GREAT GARDENSIdeas for Smart Gardeners

WITH MAGAZINE

S P R I N G 2 0 1 4

Grow Strawberries in Containers

Plans for 3 Edible Gardens

Choosing & Using Stakes

Trouble-free Climbing Plants

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12

Sewn in the Earth

Lean on Me

Climb Aboard!

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05 EDITOR’S NOTESpring is Here...At Last

06 OUR FAVORITE THINGSGear to Try This Year

22 TIME-SAVING TIPSCover Up!

24 CONTAINER GARDENING Strawberry Sundae

26 SMALL SPACES Small-space Chicago

28 COMMUNITY GARDENCity Slicker Farms

30 KIDS GARDENSquare-Foot Gardening With Kids

31 KITCHEN GARDENINGBeets

32 PLANT PROFILESSpring-planted Bulbs

33 QUOTE OF THE SEASONAA Milne

EDITORIAL

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Community Leader Patty Dunning

Editor Meghan Shinn

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Meghan Shinn, Marie Woodie

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Managing Photographer Ric Deliantoni

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Winter in my area was a real doozy

this year, as it was in many other

regions, too. I’m so happy to at last

be seeing and hearing the signs of spring—

birds chirping, a strengthening sun, beneficial

rains and, of course, my garden coming back to

life. Winters like this past one make it all the more

worthwhile to be a gardener. Although the wait for

spring can seem even more agonizing than it is for

most, its arrival is also that much more exuberant.

So what will you do with all of your gardening

joy this spring? This issue of Great Gardens

includes more than a few ideas you can put

into action. You’ll find practical advice on using

stakes and other supports; ideas for making your

vegetable garden a touch more artistic; strategies

for growing strawberries in containers; and much

more. Enjoy this issue, and make the most of all

your time in the garden from now until—dare I say

it—next fall’s first frost!

— Meghan Shinn :: E D I T O R

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Certain plants need support. Tall, lanky flowering perennials, like delphiniums, and those with heavy flowers, like peonies, need help to

hold up their blossoms. Vining vegetable plants can avoid diseases and produce rounder fruit when they’re kept up off the ground. The gardener willing to work with slouchy plants can enjoy some great returns for his or her effort. First, training plants to grow up supports saves space; it leaves more open ground in which to plant. And by creating vertical elements you also add another dimension of visual appeal to your garden design. Turn the page for the basics of choosing and using the right supports for what you want to grow.

LeanMastering the ups and downs of garden supports

by Meghan Shinn

ON ME

| GREAT GARDENS 9

XX

GENERAL STAKING TIPS 1. Get supports in place early in the season, before the plant actually needs them. Then you can simply guide the plant onto the support as it grows, adding ties if necessary. If you wait until the plant is sprawl-ing to place your supports, you’ll risk damaging its stems, its roots or surrounding plants as you try to work in their midst.

2. Be sure that supports are anchored deep in the ground so that they won’t blow over in strong wind or collapse under the weight of the plant.

3. Not all plants need to be tied onto their supports; some have tendrils with which they cling. For those that do need ties, choose a soft material and don’t tie it too tight. Wrap the tie in a figure-8 so that the center of the 8 sits between the stem and the support. Options include hook-and-loop tape, yarn, soft twine and repurposed materials like strips of old nylons or cloth.

4. Supports are utilitarian, but they can also add visual appeal. Consider them as design elements when you’re planning your garden. Site plants that need support at the center or corners of a bed, or within any space that could benefit from a vertical element. Supports that you can leave in place year-round, like sturdy wooden or iron teepees, will provide interest and definition in winter.

/STAKES are single rods made of bamboo, metal or other material. Some have a ring at the top, through which a flower stem can be trained.

They’re best for tall, clumping perennials like delphiniums and coneflowers as well as those with tall, single flowering stems, like foxgloves, lilies and oriental poppies. Single stakes also work well

for tomato plants and plants that twine around a support with their stems, like morning glory, honeysuckle and pole beans. In most cases you’ll need to tie the plant to the stake, although this may be unnecessary for twining stems.

/CAGES AND GRIDS offer plants a framework, usually circular, through which to grow. A cage is usually a circular frame with horizontal bars running around it at several levels; these keep the plant loosely bundled together. A grid, mean-while, has crisscrossing bars at its top, and stems grow through the holes between these.

Grids are best for bushy perennials with heavy flowers, such as peonies and Shasta daisies. Cages work well for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and eggplants. Be sure the space between the bars of the cage is large enough to harvest through.

