The Gathering

Wisconsin Families Garden is pleased to support The Gathering in Milwaukee with fresh produce donations.

The Gathering's mission is "To provide meals and associated services to those who would otherwise go hungry. We respect the dignity and values of every individual we serve and value our volunteers who allow us to serve the community."

Their motto is "People in community feeding the hungry."

With the help of the hundreds of groups and individuals who volunteer every year as well as the many individuals, churches, local businesses and foundations who provide financial donations, The Gathering provides ten free meals per week at three locations in Milwaukee, serving over 100,000 people in need annually. The Gathering also collaborates with other organizations with complimentary missions, providing on-site services in the areas of Mental Health, Legal Assistance, Medical Referrals, and Supply Distribution.

For more information, including how to donate or volunteer at The Gathering, please visit www.thegatheringwis.org or call 414-272-4122.

The Campus Kitchens Project

Wisconsin Families Garden (WFG) is pleased to announce its support for Campus Kitchen at Marquette University with donations of fresh produce from the WFG demonstration gardens. The nationwide organization The Campus Kitchens Project has locations at 25 schools throughout America (including two in Wisconsin) and operates according to the following mission statement:

"To use service as a tool to:

•Strengthen Bodies by using existing resources to meet hunger and nutritional needs in our community;

•Empower Minds by providing leadership and service learning opportunities to students, and educational benefits to adults, seniors, children, and families in need; and

•Build Communities by fostering a new generation of community-minded adults through resourceful and mutually beneficial partnerships among students, social service agencies, businesses and schools."



For other news about how Wisconsin Families Garden is involved in the local community, please see our website for Ozaukee & Milwaukee Counties at www.ozaukeefamilies.org.

How to Stake Tomatoes

Many home gardeners have been curious about our Stake And String method of supporting tomato plants. Below you can see pictures of the process. Thanks to Blue Moon Farm for teaching me this method of staking tomatoes. Whether you use the Stake And String method, tomato cages, or some other method of supporting tomato plants in your garden, it really is a good idea to keep tomato plants off the ground, because you will have healthier plants, cleaner fruits, and higher yields.

Step 1: Plant the tomatoes in a straight row. We plant our tomatoes at 18" apart. This works well for the Stake And String method. If you use tomato cages, I recommend allowing more space between the plants, as there will be less upward-only growth and more outward bushiness of the plants.

Step 2: After a few weeks when the tomato plants are 8-12" tall, pound stakes into the ground every 6 ft (every four plants). For determinate tomato varieties, 5' metal t-posts or even wooden posts will work just fine; for indeterminate varieties that may grow very tall and have high yields of heavy fruits, we use 6' metal t-posts. Take special care with the posts on the ends of the rows. They will only have inward forces acting upon them, so they should be angled outwards. Or, an extra post at the end of the row, pounded in at a 45 degree outward angle, will ensure that the soon-to-be heavy tomato plants don't outweigh their support system. This is a row of tomatoes from the WFG Milwaukee garden.



Step 3: Every week as the tomatoes grow taller, tie a heavy-duty string from post to post, supporting each side of the row, like we did below in the WFG Grafton garden. If you have a long row, the same piece of string can be used down and back on the entire row; it should be wrapped firmly at a uniform height around each post as you go. The strings should be tight but not constrictive to the plants' growth. Remember, as the plants get taller, their growing stems and branches also get thicker and will need room to expand within the strings. Generally, once a week is good enough for tying tomatoes. Each week the next string up will be 6-10" higher than the last. After securing the strings on both sides of the plants, gently tuck any outlying tomato branches under the strings, which will encourage upward growth of the plants.



Step 4: Harvesting tomatoes is a breeze with the Stake And String method. As you can see from this row of tomatoes in the WFG Grafton garden, all fruits are elevated off the ground. The tomato fruits and plants do not get muddy when it rains and the precious tomatoes that you have labored and tended to all season will be less prone to diseases and splitting. Essentially, by staking tomatoes, you can expect better yields and gorgeous, healthy fruits!

Summer Solstice

Wisconsin Families Garden is having a great season so far!
What better way to ring in the first day of summer, June 21, 2010, than to reflect on the blessings and bounty of the passing Spring. Here are some photos from our gardens.



Preparing new beds at the Mequon garden. 3-29-10



Preparing raised beds at the Milwaukee garden. 6-1-10



Lettuce and peas coming up in the Grafton garden. 5-24-10



Getting ready to plant potatoes in Mequon. 4-22-10



Spinach with potatoes in the background, Grafton. 6-11-10



The first of the sugar snap peas, Mequon. 6-10-10



Radishes from the Mequon garden. 5-25-10



Yes indeed, summer has arrived! Basil in Milwaukee. 6-21-10


Thank you to everyone who followed and commented on our spring Gardening Info Series and to all those who helped in the gardens this spring! One of the best parts of my job is explaining the wonders of the growing plants and critters to curious minds. It's so nice to have such interested and curious kids (and adults!) participating this year.

