one plant before it got dark, and they are just getting started. The others are coming in, too – I’ll need to do some serious picking and freezing soon.

Blueberries freeze well and easily. Just pick, put in a freezer container, label and freeze. (Always, always, always label the container with contents and date before you put anything in the freezer. Really. You’ll thank me later.) Sometime this winter I’ll publish my recipe for peach/blueberry cobbler made with frozen peaches and blueberries.

I’m going to be pretty busy for the next few days. I’m participating in a 2 year program with Malidoma Some on African Indigenous Spiritual Technologies, and our next meeting is this week. So I’ll leave you with a few articles to read between now and my next update:

Turning Your Lawn into a Victory Garden Won't Save You -- Fighting the Corporations Will
Which does not, of course, mean you should not plant a victory garden, It means you should become aware of the corporatocracy that is masquerading as our increasingly fascist government.

How a Shady Citigroup Subsidiary Secretly Makes Billions in the Oil Market
In case you were wondering if I’m being paranoid about corporate greed and control..

The Pesticide of Last Resort
Will someone please explain to me why a lawn is worth poisoning our children?

The Real Story Behind the Midwest Floods? Climate Change
Oh, those uncomfortable facts!

Farmers dealing with huge crop loss, erosion
Yep, food prices are going up! And you might consider sending prayers, magic, and/or kind thoughts for the folks who need it in the Midwest. Here’s an article on how you can help

How You Can Help The Midwest Flood Victims

Scientists warn of lack of vital phosphorus as biofuels raise demand
And let's not forget Peak Phosphorus

There is much here to consider, and denial gets us nowhere. Think about it – how are YOU going to cope with these changing times?

Planning The Winter Garden

The next step in starting a garden is planning. And the first step in planning is deciding what you like to eat! June is the perfect time to start planning for a winter garden, so get out your seed catalogs. Don’t have seed catalogs? Here are my two favorites – go to the the links below and sign up to get a catalog.

• Johnny’s Seeds
• Territorial Seeds ( Territorial’s Winter catalog is very helpful, because it has detailed culture instructions for winter crops.)

Now to the list: As you go through the catalog, make a list of the things you want to grow for winter, or to plant in fall for early spring. My list always includes: 

• Garlic (in most areas, plant in fall for early harvest next year)
• Spinach (make succession plantings through the late summer and fall, for harvest in fall and next spring)
• Lettuce
• Arugula
• Broccoli
• Kale
• Carrots
• Onions (fall for next year’s harvest)

 This year, I may try some Kohlrabi and Chinese Cabbage as well. I’ve not yet found the perfect cold frame (though I am looking at the Juwel), but first I’m going to see if some friends of mine can build me something like the plans in Eliot Coleman’s book Four Season Harvest from recycled materials. 

So, let me know, what’s on your list of things you want to grow for the fall? Do you have a cold frame? Have you tried winter gardening before? Leave a comment below, and if you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them. 

More about planning soon….

A Brand New Garden Bed

Last evening my neighbor came over to help me move the chicken tractors, as he has kindly agreed to do weekly. It takes about a week for the chickens to kill or eat all of the greenery in an area, and then they get moved to greener pastures, and I have the beginnings of a garden bed.

I garden in beds, not rows (and someday I’ll tell you all my reasons). Today, I’ll put down a kill mulch (keep reading, I’ll explain) on the place the chickens were last week, and use that space as a new garden bed next spring – or maybe even this fall -- without having to work too hard to get it in shape for planting.

 You don’t need chickens to do this, though. Here’s what to do: Mark out the place you have chosen for a bed. The width should be no more than twice your reach, and you should be able to access the bed from both sides. You can make it as long as you wish, but you also don’t want to step on the bed, so either make it narrow enough to step across, or leave a break for a path at regular intervals.

Now mow the area closely. Save the clippings, and any other grass clippings you have, or get some straw (use hay only if you enjoy weeding). You’ll also need some plain brown cardboard from shipping boxes, or plenty of old newspapers.

 If you have results from your soil test, you’ll know whether or not you need to adjust the pH of your soil with lime (to raise it) or sulfur (to lower it). Proper pH is key to nutrient availability for plants, and you’ll want to make sure you follow the recommendations from your soil test. (Don’t fertilize yet, though. We need to talk about organic methods of fertilizing, which I’ll do in another post). 

Lime or sulfur will eventually have to be dug in, but it will help to put it down under the mulch now – you can dig it in later. So sprinkle the sulfur or limestone. Be sure you are using finely ground limestone, NOT quicklime, slaked, hydrated or pickling lime. These substances are caustic. Dolomitic limestone is fine – it contains magnesium.

I also recommend putting down some Azomite, or another, similar product to help remineralize the soil. Throw down some compost or manure. If you don’t have a local source, buy a bag of composted cow manure at the garden center, or dig a couple of small holes and bury some kitchen scraps. This will help attract earthworms, which are going to do a lot of your work for you. Now water the area well, and cover it completely with newspaper (wet if first to keep it from blowing away) or cardboard. Then cover the paper/cardboard with grass clippings or straw.