SUPPORTIVE SHRUBS Shrubs can serve as supports for vines and climb-ing plants. Simply plant the climber at the base of the shrub and guide it into the branches. You can take advantage of seasons of interest when mak-ing pairs. For instance, train summer-flowering sweet peas through a spring-flowering shrub that would otherwise look ho-hum in summer. This technique works best with climbers that won’t entirely overrun the shrub; stick to annuals or moderate vines like clematis.

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/HOW TO SKIP STAKING You can avoid the need to stake certain perennials by performing “the Chelsea chop,” so named be-cause it’s done just after the Chelsea Flower Show in its country of origin, England. Candidates include tall sedums and phlox, coneflowers (Echinacea and Rudbeckia), tickseed (Coreopsis) and goldenrod (Solidago). Simply cut a third to half of each stem off in late spring in your area. The plants will flower later, but they’ll be shorter and bushier, with more flower buds. If the Chelsea chop seems a bit drastic, you might try it on just a few plants within a group-ing. This will give you an extended period of bloom and fewer stakes to manage.

/FINDING SUPPORT You don’t have to buy pre-fab garden supports; you can easily create your own with a little imagina-tion and some found objects. The most traditional example is what the British call peasticks—twiggy stems cut from existing trees and shrubs, especially willows. Use them singly or bend and twist them into cages. Branch out by scouring second-hand stores and yard sales for potential supports, like iron headboards, old ladders, wicker furniture, beach chairs—anything you can imagine training a plant to grow up or through. In the above photo an old gate finds new life as a trellis.

/TRELLISES are upright grids made of hori-zontal and vertical lines. A trellis can be rigid, such as one built of wood, or flexible, such as one created with string or twine. Trellises can be freestanding or attached to a wall or other structure.

Trellises are best for plants that climb with skinny tendrils, like sweet peas, or use their leaves like tendrils, such as clematis and nasturtium. Cucumbers, squash, gourds and other vegetables will grow on a trellis. Scrambling roses can also use a trellis, but they will likely need to be tied to it.

For plants with skinny tendrils, use a trellis with thin bars—no thicker than a quarter inch—or one made of string. The horizontal lines should be between two and four inches apart. Plants with twining leaves can work around bars up to one inch thick.

/TEEPEES AND TUTEURS are multi-sided supports that culminate in a top, sometimes with a decorative finial.

These can work for plants that are suited to individual stakes or to cages, with some training and possibly some tying.

They usually offer more of a design element than utilitarian stakes and cages, making them a great choice for the center of a bed.

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| GREAT GARDENS 12

Climbing nasturtiums will slowly cover a support with their bright flowers and circular leaves. Climbing varieties include ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Spitfire’.

| GREAT GARDENS 13

No matter the size of your garden, you aren’t making the most of your space if it doesn’t include a climbing plant or two. Climbers expand your available growing area because they use the vertical plane. They can be an important design element, providing inter-

est at eye level and higher, hiding an eyesore, serving as a shady green ceiling or any combination of the above.

However, certain climbing plants have earned the group a repu-tation that causes gardeners to shy away from using them. You may think of climbers as too slow to grow and flower (think climbing hydrangea)—or, conversely, as quick, aggressive, rampant growers bent on consuming everything in their path (think Asian wisterias or certain honeysuckles). Climbers seem too permanent for some gardeners—perhaps you don’t want to commit to a green wall as a feature of your garden from year to year.

If any of these quibbles sound close to home, worry no more. In-stead, turn the page for climbers that are quick to grow and flower, yet unlikely to eat your landscape alive. The majority of them are annuals in most hardiness zones, so you needn’t commit to them for more than one gardening year. I’ve noted how each plant climbs, so you can flip back to the previous story (“Lean on Me, page 8) and match them up with the most suitable type of support. More excuses? Many of these plants also look fine rambling along the ground or spilling out of hanging baskets. Let’s get planting!

7 climbing plants for the impatient, the fearful or the fickle

by Meghan Shinn

ClimbABOARD!

| GREAT GARDENS 14

BLACK-EYED SUSAN VINE Thunbergia alata

BEST FOR: The impatient and the fickle. Its enthusiasm may turn off the fearful.

THE BASICS: Typically grown as an annual for its small but profuse and cheerful flowers, which have 5 bright petals surrounding a dark center. Climbs 3 to 8 feet in a growing season, with twining stems.

GROW IT: Buy potted plants or sow seed in the garden after frost has passed, or start seed indoors 6 to 8 weeks before expected last frost. Full sun to part shade; more sun means more flowers. Moder-ate water. Hardy in USDA Zones 10–11.