For additional spring gardening stories and photos, please visit our Ozaukee & Milwaukee web page at www.ozaukeefamilies.org.

Garden Prep

2010 Gardening Info Series Topic #3:
"Preparing The Garden For Planting"

The first two topics in our spring Gardening Info Series were, "Why Garden?" and "Selecting a Garden Site". Now that you've decided to garden and have selected a suitable garden site, it's time to evaluate and prepare the soil, and then you'll be ready to plant!

There are three basic steps to follow in preparing a garden for planting.

Step 1: Test the soil

If you will be gardening on new ground, if it's been 2 years or more since your last soil test, or if you have recently not been happy with the quality of produce coming out of your garden, I highly recommend that you test your garden soil.

You'll see soil testing kits at garden stores, or I recommend sending a soil sample to the University of Wisconsin Soil Testing Lab, which offers a $15 soil test for home gardeners that includes analysis of pH, organic matter, phosphorus, and potassium; the report also includes recommendations for how to adjust the soil pH, if necessary, as well as how to select the proper fertilizer for your soil's specific needs. For additional fees, the lab also offers additional tests, including tests for micronutrients, soluble salts, heavy metals, physical analysis (percentage sand, silt, clay, and soil texture), etc.

You can collect your garden soil sample anytime when the ground isn't frozen or overly wet. If you will be growing vegetables, I recommend testing to a depth of 6 inches and taking a minimum of six samples from multiple locations within your garden plot. There are resources available from UW-Extension on how to properly collect a soil sample. You can also get more information from the UW Soil & Plant Analysis Lab's website or call the lab directly at 608-262-4364 if you have additional questions.


Step 2: Amend the soil, if necessary

The soil testing laboratory will make recommendations on whether or not and how to go about improving the fertility and quality of your soil. It is best to follow these recommendations to ensure good yields and quality of the produce you plan to plant this season. Following recommendations specific to your garden site is much better than guessing and randomly adding general purpose fertilizers to your garden. Many people don't know it, but overfertilization of the soil can actually diminish produce quality and vegetable & fruit yields. The bottom line is, when it comes to fertilizers, more is not always better. Also, though they are more expensive, I recommend using organic fertilizers. Organic fertilizers are safer for people & the environment and they are better for plant growth and long-term soil health.

One amendment that should always be on your mind as a gardener is the addition of organic matter!!! Organic matter is a complex topic, but basically, instead of just taking, taking, taking from the soil, as we do when we grow and harvest food year after year from the same ground, we should give back to the soil through the addition of organic matter. This can include adding plant-based compost, crop residues after harvest, green manures, composted animal manure, etc. Your soil test report will indicate whether the soil is in an acceptable range or in a low range for organic matter. But remember, organic matter is constantly being broken down and used up in the soil AND CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS ARE NOT AN ADEQUATE SUBSTITUTE. Therefore, unless you are regularly putting organic matter back into the soil, the soil organic matter value on your test results will inevitably decrease over time, as will the productivity of your garden. We want high levels of organic matter for sustainable gardening, so start making that compost!


Step 3: Prepare a well-aerated seed bed

After you test your garden soil and make the appropriate corrections through amendments for soil health & fertility, it is important that you now create a well-aerated soil environment for your plants to root themselves in.

Healthy soil is composed of many things: minerals, weathered down rocks (sand, silt, or clay), living and dead organic matter, active microorganisms, and last but not least, water and air. These last two ingredients, water and air, are essential to support healthy plant growth as well as to provide the right habitat for beneficial soil organisms that will help your plants grow!

The goal of Step 3 is to create airy soil, as opposed to trying to grow crops in compacted soil. When soil is well-aerated, air, water, plant roots, earthworms and other beneficial organisms will be able to infiltrate through the soil layers properly, and this, in conjunction with your now amended, fertile soil, will lead to strong, healthy plants that will bear much good fruit.

There are many ways to create well-aerated garden soil. You can use a rototiller if you have access to one. There are many types of rototillers out there, and not all are created equally. If you go this route, you should be sure to use a rototiller suitable to your garden conditions.

