ncg newsletter - issue 4
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Niles Community Gardens April 2012 NewsletterTRANSCRIPT
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Niles C
ommun
ity Garde
ns
Still Time to Register For the First Annual “Run to Grow 5K“ Sign Up Online At RunRace.net
There is still time to register for the first annual ‘Run to Grow 5K!’ On Saturday, April 21st at 9:00 AM, there will be a 5K race and a 1-‐mile fun walk at the Niles River Walk Trail (Niles Amphitheater). Register your friends and family online at RunRace.net until April 16th. Find Niles Community Gardens under April 21st 2012. For details about volunteering for the event, email Lauren Thurston at [email protected] .
Helping others produce their own fruits and vegetables while learning how to live more
sustainably in Southwest Michigan
Niles Community Gardens is currently in fourth place in the 2012 DeLoach Community Garden grant. We are competing with 15 community gardens from across North America! This is an honor and a great opportunity for us! Please support us by going to deloachcommunitygardens.com and voting for us every day! Let’s aim for 2nd place by May!
Niles Community Gardens Currently in
4th Place DeLoach Community Garden grant continues voting daily for four
months
March 2012 Issue 4
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Get your boots and gloves out . . . it’s time to get back in the dirt. Plants are once again growing in the greenhouse, the primrose and daffodils are blooming, and the robins and turkey vultures are back. It’s spring!
The beautiful thing about Michigan is that in winter we get a break, a
rest, a nap from our gardening labors and because of this rest,
we now have a great sense of joy about this new beginning. Don’t you feel sorry for those who miss the winter experience? Start beating the drums – it’s going to be another great gardening year.
Our success this year, or any year, is always dependent on the joy and commitment that all of us bring to
the project: Big Joy, Big Commitment, Big Success!
Please come to your specific (i.e. Westside, Northside, Holy Trinity, etc. ) garden meetings where we will plan this year’s garden.
I look forward to seeing all of you really soon!
Keep on growing,
Mark Van Til
Quote of the Month
“Now ‘tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-‐rooted, Suffer them now and they’ll o’er grow the garden.” -‐William Shakespeare
Letter From the Director
Ingredients: 4 lbs fresh asparagus 16 pieces smoked bacon kosher salt to taste fresh ground black pepper to taste Preheat the oven 325 degrees. Trim off the woody ends of the
Asparagus Wrapped with Smoked Bacon asparagus and blanch for 45 to 60 seconds. Plunge immediately into an ice-‐water bath; when cooled, drain and set aside
Cook the bacon in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly done but still soft, then blot it with paper towels. Make serving-‐size
bundles of asparagus stalks and wrap each with 2 strips of bacon, securing with toothpicks. Place the bundles on a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, and reheat in the oven for about 5 minutes. Remember to take the toothpicks out before serving.
From texasmonthly.com
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All About Tomatoes Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable for American gardeners, but this has not always been the case!
Tomatoes originated in South America (possibly Peru) and were passed along to the rest of the world by the Spaniards in the 16th and 17th centuries. In early American colonies, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous. Legend has it that Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson ate a bushel of tomatoes on the steps of the local courthouse while the local band played a dirge. Lucky for us he didn’t die and now we have ketchup!
There are about 7,500 varieties of tomatoes today, but three major categories: ‘determinate,’ ‘indeterminate,’ and ‘semi-‐determinate.’ These groupings have to do with growth habit and when the fruits mature. The ‘determinate’ types are usually shorter, huskier and bushier than the ‘indeterminate’ types and the fruit tends to mature around the same time. Because of their size and stocky nature, ‘indeterminate’ types are good candidates for containers (don’t go smaller than a 5 gallon bucket). I still recommend stalking, but there are a few varieties
that could go without. In the open garden, I cage all tomatoes regardless of type. If you want to harvest a lot of tomatoes at the same time for salsa or canning, ‘indeterminate’ types can be a good choice. If, however, you want a continuous harvest through fall, you will want ‘indeterminate’ varieties. These varieties have much longer vines (if caged or staked they can reach 6’-‐8’ tall) and must be caged or staked. ‘Indeterminate’ types will continue to bear fruit until the first hard frost (about October 10th on average here in Niles). ‘Semi-‐determinate’ tomatoes are, as the word suggests, somewhere in-‐between. In my home garden I usually have a mix of these three groups with about 80% being ‘indeterminate.’ Most seed packs will indicate which category those seeds are in.
Seed packets will also tell you which disease that particular tomato is resistant to:
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(Continued)
F – Fusarium wilt race 1
F – Fusarium wilt race 2
V – Verticillium wilt race 1
T – Tobacco Mosic Virus
N – Nematodes
A – Alternaia
St – Stem phylium
W – Tomato Spotted Wilt
Most hybrids have some disease resistance but few heirlooms do, but heirlooms are long on taste.
When the season is just about over, I gather the remaining tomatoes regardless of variety (cherries,
roma, beefsteak, etc.) or condition (crocked, spilt, over-‐ripe, half rotten) and trim and throw them all into a big pot for BBQ sauce and ketchup.
