Self Starters

This early in the season we don't have a water hook-up to the city and thus rely exclusively on our rain barrels.  Until these seemingly endless April showers kicked in, this giant ice block is all we had to work with.  Great if you're looking to make a sculpture of a man-eating sea horse, but not so much for watering sprouts.  Empty your rain barrels before winter folks!  Lesson learned.

Evelyn demonstrates Ginkgo's new wood chipper.

Despite the lack of water, we are chipper (ba-dum-ching) and our self-starting perrenials have launched the season!

On a side note: this photo will probably be the last of our wooden south facing fence... I can't think of a better photo to show why we are getting a new fence.

Take the rhubarb for example.  By their own will-power these weird alien protrusions begin freaking out volunteers  each spring.  While they currently look like sickly crumpled viscera, soon they will look like pie.  And you wonder why we volunteer.

And without any coaxing we are surprised by the half inch purple nub of an asparagus spear.  This perennial won't yield significant harvests for another couple of years, but it is encouraging to see that it survived year one.

And remember those turnips that never grew last year?  They were in the ground waiting for us early this spring.  The one that I took home was too squishy to eat, but that doesn't make their triumph less remarkable.

While we all look forward to tomatoes that a grocery store could not feasibly stock or finger-staining berries that taste better because you left a little skin in the bramble, spring is brought to us by self starters.  While we fill beds with seeds and transplants, the early risers give us something to look at.  And did I mention, there will be pie.

Frost tolerant volunteers plant potatoes.

2013 garden plan

seedlings and the Crunchy Singularity

 On sills and shelves in homes and greenhouses in the north and west sides of Chicago, the seedlings for Ginkgo's next season await transplanting.

This year, I tried something new: starting collard seeds in cardboard tubes instead of peat pots or plastic seed pots. Most of the tubes were originally toilet paper or paper towel rolls. I did manage to start one collard in the bottom of the package for an individual compact fluorescent light bulb. This act that may have initiated the Crunchy Singularity; sorry about that. (Somewhere in the Pacific, a small island is spontaneously covered with a layer of raining hacky sacks.)



What the YouTube videos and other sites fail to mention is that you must be precise when building the seed starters from cardboard tubes, or else you wind up with a small leaning tower that you then have to secure using tape.

 After a few weeks, I transplanted seedlings to a more traditional arrangement. They should be ready for the garden in a couple of weeks.

 Further west, Dave started our tomato and pepper seedlings in donated greenhouse space.

Labels made from popsicle sticks are certainly green--but they can't beat a seed pot made from a CFL box.

April 13 - Chicago Cares Day

The morning of April 13 surprised us with a light snow. Together with a group of volunteers from Chicago Cares, we worked to wrest the garden from the begrudging grip of winter. 

Turning beds

Sieving compost

We sieved compost from our bins and worked it into the raised beds. We planted garlic, peas, and radishes and found places to lay out hay bales to dry.

The clouds broke briefly just as we finished up for the day.

April 13: the panic in ginkgo park

When we consider gardening equipment, a sharps dispenser and heavy rubber gloves are not the first things to come to mind. Our garden is in the city, however--so sometimes our trips to the hardware store are for things other than tomato stakes or pruning shears.

The front area of our garden is open to the public. Benches and a small ornamental bridge invite passersby to sit under our flowering trees and consult their smartphones, or watch their dogs sniff around our prairie grasses.


Sometimes, of course, people put the front area to less innocuous uses. We are accustomed to picking up confettied lottery tickets, spent forties and empty tallboys on our Saturday morning workdays. We find the occasional thumb-sized plastic baggie emblazoned with a cannabis leaf, or the suspicious glass tube. Once, I happened upon the contents of a pocketbook in one of the beds near the street: detritus from a purse-snatching, a sad tale strewn amidst the allium stalks.

The remains of a full heroin rig, though, are a different thing entirely. We now have to worry about needle sticks in addition to our more mundane concerns over powdery mildew and fusarium wilt.

We notified the police, who have promised to keep an eye on the garden on weekdays when we are not around. We hope that the increased scrutiny will ward away those who would use the garden as a shooting gallery. We will also keep volunteers out of the corner where we found the rig, and only work in that area with heavy gloves.

I realize now that I have always secretly believed that the garden was an oasis from urban ills like crack or heroin, and protected from unpleasantness because of its mission. That belief was childish. If we are to be an oasis, it must be by choice, and awareness, and diligence.

Opening Day!

Oh yeah! Gingko will open the gate for the 2013 season at 9:30 am on Saturday April 6th! We can't promise anything other than the best day of your life.

Volunteers of all skill levels are invited. Drop on by whether you have been gardening for years or think that vegetables come from a stork.

You are encouraged to arrive by 9:30 am, but won't be turned away if you arrive later in the day. Volunteers can expect the day to go as late as 1-2pm, but whatever time you can give is enormously appreciated.

Keep in mind that Ginkgo is a volunteer based garden that grows fresh organic produce for donation. If you're looking for a garden to grow food for yourself or your family, come volunteer anyways and maybe you'll learn about private lots in the area.

Come meet the best dang people in the city on April 6th at Ginkgo Organic Gardens — 4055 N Kenmore! And remember to join us on Facebook!

If you, like this basil, have been stuck inside all winter and need a little sunshine, come spend time with us on April 6th!

Stay tuned!

Opening day is coming soon! Stay tuned for more details and start holding your breath!