CLIMBING NASTURTIUM Tropaeolum majus

BEST FOR: The fearful and the fickle. They need some help to climb, which may not fly with the impatient.

THE BASICS: Like their mounding brethren, climbing nasturtiums are annual plants with large, round leaves and intriguing, textural flowers from spring to fall. They send out runners that you must loosely tie to a support, after which they’ll begin to climb to 4 to 6 feet, gingerly holding on with their leaf stems.

GROW IT: Direct sow the seed after frost has passed. Full sun to part shade. Keep them watered. The leaves and flowers are edible.

CHILEAN GLORY FLOWER Eccremocarpus scaber

BEST FOR: The impatient and the fearful. It’s root-hardy to Zone 8, so fickle gardeners there, be forewarned.

THE BASICS: Chilean glory flower has ferny leaves and bright, tubular flowers through the summer. It grows to 10 to 15 feet in warm areas and 6 to 8 feet in cooler regions, using skinny tendrils to climb.

GROW IT: Start seed indoors in winter or purchase potted plants to place in the garden in late spring. Full sun to light shade; moist soil. Where it’s not hardy, you can pot up cuttings to winter indoors, and these will bloom sooner than seed-grown plants the next year.

CUP-AND-SAUCER PLANT Cobaea scandens

BEST FOR: The impatient and the fickle. Its strength and vigor may startle the fearful.

THE BASICS: This quick-growing vine can reach 10 to 20 feet even where it’s grown as an annual. It has

| GREAT GARDENS 15

fragrant, purple-and-green dangling flowers in late summer; these inspire its common name. It clings by skinny tendrils.

GROW IT: Start seeds indoors in late winter, or purchase spring transplants. Full sun, moderate watering. Provide it with a sturdy support because it can become quite heavy. Hardy in Zones 9–11.

PURPLE HYACINTH VINE Lablab purpurea

BEST FOR: The impatient, the fearful and the fickle.

THE BASICS: Popular in colonial times, hyacinth vine is experiencing a resurgence of interest thanks to its quick growth, purple summer flowers and showy purple seed pods. An annual that can reach 15 feet tall, it climbs via twining leaves.

GROW IT: Direct sow seeds after last frost or purchase small plants in spring. Full sun, moderate water. You can harvest the seeds to plant in following years; it may also self-sow, though not rampantly. The seed pods are edible but only if properly cooked; raw pods are poisonous. May behave as a short-lived perennial in Zones 9–11.

SCARLET RUNNER BEAN

Phaseolus coccineus

BEST FOR: The impatient, the fearful and the fickle.

THE BASICS: Truly both edible and ornamental, scarlet runner bean produces beautiful red flowers and 8-inch-long beanpods that can be eaten whole or shelled for use as fresh or dried beans. Grows to 8 to 10 feet tall with twining stems. Annual.

GROW IT: Direct sow seeds after the last frost. Harvesting the pods will keep the plant flowering. They’re happiest in cooler weather, so they may take a break in midsummer and resume growth when temperatures fall. Perennial in Zone 10.

CROSSVINE Bignonia capreolata

BEST FOR: The impatient and the fearful. Not for the fickle, as it’s a hardy, woody vine that will happily cover a wall or fence.

THE BASICS: A woody vine native to eastern North America, crossvine offers large green leaves and fragrant spring flowers. It has adhesive discs with which it clings to flat surfaces. It can reach 35 to 50 feet.

GROW IT: Site in either sun or shade, bearing in mind that more sun means more flowers. Moderate water. Zones 5–9. It is evergreen in the warmer zones. The stems may die to the ground in Zone 5, with new stems sprouting from the roots in spring. A good grower, but not aggressive or invasive.

| GREAT GARDENS 16

A look at the Quilt Gardens at Missouri’s Powell Gardens, plus planting patterns to try at home

by Meghan Shinn

photographs by Al Parrish, planting plans Gillian Carson

SewnEARTH

XX

IN THE

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It’s hard for any gardener to visit a botanic garden without seeing something (or many things) that sparks an idea to try at home. Powell Gardens, in Kan-sas City, Mo., has no shortage of inspiring displays, many of which make up its 12-acre Heartland Harvest Garden, the

largest edible landscape in the United States. Designed in celebration of the Midwest’s rich farmland, it includes fruit, vegetable, grain and nut plants, all arranged in ways that are at once artful and practical.