This is also the right time for fried green tomatoes. Many green tomatoes will not have time to ripen before the first frost, so watch the weather report and pick everything before it freezes. Enjoy fried green tomatoes or wrap them in newspaper and store in a slightly cool (50-‐65 degrees) place. Storing them at warmer temperatures is OK; they will just ripen faster. Stored this way, you can enjoy your own tomatoes until Thanksgiving or maybe Christmas if you are lucky.
Now is a good time to plant seeds in the house for transplants in late May. When they come up, make sure they get a lot of light.
Written by Mark Van Til
Tomato Pest Control Tomatoes do not usually have many bug problems. One of the most destructive bug problem is the ‘great horned tomato worm.’ He is also the largest bug you will encounter in the garden at 3” or 4” long and as big around as your index finger. Boy can he eat tomato leaves and tomatoes! I have found that when we use the metal cages that we’ve made, there is typically very little problem with these caterpillars because bird can sit on the cages and find them before they’ve done much damage. If the birds miss a few, you will usually see the damage (branches completely stripped of leaves) before you see the caterpillar. Despite their considerable size,
they are quite difficult to find because of their green and speckled color. I used to pay my daughters .25 cents a piece to find those buggers, and for some kids this is actually fun. When you are trying to find them, follow the trail of dark green poo they leave behind – usually below where they are feasting on your tomato plant. If you see damage, it’s important to pick them off now because they can do a lot of damage in short order. I simply pull them off and squish under foot – don’t be afraid, they do not bite and their horns are just decoration. However, before you squish them, admire their beauty. We will talk about tomato blight and blossom-‐end-‐rot in a future issue. Written by Mark Van Til
A Bit of Humor: If a man is alone in his garden and speaks and a woman is
not there to hear him, is he still wrong?
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Make your own Ginger Soda!
Kid’s Corner
Did you know? Soda is not healthy! It has a lot of sugar and a lot of phosphorus. Phosphorus tries to find calcium in your body to bind with and if you don’t have enough calcium in your blood stream, it will steal calcium from your teeth and
bones! This is not good!
What You Need (for 4 glasses of soda)
4 tablespoons of honey
4 tablespoons apple-‐cider vinegar
A large glass jar or pitcher
A stirring spoon
4 glasses natural sparkling water
6 thin slices fresh ginger
What To Do 1. Place the honey and vinegar in the glass jar or
pitcher. Stir until the honey has dissolved. 2. Add the sparkling water. 3. Add the fresh ginger to the sweet-‐and-‐sour
water 4. Taste the soda. What do you think? Add more
honey if you like.
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Share with us!
If you have any stories, jokes, poems, recipes or anecdotes you would like to share in our monthly newsletter, please send them to Sarah Markley via email at [email protected] or via U.S.P.S. at 2625 Holland St, South
Bend, IN 46619
If you are not on our email mailing list and would like to receive our newsletter,
please send your email address to Sarah Markley via email or U.S.P.S. (address
above).
If you do not have email, you can get a copy of our newsletter at the Niles Public
Library, City Hall or the Ferry Street Resource Center.
Garden with us!
If you would like to volunteer in the gardens or on special projects, or if you haven’t gardened with us but would like
to, please email Mark Van Til at [email protected] or call at 269-‐815-‐
5034.
Support us!
To make a monetary donation, please make checks payable to Niles Community
Gardens and mail to: Niles Community Gardens
PO Box 304 Niles, MI 49120
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Niles Community Gardens would like to thank the City of Niles and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for last year’s Community Development Block Grant funding. This money greatly improved our community garden program and will do so again this
Niles Community Calendar First Annual ‘Run to Grow 5K’ Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 9:00 AM 5K Run or 1-‐Miles Fun Walk at the Niles River Walk Trail (Niles Amphitheater) Register online until April 16th by going to: http://www.runrace.net/home.php Click on ‘Find a Race’ and Niles Community Garden Run To Grow 5K is under April 21st. Day of registration will start at 7:00 AM sharp! Runners are asked to plan to register by 8:15 so that their information can be uploaded to the chip timer. Walkers are not timed. We can accept walker registrations until before start of the event and they will start at 9:05 AM (just after runners leave).
Voting for the Deloach Community Garden Grant Voting started March 6th and continues until August 6th 2012.
Go to http://deloachcommunitygardens.com/ and click on the Niles Community Garden video. Type in your email address and name to vote!
Remember, you can vote every day!
Garden Site First Meeting Schedule Holy Trinity gardeners’ meet-‐ April 23rd at 6:30 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Ferry Street gardeners’ meet-‐ April 14th at 1:00 at the Ferry Street garden
Northside gardeners’ meet-‐ April 16th at 6:00 at Northside School
Westside gardeners’ meet: April 24th at 7:00 at the Westside Admin Building
Ring Lardener gardeners’ meet: April 25th at 6:30 in Ring Lardener school library
Ballard gardeners’ meet: April 26th at 7:00 in Ballard school library
NCG Nutrition Classes These classes are a fun and free way to learn about nutrition, gardening, cooking and more! Northside School: 2020 North 5th St. April 16 & 30 from 6-‐7:30
Organic Vegetable Gardening Workshop by Vite Greenhouses Saturday, April 28th at 10:00 AM. Please sign up at: http://vitegreenhouses.com/Seminars.asp