If you don't have a rototiller that can do the job, consider double digging your plot using a spade and a digging fork. There are many books and websites that detail how to double dig a garden. My experience has been that double digging a garden produces great growing results. HOWEVER, this is a very, very labor intensive process and I only recommend it if you are exceptionally motivated and also have a strong back!!! This year in one of our WFG demonstration gardens, we are testing the efficacy of double digging. For select crops, we will plant half the beds in double dug beds and half the crop in beds that will only have had the soil surface turned over with a shovel. We'll be able to tell you the results of our trial next season!

In the meantime, if you don't have a rototiller and you want to save your back, consider one of two other options: One, just turn the soil over with a shovel right before your plant it. If you have a rake or some other similar tool, use it to break up large chunks created by the shovel. The second method you can use to aerate the soil is to use a special hand tool called a broadfork, such as this one sold by Johnny's Selected Seeds of Winslow, Maine. The broadfork creates air spaces deep down but keeps the overall structure of the soil intact; that means it doesn't break up healthy soil aggregates or disturb the habitat of soil microorganisms. In short, both these methods, the shovel & rake or the broadfork, will loosen things up in your garden and create a well-aerated medium in which to grow your veggies.

One final thing to consider that can affect soil aeration and water infiltration capacity in the garden is the option to build raised beds. Some people like to construct raised beds with wooden sides that hold all the soil in. These types of raised beds contain the soil very nicely and can be attractive as well. Or, if you are like me and don't want to spend a lot of time or money, you can just make yourself some walking paths and use the soil from the walking paths to raise up your growing beds a little. If you have really bad garden soil, you may want to consider purchasing some extra topsoil and/or compost as you create your raised beds.

Keep in mind that growing in raised beds in not necessary for growing good vegetables. However, growing in raised beds THAT YOU NEVER STEP IN!!!! will give your plant roots a nice, deep, aerated growing medium. Plus, your raised beds will drain much faster in spring or during rainstorms throughout the season. Therefore, if you anticipate drainage to be a problem, raised beds are a worthy option.

Whether you use raised beds or just flat beds or rows, please, please please watch where you step in your garden. It may not seem like a few footsteps here or there would make much of a difference, but remember that plant roots, earthworms, and both air and water need spaces to grow and flow properly. If possible, create designated walking paths within the garden and let the plants, bugs, air and water have free reign in the growing spaces.


In summary, the three steps to garden soil preparation are:

1) Soil Testing
2) Soil Amendments
3) Soil Aeration


You are now ready to plant your garden seeds & transplants. Happy Gardening!

Selecting a Site

Gardening Info Series Topic #2:
"How to Select a Garden Site"

1. When deciding where to garden, one of the most important factors to consider is the amount of available sunlight. Vegetable plants need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day, and 8-10 hours is even better!

On a day when you can be home most of the day, make a sketch of your property, including all trees and potential gardening spaces. Throughout the day, on an hour by hour basis, record which areas of your property are receiving sunlight. Track the movement of shadows, keeping in mind that trees will be filling out soon; also remember that the sun will be higher in the sky during the summertime than it is now in early spring.

2. If you really want to garden but have no property of your own, or if you have no location on your property that gets 6 hours of sunlight per day, consider gardening at a COMMUNITY GARDEN!!!

Community gardens are scattered throughout the state of Wisconsin, especially around larger cities, and are generally very affordable. Usually, community gardens will provide you with a pre-tilled plot, give you access to water, and personally I think it's fun to chat and learn from fellow community gardening neighbors. Call your University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension office for locations and fees for community gardens in your area.

3. For those who will be gardening at home, once you have identified some potential spots that receive adequate sunshine, choose a place that will add to the aesthetics of your home, is near access to water, will be out of the way of playing children, and does not contain any buried utility lines. In fact, if it's a new garden, state law requires that you call Diggers Hotline 3 days before you begin a new digging project.

4. If you are not sure how much space you need for your vegetable garden, let me suggest the following: START SMALL! If you've never gardened before, a 50 square foot space is probably more than big enough. That doesn't sound like a lot of space, but it's a good size for a beginner. Remember, gardens do take time, work, and some skills come with experience. There's nothing more encouraging to a new gardener than the ability to keep on top of the weeds and succeeding in growing a few crops well!

5. Other factors must also be considered when choosing a garden site. Besides sunlight, vegetable plants need space to grow underground. Avoid planting a vegetable garden too close to a tree or shrubs, as the tree roots may steal water and nutrients that your vegetable plants need. You should especially avoid situating your garden near black walnut trees, because they give off a chemical that will prevent your vegetables from growing.

6. Good soil drainage is also VERY important for growing vegetables, so avoid low, slow-draining areas on your property. Also, if you are a beginner, it's best to garden on flat ground, if possible. Soil drainage is a whole other topic in itself, so we will talk more about it in another post.