The centerpiece of the Heartland Harvest Garden is a beauti-ful section called the Quilt Gardens, where raised beds of familiar crops make up the pieces of four enormous quilt blocks. This dis-play will resonate with any vegetable gardener who’d like to try an eye-catching design for their food plants, rather than conventional rows. Best yet, re-creating the look in your own back (or front) yard would not be difficult. Read on for a virtual tour of the Quilt Gardens, plus three geometric planting plans to use at home.

EARTH

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| GREAT GARDENS 19

monrovia.com shop.

buy online!

Now you can purchase Monrovia plants online at shop.monrovia.com.

It’s easy! Simply go online, choose from our ever-changing selection of Distinctively Better® plants

for sale, and choose the garden center where you want your plant order shipped.

You will be notified by the garden center when your plants have arrived for pickup. When available, you may

also schedule home delivery and installation.

Choose from a broad selection of plants for all climate zones and happy shopping!

Monrovia... High-bred. Well-fed. Loving-care.

s h o p . m o n r o v i a . c o m

| GREAT GARDENS 20

POWELL’S QUILT GARDENS 1. OLD MISSOURI CROPS GARDEN Major Midwestern crops are on display here, including oats, barley, sugar beets, soybeans, corn, cotton and more, depending on the season.

2. MISSOURI STAR ORCHARD GARDEN Berries and fruit trees fill this section, which is split into pieces the size of a typical back yard. The garden gives visitors ideas of how to grow their own fruit by using space-saving techniques like espalier.

3. KANSAS STAR FORAGE CROPS GARDEN This garden shows how farming is important even to the most passionate meat eater—it shows off the grasses and legumes that are used as graze for cattle. Climb to the silo’s observation deck for an overhead view of these crops’ colors and textures.

4. VILLANDRY QUILT GARDEN Inspired by France’s Chateau Villandry, this quilt block features beds of artistically arranged vegetable plants, show-ing visitors how an edible garden can be as beautiful as it is practical.

Tips for Planting in Pattern Use straight lines when drawing a plan; these will be much easier to enact and maintain than curves.

Plan to plant closely within rows, so that no soil will show between the mature plants, but leave a hoe’s width between rows, so that you can weed the garden and for definition of your pattern.

At planting time, map out the design on the ground with string or sand.

You can sow seeds or use transplants. The latter will make your pattern more instantly visible. Sowing from seed may make your design patchy at first, as different crops germinate and develop at their own pace. You might use seeds for some crops and transplants for slower growers.

Above: Four large quilt-like gardens make up the showpiece of the Heartland Harvest Garden at Missouri’s Powell Gardens. Centered by a network of arbors, they include the Villandry Quilt (right foreground, with the Missouri Star behind it) and the Kansas Star (left foreground, with the Old Missouri Crops pattern behind it).

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SUNBURST GARDEN Try to arrange this garden so that the long diagonal lines run north to south, which will maximize the sunlight hitting the plants. The Sunburst is made up of spring-planted crops, many of which will be ready to harvest in a matter of weeks. After harvest-ing, you can replant the garden with heat-loving crops. Download a larger image and description of the Sunburst Garden.

DIAMOND HERB GARDEN This garden includes both perennial and annual herbs. The box border, the thyme and the lavender can give the garden some winter interest (depend-ing on region); the wigwams will, too, if you choose sturdy designs that can be left out all year. Chives and sage are perennial in many areas; the rest can be sown from seed or transplanted in spring. This garden reaches its peak of beauty in sum-mer. Download a larger image and description of the Diamond Herb Garden.

SALAD GARDEN This is a great design with which to start, because lettuces and other salad plants lend themselves quite well to pattern making. They stay compact and offer beautiful colors and textures. Leaf vegetables are also the most accepting of shady conditions. To keep this garden productive and looking fresh, try succes-sion planting. You can either direct sow each row as it empties, or sow replacement plants in pots and transplant them into the garden as needed. Download a larger image and description of the Salad Garden.

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TIME-SAVING TIPS •

Cover Up!5 tips on choosing and using

garden mulch

OKAY—SPREADING MULCH DOES REQUIRE A GOOD CHUNK OF YOUR TIME. But once it’s in place, mulch will save you from many hours of work over the rest of the growing season. It prevents weeds from sprouting, locks in moisture and even feeds the soil as it breaks down. To get the most from your mulch, keep these tips in mind.

Use organic mulches (composed of mate-rial that was once alive)because they feed the soil as they break down. Choices include bark nuggets, grass clippings, straw, compost, chopped leaves and combinations of these.

by Meghan Shinn

M u l c h n e e d s t o b e reapplied as it breaks down, but add only enough to mainta in a proper depth. You don’t need to add 2 to 3 inches annually unless all the original mulch has decomposed.