 That’s it! Now you just have to wait for the earthworms and soil microbes to begin to incorporate all that good stuff into the soil while opening up little channels for air and water. The root systems of any plants that were on the area will decay, so when we do get around to digging, it will be a lot easier!

 Happy Summer Solstice!

Starting a Victory Garden

You may wonder why I call this blog A Victory Garden (besides the fact that I love those old WWI and II Victory Garden posters). It's becauseI believe that food production is going to become a major crisis for us all as oil continues to rise in price and decline in availability while  population continues to climb exponentially. Not to mention the effects of climate change on food production. So the venerable Victory Garden concept of reducing the pressure on the public food supply through private gardens is particularly pertinent now. During WWII, Victory Gardens produced 40% of all the vegetables consumed in the U.S.A.

So how do you start a Victory Garden? First, you need some land. The basic suburban yard will do just fine, as long as the space gets at least 6 hours of sunlight a day during the growing season. If you don’t have suitable land of your own, get creative and look for local community gardens, or see if a neighbor or friend might let you sharecrop a bit of their land.

Once you have found a spot, go there and spend some time connecting with the spirits of the land in meditation or shamanic journey. Tell them about your plans for a garden, listen for their response. If you don’t get a response, or have difficulty with meditation or journey, then simply speak to them and ask for a sign that they are willing to help. This sign will come from Nature – a bird’s flight, a gust of wind, a break in the clouds, the buzz of a bee – and you will know it as a sign when you see and feel it. Then leave an offering for the spirits. Milk and honey works, as does unadulterated tobacco (no commercial cigarettes, please), cornmeal or grain. (Those are just some ideas, not a comprehensive list -- use your intuition).

If you don't get a sign, the space may be inappropriate for a garden. You should ask for information to come to you that brings clarity, then wait and watch. It may take a few days, but the information will come to you one way or another -- perhaps in dreams, perhaps in waking life. But if you want a garden, and you hold that intention clearly, the spirits of the land will help you find the right spot. 

Once you’ve enlisted the agreement and help of the Nature Spirits, then it’s time for you to go to work. Get in touch with the nice folks at your local agricultural extension agency, and ask them for a couple of things. First, you want to know what planting zone you are in. Next, you want information on getting your soil tested. They will have instructions and special boxes or bags for you to put the soil in to send it to the lab. Be sure to follow the instructions VERY carefully. OK, that should keep you busy for a while. More in the next post!

A Quandary Indeed

I'll post the info I promised on starting a garden soon, but I wanted to bring your attention to this article, entitled "Global quandary: How to feed a growing planet". The article focuses on those in extreme poverty, but the Midwest floods and the drop in Argentine production of wheat, not to mention the cost of fuel, will have global effects on food prices. So even if you feel you can afford the higher prices you'll soon be paying for food, go ahead and plant that garden anyway. It will be good for your physical and mental health, and you can send the money you save on your own food to help those who cannot afford to feed themselves and their families.

Food and the Future

I’m starting this blog because I have no doubt that food is about to become a huge problem globally – and, yes, I mean in the U.S.A. as well. Stories abound in the news about high food prices, crop shortages, and the flooding in the Midwest that threatens this year’s U.S.harvest, but I was particularly interested in a recent article in the Wall St. Journal about suburban homeowners digging up their yards to install vegetable gardens in response to rising food prices. Just like those old WWII Victory Gardens.

I’ve been planting a vegetable garden in every yard I’ve had since the late 70s. I also acquired a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy (the study of crops and soils) and even put a couple of years into grad school before wandering off into other fields. So I have a bit of experience in raising food that might come in handy if things go the way I see them – and I see things getting very difficult, as a combination of Peak Oil, climate change and a burgeoning population permanently changes our way of life and severely stresses our ability to feed ourselves.

Food production will have to become more local – which is as it should be from the point of view of both our health and the health of the planet. We’ll need to have more people growing and storing their own food, and that’s where we run into trouble. All those intrepid folks starting gardens in what was once a prized lawn are finding out that growing food is not just about sticking a few plants in the ground, and waiting for the harvest. Plants often wither and die or just don’t produce well for a variety of reasons, most of which are a complete mystery to the average non-farmer. So I’ll write about starting a garden, and share the knowledge and experience I have gained in nurturing and tending a garden in the hopes that this will be of some help in our fight to heal the planet and ourselves.

However, there is another aspect of life in the modern world that I also want to address here as an important part of a Victory Garden, and that is the spiritual aspect. You can read more about my thoughts on this here, but in a nutshell, I’ll be looking at meditative, magical and shamanic techniques for improving our relationship to the Earth and all the beings that are part of it along with the nuts and bolts gardening information. So in the next post, I’ll look at why, if we have access to some land, we should all have a garden.