7. Finally, vegetables need healthy, fertile soil! Luckily, we can do many things to improve soil health & fertility. Again, this is an entire topic in itself, so we will dive into that next time when we discuss, "Preparing The Garden For Planting."

Why Garden? Part 3

Today I am going to tell you MY favorite reasons for growing vegetables! If any of these reasons or the reasons listed in Part 1 or Part 2 of, "Why would I want to garden?" sound appealing to you, I hope you will consider growing a garden this year! Remember, if you've never gardened before, don't worry, I will walk you through the start-up process step-by-step.

So, in my case...

I grow vegetables because it's FUN!!!

I love spending time outdoors, being close to nature.

When I am stressed, gardening calms me.

Working with the seeds, the plants, the soil... it's all very meditative for me.

I like gardening by myself. I enjoy the calming, peaceful alone time.

I also like gardening with friends and family. It's a great way to spend time together.

I LOVE seeing beautiful baby plants sprouting up from the soil!

I like seeing morning dew on the leaves of lettuce & cilantro, raindrops gently dripping off of red, shiny peppers.

Essentially, I see beauty in everything in the garden, from the moist, crumbly texture of the soil to the colors, shapes, & textures of different vegetable seeds, to the myriad shades of greens, reds, yellows, and even pinks & purples of the vegetables themselves.

I love feeling the sun on my back and wearing a big straw hat!

I like taking artistic photos of vegetables.

In general, I love being creative with the entire gardening process. I can read endlessly about gardening, I love experimenting with new vegetable varieties, and when spring is right around the corner, I find that scheming up new ways of growing my garden is more fun than going out on a Saturday night.

I like working hard and seeing the fruits of my labor.

I enjoy sharing the food I've grown with family, friends, and coworkers. They are so appreciative and sometimes can hardly believe how fresh and delicious garden-fresh produce tastes.

Nothing beats walking outside, grabbing a head of this, a couple roots of that, picking a pepper or tomato, snipping a few sprigs of herbs, then walking back inside and cooking up a fabulously fresh breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

There's also nothing like walking past the garden and seeing the most delicious looking spinach, sweetest snap peas, juiciest cherry tomatoes, etc. and just grabbing them and munching on them right there. YUM!!!!

I love sharing the garden with children. They LOVE finding and eating the sweet snap peas, the cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes. They are very curious and interested in discovering that the broccoli head grows right out of the center of a giant broccoli plant! They like finding worms, bugs, and butterflies in the garden. Children are delightful gardening companions.

The family dog likes the garden too. When he's not stealing our sweet, juicy snap peas, he enjoys romping around in the backyard with me as his pal.


I could go on and on about why I love to garden, and surely other people garden for additional unique reasons. I will just end Gardening Info Series Question #1 with the following summary:

YOU MAY WISH TO GROW A VEGETABLE GARDEN IF YOU WANT TO EAT DELICIOUS, FRESH, NATURALLY GROWN FOOD, POTENTIALLY SAVE MONEY ON GROCERIES, AND/OR IF ANY OF WHAT I'VE WRITTEN ABOVE SOUNDS FUN, BEAUTIFUL, CALMING, TASTY, OR INVITING TO YOU IN ANY OTHER WAY.

Question #2 in our Gardening Info Series will be:
"How To Select A Garden Site"

Why Garden? Part 2

Gardening Info Series Question #1:
"Why Would I want to garden?"

In last week's post I talked about the exceptional taste and potential health benefits of vegetable gardening. Today, I'll discuss the potential cost savings of growing one's own food.

Tonight, in response to hearing someone say, "But eating organic is so expensive," I went snooping around the produce sections of two large grocery stores, notebook in hand, writing down the prices of Certified Organic (O) and Conventional (C) vegetables. Here are just a few of my observations:

Lettuce
Iceberg: $1.99/head O, $1.49/head C
Romaine & Leaf: $2.99/lb O, $1.49/lb C
Boston: $4.29/head O, $1.49/lb C
Pre-washed Bagged Salad Mix:
$5.99/10oz. ($.60/oz.) O
$3.49/6 oz. ($.58/oz) C

Beets with Tops
$3.99/bunch O, $3.49/bunch C

Kale, Collards, Swiss Chard
$3.49/bunch O, $1.99/bunch C

Radishes
$2.99/bunch O, $2.49/bunch C

Clearly, in every case the organic vegetables are more expensive. Yet, each of us may have our own opinion about how significant and/or "worth it" we feel it would be to buy the organic option in each particular case above.