In most cases the layer of mulch should be 2 to 3 inches thick. This depth will prevent most weeds and conserve moisture without suffocating or waterlogging the soil.

Contrary to belief, you don’t need to add extra nitro-gen fertilizer when using bark mulch. It does not tie up nitrogen to an extent that would harm most plants.

Containers benefit from mulch, too, especial ly b e c a u s e t h e s o i l i n p o t s d r i e s o u t m o re quickly than the ground. Any garden mulch i s appropriate for pots, too, or try something offbeat, like tumbled glass chips.

| GREAT GARDENS 23

HORTICULTURE’S

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| GREAT GARDENS 24

CONTAINER GARDENING •

flushes throughout the growing season rather than appearing all in one early-summer crop. Finally, these kinds of strawberries can produce a good crop in their first season, while it’s recommended that June-bearing kinds be prevented from flower-ing and fruiting their first year.

Choice of containersStrawberry plants are shallow rooted, so they don’t need very deep containers. A six- to eight-inch depth will suffice. A popular choice is the whis-key barrel, which allows enough surface area for several plants. (Plants should be spaced at least 10 inches apart.) The bottom of the barrel can be filled with packing peanuts, empty soda cans or other space fillers, since the plants don’t need deep soil. Traditional strawberry jars are awkward to plant and water, but a recent rendition, the Stack-A-Pot, offers similar benefits while being much easier to maintain. Strawberry plants can also be grown in hanging baskets or window boxes. Make sure any container you use has drainage holes.

Planting and careKeep your pots where they will receive at least six hours of sun each day. Plant young strawberry plants in early to mid-spring, giving them a chance to get established before hot weather ensues. Use a loose, fertile growing mix. Fill your container, then dig a hole for each plant. Create a hill of soil within each hole, mounding it so that the top of the hill is at the same level as the soil that surrounds the hole. (The hole will look like a doughnut.) Place one strawberry plant atop each hill and arrange its roots over the sides of the hill, then fill in with soil.

Strawberry SundaeShort on space? Strawberries will grow happily in pots

by Meghan Shinn

EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS A FAVORITE WAY TO EAT STRAWBERRIES: on breakfast cere-al, in a salad, mixed with pineapple or green grapes, “just plain.” We could easily eat our way through a large berry patch, but with limited sunny in-ground garden space, we must enjoy homegrown strawberries only from a few plants grown within containers.

Happily, strawberries take well to pots. There are even a few advantages to growing them this way. Pots can be easier than full-blown patches to protect from squirrels, chipmunks, groundhogs and similar wildlife. Growing strawberry plants in pots can help them avoid the foliar diseases to which they’re prone, which are spread through ground soil. Containers elevate the plants, im-proving air circulation, which also helps prevent diseases. And tall containers, or pots set on tables, make it easy for gardeners with limited mobility to tend and harvest this low-growing crop.

Strawberries fall into several categories: June-bearing, everbear-ing, day-neutral and alpine. For containers, stick to everbearing, day-neutral or alpine varieties, because they do not spread much. Although smaller than that of June-bearing types, their fruit is still delicious, and it comes in several

| GREAT GARDENS 25

A properly planted strawberry plant will have its crown sitting just atop the surface of the soil. Add a layer of lightweight mulch to suppress weeds, conserve soil moisture and keep the soil cool.

Strawberry plants generally need an inch of water each week, whether by rainfall, hand wa-tering or a combination. They prefer the soil to remain consistently moist, but not waterlogged. Keep in mind that containers will dry out more quickly than the ground. For maximum produc-tion, day-neutral and everbearing varieties should be removed of any runners, or offshoots, that they begin to send out. This will direct all their en-ergy into developing flowers. Berries usually ripen about 30 days after the flowers are pollinated, if the weather remains mostly sunny and warm.

Container plantings can last several years. Leave them in place in USDA Zone 7 and warmer; in colder regions, you should move the contain-ers into a cold but protected area for the winter, or provide a winter mulch. Topdress with com-post in the spring to replenish nutrients in the potting mix, then maintain the plants and enjoy!

Opposite, top: Strawberries grow in small pots. Bottom: The Stack-A-Pot is like a traditional strawberry jar, but easier to use. This page, top: A whiskey barrel cut lengthwise leaves ample room for shallow-rooted strawberries. Bottom: Dangling fruit stays blemish free.

| GREAT GARDENS 26

WITH A FORD FOCUS STATION WAGON AND A PASSION FOR BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE DE-SIGNS, Craig Jenkins-Sutton, alongside his wife Sara, started Topiarius Urban Garden Design in March 2003. Over the years, Topiarius has expand-ed to include a crew of six, two managers and a full-time designer—moving from its station-wagon beginnings into a successful full-service landscap-ing firm.

Located within Chicago, Topiarius is well prac-ticed in small-space designs. Jenkins-Sutton and his crew can see potential anywhere. They of-fer a vast array of services for clients of any size projects—ranging from traditional landscaping, extensive fine maintenance and container designs to urban farming, four-season rotation plantings and rooftop or balcony garden installations. “Our design team is constantly thinking outside the pe-tunia and marigold box,” he says.

One creative small-space design was their “Bucktown Urban Farmers” project. Here To-piarius successfully transformed a property with a 20-by-10-foot sloped front yard and a 24-by-15-foot sunken back yard—which included a 16-by-6-foot cedar deck—into a beautiful, functional landscape in just a little more than 3 weeks.

The clients wanted a landscape with a modern feel that not only complemented the aesthetics of their home, but also addressed water issues

resulting from the sloped and sunken yards. They additionally wanted to touch up the deck and stairs and add a vegetable garden to grow their own food.

To meet the wishes of the client, Topiarius reworked the deck and stairs, making the steps flow out into the garden to create the illusion of more space. They added raised beds for growing vegetables in the sunnier spots and for plants such as ‘Watanabe’ viburnum in the shadier areas. To help with drainage issues, they added a permeable walkway alongside the house and raised one side of the front yard with landscape timbers so that water runs away from the home.

Out front, Topiarius also added Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica), a low-growing, grass-like perennial, in a swath design that “flows like a river,” anchoring the space with a narrow horn-beam and filling remaining areas with Japanese ma-ple, azaleas and boxwood. “The idea was to create movement in the small space,” says Jenkins-Sutton.

The Bucktown Urban Farmers project is just one of many successful small-space gardening projects by Topiarius. “The trick in small-space landscaping is squeezing everything in,” says Jenkins-Sutton. “Getting the design right in a small space is much harder than in a big, suburban yard. We design more like an interior designer or architect than a landscaper, as every inch of space is important.” See more Topiarius projects here.

SMALL SPACES •

Small-space ChicagoTransforming a tiny city yard into a lush green garden

by Maria Woodie

| GREAT GARDENS 27

3 SMALL-SPACE GARDENING TIPS FROM

CRAIG JENKINS-SUTTON1. Grow up, not out. Choose plants that do not grow too wide, as those will eat up a lot of space. Work with your landscaper or local garden center to choose varieties that have a narrow growing habit. Use lattice and climb-ing vines to create a lush garden without taking up a lot of horizontal space.

2. Use containers to add texture and height. Don’t be afraid of larger containers and big colors—make the container a feature. Containers also allow you to provide good soil for plants—just make sure that you keep them watered! They may need to be watered two or more times a day when it is really hot. A simple drip irrigation system can be a real plant saver. 3. Keep it simple. Limit your plant palette to avoid a haphazard look. Use color, but be careful when using really loud colors. That bright orange planter will make a big enough impact—you don’t need to paint the fence orange, too. Keep furniture in scale with your space. That six-piece sectional may look great on the store’s website, but it may leave no room to walk in your garden.—CJS

Opposite, left to right: Craig Jenkins-Sutton and his team reworked the sunken back yard to feature a gravel sitting area ringed with shrubs and boxes of edible plants. The tiny front yard includes boxwood, azaleas, Japanese maple and a “lawn” of Pennsylvania sedge. Above: Planting boxes line the walkway alongside the house.

REDWOOD & ALUMINUM

Santa Barbara GreenhousesCatalog: 800-544-5276 | sbgreenhouse.com721 Richmond Ave. #H Oxnard, CA 93090

Anything you like can be grown year-round in a Santa Barbara Greenhouse

| GREAT GARDENS 28

nizing the hard work of these volunteer farmers, they wanted to pay for the produce. In re-sponse, Rosenthal and the other organizers created the week-ly Center Street Farm Stand, where the harvest is offered on a sliding-scale basis.

Since those early days, City Slicker Farms has expanded to include seven Community Mar-ket Farms (with plans for more), which use previously vacant or underused land to grow pro-duce for the farm stand, plus two programs dedicated to teaching the public how to cre-ate and maintain urban farms and gardens. Recently they won a grant that will help them pur-chase a parcel of land to make their farming efforts more land secure, rather than dependent on the cooperation of other landowners.