This is Part 2 of, "Why would I want to garden?" Therefore, since I've already told you about the health benefits and the great, fresh taste of garden-grown veggies, the second response I offer you to this question is the following:

YOU MAY WANT TO CONSIDER GROWING VEGETABLES IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO EAT FRESH, HEALTHY, NATURALLY-GROWN PRODUCE POTENTIALLY AT A VERY LOW COST!

Let's take my family and the crop Romaine Lettuce as an example of how we could save money by planting a vegetable garden. Why did I choose lettuce? Because lettuce is easy to grow, even for beginners, and it doesn't take up much space in the garden!


We are going to assume the following:

a) We have selected a garden site that meets all the essential requirements for growing great veggies.
(Stay tuned, I will teach you how to do this!)

b) My family eats 1 lb. Romaine Lettuce per week.

c) We prefer to buy Organic ($2.99/lb).

d) We grow lettuce only when it grows best, about 6 weeks in spring, 6 weeks in fall.

e) A packet of Certified Organic seeds costs $3.50.


Now we can do the following math:

Grocery Price x Quantity Eaten x Weeks Grown) - Seed Cost = Potential $$$ We Could Save

$2.99/lb. x 1 lb. x 12 weeks - $3.50 = $32

Some readers may say, "Wow, that's great!" Others may say, "That's nothing. I'm not going to grow a garden just to save $32!" Both of those are excellent responses, because every family's financial situation, time availability to maintain a garden, etc. is different.

I would like to point out, however, that larger families may consume more lettuce than my small household, plus LETTUCE IS JUST ONE OF MANY CROPS THAT CAN BE EASILY GROWN IN A WISCONSIN GARDEN! Therefore, if you do a similar calculation for each of the crops you would like to grow, the potential cost savings will begin to look much prettier.


You'll notice that I keep saying potential cost savings. This is because of assumption a) in the example above (a garden site that meets the requirements for growing great vegetables). For some, growing a vegetable garden can be as cheap as buying seeds and paying the water bill. For others, depending on their location, soil type & fertility, and other factors that I will go into more detail about later, gardening could actually cost more money than it saves.

I encourage you to continue to follow this Gardening Info Series because I will keep telling you more of what you need to pay attention to in the garden planning process!


Next post: "Why would I want to garden? Part 3"

Why Garden? Part 1

Gardening Info Series Question #1:
"Why Would I want to garden?"

1) Without a doubt, food grown naturally in a home garden is exceptionally FRESH!

2) Fresh vegetables taste amazing and are HEALTHY for growing children and adults too.

3) The USDA recommends that children ages 2-8 eat 1-1.5 cups of vegetables PER DAY! Girls and boys ages 9-18 need 2-3 cups per day depending on their age, sex, and daily physical activity. As adults we need 2-3 cups of vegetables every single day!

Now, let me ask you this: Have you ever worked at a restaurant? A bakery/deli? A health food store? A Certified Organic vegetable farm?

ALL PLACES THAT GIVE YOU FREE FOOD!

I have worked at all four of those places, and let me tell you what I learned from those experiences.

IN GENERAL, WHEN WE HAVE CONVENIENT, FREE ACCESS TO CERTAIN TYPES OF FOOD, EVEN IF WE TRY TO RESIST, WE INEVITABLE BEGIN TO INCLUDE MORE OF THOSE FOODS IN OUR DIET!

The same is true for having a vegetable garden. When we have already bought the seeds, spent hours in the hot sun planting and tending our garden, and then suddenly right outside the back door have a generous bounty of delicious, fresh produce just waiting to be eaten, chances are

WE WILL INCREASE OUR DAILY VEGETABLE INTAKE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS NEW, FREE, DELICIOUS FOOD SOURCE.

Besides the exceptional taste and thehealth benefits of eating garden-fresh produce, there are additional benefits to growing a vegetable garden, which I will discuss next time.

Gardening Info Series Overview

It’s March and spring is right around the corner. If you’re like me, you’re having visions of the delicious, high-yielding, beautifully maintained vegetable garden you intend to grow this season!

Or, maybe you’ve never gardened before, but the idea of saving money on grocery bills, eating a healthier diet, or getting your kids involved in a fun, educational project this summer sounds appealing.

My name is Brenda Foster. I am the Founder and Director of Wisconsin Families Garden, LLC. In this Gardening Info Series, I will answer some of the important questions individuals and families are asking about planning and managing a vegetable garden.

If you want to garden but don’t know how, don't think you have the space, or if gardens you grew in the past didn’t turn out as you envisioned they would, then I encourage you to follow our Gardening Info Series, starting with this question:

"Why would I want to garden?"