“Our programs provide West Oakland residents with the edu-cation, training, essential tools,

resources and ongoing support to empower them to become more food self-sufficient, in-creasing their health and well-being,” says Executive Director Barbara Finnin.

The Urban Farming Educa-tion program offers participa-tion in a variety of approaches and commitment levels, ranging from internships and summer youth crews to market-farm tours, service learning and vol-unteer opportunities. Mean-while the Backyard Gardens program takes the education a step further by showing low-income residents how to grow healthy produce in their very own yard.

“In 2005 we piloted the pro-gram with the idea of creating a network of back-yard garden-ers,” says Finnin. “(This net-work) would increase access to and consumption of healthy foods, provide opportunities for exercise and conserve and

City Slicker FarmsGrowing a healthy

community

COMMUNITY GARDEN SPOTLIGHT •

by Maria Woodie

IN WEST OAKLAND, CALIF., A HARDSCRABBLE YET PROUD COMMUNITY, a determined group of neighbors and friends have banded together to form City Slicker Farms. This organi-zation is dedicated to growing fresh, healthy food and making it available to all residents.

In 2001, Willow Rosenthal donated a plot to be used as an area to grow food to distribute to West Oakland residents—the first City Slicker Farms garden. At first, this plot was maintained entirely by volunteers, and any produce not taken home by the farmers was offered free to the public. However, most commu-nity members did not want to take the food for free; recog-

WEST OAKLAND,

Calif.

| GREAT GARDENS 29

promote the existing knowledge and skills within the community.”

Any low-income household interested in the free program is encouraged to apply. City Slicker Farms’ staff tests the yard’s soil for contaminants. Based on the soil analysis and the desires of the household members, the staff then provides the materials needed for the garden, and together the staffers and the residents create and construct the garden—in only four hours. After they spend a year in the Backyard Garden program, participants are eligible to become a paid or volunteer mentor to newer program candidates.

“There’s nothing that feels better than getting your basket, going outside and picking your din-ner,” says Njelela Kwamilele, who created her first Backyard Garden in 2007 and has been a mentor since 2012. “My garden is a healing process. I really believe that a garden has the capacity to broaden your horizon, and that’s what life is about.”

For more about City Slicker Farms and its pro-grams, visit cityslickerfarms.org.

Opposite page and above: City Slicker Farms’ staff and volunteers work with West Oakland residents to plan and create vegetable gardens in the Backyard Garden program, which promotes self-sufficiency, healthfulness and friendships throughout the community.

SPRINGGET SET FOR SPRINGGET SET FORWITH THE BEST NEW BOOKS FOR YOUR

The most popular plant varieties aren’t always the best. PLANT THIS INSTEAD! (9781591865766) provides 75 alternative choices that may be hardier, less invasive, or simply more attractive than the common choices that populate most gardens. Features clear, side-by-side comparisons of interesting alternatives to everyday varieties.

SQUARE FOOT GARDENING WITH KIDS (9781591865940)is a colorful and lively introduction to the revolutionary gardening method pioneered by Mel Bartholomew—the method that spawned America’s best-selling garden book over the last decade. Teach children the joy of growing vegetables in his or her very own planting box—a perfect place to grow vegetables and an ideal environment for learning with kids of all ages.

Sustainable gardening practices made practical. GROW MORE WITH LESS (9781591865513) is not just a “green” book, but one that helps gardeners reduce the time, effort, and money while they practice environmentally responsible gardening. Sustainable gardening is not only good for the environment, it’s good for a gardener’s pocketbook and lifestyle.

www.wholehomenews.com

BOOKSHELF ANDFOR YOUR

ANDGARDEN!

| GREAT GARDENS 30

KIDS GARDEN •

WHAT PASTIME COMBINES MATH, science and healthy eating, yet still engages the picki-est eater and the homework hater? Gardening! Or, more specifically, square-foot gardening, the practice developed by Mel Bartholomew in the 1970s. Since that time, Bartholomew has helped countless gardeners with his books on the topic, creating many a successful veggie gardener, regardless of their past experience or available space. Most recently, he has authored Square Foot Gardening With Kids, where he tailors the technique to the youngest growers among us.

Square-foot gardening makes a lot of sense for children. It keeps the garden to a manageable size, allows for variety and nearly guarantees success. Bartholomew has trimmed his tradi-tional planting box to a size perfect for young growers: a grid of nine one-foot squares. This gives them enough space to grow several kinds of edible plants without being overly ambitious. They’ll be able to keep up with maintenance—including in the central square, because they’re able to actually reach it.

Square Foot Gardening With Kids walks teach-ers, parents or other adults through the entire process of planning, creating and tending the garden with the children. Bartholomew includes plenty of ways to teach math and science and to encourage creativity and responsibility. There’s also thorough information on various crops, which will help the kids choose what they want to grow and to care for it all properly.

Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or new to growing, this book is an excellent tool for get-ting the children in your life out into the garden, where they can not only learn and be healthy but have fun while they’re at it.

by Meghan Shinn

A review of Mel Bartholomew’s newest book

Square Foot Gardening With Kids

| GREAT GARDENS 31

KITCHEN GARDENING •

B E E T S ( B ETA V U LG A R I S ) ARE A COOL-SEASON VEG -ETABLE CROP BURSTING in rich, earthy flavor and jam-packed with nutritional value. They come in an array of dif-ferent varieties, all featuring brightly colored roots in ra-diant reds, brilliant yellows and creamy whites. The sweet, buttery roots are often enjoyed cooked, pickled or raw, and the sprightly, bitter leaves are commonly used in recipes or tossed in fresh salads.

Beets are fairly tolerant of frost and they’re most success-ful in cooler climates, where their seed clusters can be planted up to 30 days before the last frost, or when the soil temperature is roughly 50˚F. You can successively plant the seeds every three or four weeks until midsummer for a continuous yield. In hot areas of the South, beets should be treated as a winter crop.

Beets will grow in full sun or part shade. Sow seeds half an inch deep and one to two inches apart in well-drained soil that’s rich in organic mat-ter and high in potassium. Space the rows roughly 12 to 18 inches apart. Keep the soil constantly and consistently moist. Your beets will suffer if the soil gets too dry. Spreading a thin layer of mulch over the soil will help lock in moisture.

Thin the seedlings to one to three inches apart when their true leaves begin to form, or when the sprouts have reached

You just can’t beat ‘em

Beets are high in folate, manganese and potassium. Their greens pack an extra punch of vitamin C, beta-carotene, iron and calcium.

Beetsby Maria Woodie

two inches high. Do not pull on the seedlings, but rather pinch them off, as beets have a rela-tively shallow root system, and pulling the unwanted seed-lings up could disturb those that you wish to keep growing.

Beets can be harvested whenever they reach a de-sired size. In general, they’re harvested 50 to 70 days after planting, when leaves are 6 inches in height and the roots are 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Larger roots tend to be tough-er and woody, and taller leaves can become too bitter in fla-vor. Store harvested beets in a cool, dry location or in a sealed bag placed in the refrigerator. Cut the tops down to about an inch above the beet for opti-mal storing. Whether sliced

or diced, cooked, pickled or enjoyed raw, these root veggies do not disappoint.

Gingered Orange Beets

I N G R E D I E N T S2 lbs beets (about 6 beets)2 Tbs olive oil½ tsp salt¼ tsp pepper1 ½ tsp fresh ginger, grated¼ cup orange marmalade1 Tbs orange juice D I R E C T I O N S1. Peel and slice beets. Toss with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange

in one layer in a shallow baking pan.

2. Bake beets at 450˚F for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, stir ginger, marmalade and orange juice together in a small bowl.

3. Remove beets from oven and brush them with the ginger-orange mixture. Return them to the oven and bake for 10 minutes more, or until tender when poked with a fork.

| GREAT GARDENS 32

PLANT PROFILES •

‘SERENE ANGEL’ ORIENTAL LILY offers the big flowers and heavenly

fragrance you expect from a lily, but it possesses no stamens to shed pollen

all over the table should you pick it for a bouquet. Full to part sun; Zones 4–9.

CROCOSMIA ‘LUCIFER’ puts up wiry stems of delicate red flowers from midsummer onward. It has spiky, strappy leaves that make it attractive even before it blooms. Full sun; Zones 5–9.

RED SPIDER LILY Lycoris radiata blooms in late summer, with an intricate blossom atop a tall stalk. Only after it blooms does it produce a clump of leaves, which remains in place over the winter, then disappears. Full sun to part shade; Zones 6–9.

Spring-planted BulbsPlant these now for summer bloom

Lo

ng

fie

ld G

ard

en

sE

ric

Hu

nt

PINEAPPLE LILY Eucomis bicolor lives up to its common name with its unique flower structure. This South African bulb likes even moisture in summer and should be kept dry in winter. Easy in the ground or pots. Full sun; USDA Zones 7–10.

by Meghan Shinn

She turned to the sunlightAnd shook her yellow head,

And whispered to her neighbor‘Winter is dead.’

—AA MILNE, WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG

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