Small but Mighty

Fellow gardeners, last Saturday I ordered Ginkgo's Volunteers to search and destroy rogue mint.

No gardener takes such action lightly.

This morning, I want to tell you what I did and why I did it.

... But seriously.  It was a big weeding and maintenance day.  A small but mighty group of volunteers, set to work pulling weeds.  Three distinct plants that we want in the rhubarb bed are rhubarb, sorrell, and  lovage.  Last year, mint completely overran this bed. This season, the mint pokes up already.  Mega-volunteer Chris carefully traced and extracted the roots of the mint growing in this bed while being careful not to disturb the rhubarb, lovage, or sorrel.

Mint typically and intentionally surrounds the north side of the garden's centerpiece, an ornamental cherry tree (pictured below).  This is mint's home.  Two time volunteer, and friend of the garden Bobby Lee, cut back last year's mint stalks and made room for this year's.  She also weeded the mint area which is super helpful because once the mint is full sized, it will be hard to get other plants out by the roots.  Unlike Chris' careful weeding, Bobby Lee was merciless because mint can take the abuse.

Evelyn organized the shed and cleaned and oiled the tools.  This task keeps our tools useful and rust free, but it also makes the shed more accessible.  There's nothing more frustrating that buying a roll of twine only to find out that there are three rolls hidden somewhere unexpected.

I went after stray garlic chives.  Garlic chives (a flat bladed, more pungent, relative of the more common round bladed chive) have overrun the raspberry bed. This bed should contain raspberries, strawberries, dill, and asparagus.  Ideally, I would live in there because it is heaven.  Unfortunately, bindweed and garlic chives also fill it. Garlic chives, similar to mint, are edible and delicious, but spread quickly and aggressively into other beds.  They make a great snack while weeding.  After the bed was cleared of all signs of garlic chives, Chris top dressed it with a layer of fresh house-made compost.

Probably the biggest step was to set up the rain barrels.  With all of the barrels set up to catch this week's rain, we will have water to plant on April 26th.  Drop by to get into radishes and lettuce!

  

With a Little Help from our Friends

This Earth Day (Tuesday April 22nd) the Whole Foods at 3640 N Halsted will donate 5% of their proceeds to Ginkgo Organic Gardens.

For 20 years Ginkgo has been out-growing hunger by donating our harvests to local hunger fighting organizations.  In recent years we have donated 1,000 – 1,500 pounds of produce annually to Vital Bridges GroceryLand, a food pantry that serves low-income persons living with HIV.  Donations secured through Whole Foods’ 5% Day on Tuesday, April 22nd, will go to help improve the garden through major infrastructure improvements.

Browse through the photos on the blog, so you can visualize the amazing work that you're doing simply by buying escarole, local brews, or bulk peanuts.  Share this post and spread the word like homemade peanut butter! (It's been a big peanut week at my place).

Also, if you just can't wait until Earth Day to start do-gooding for Mother Earth, drop by Ginkgo on Saturday for some beautiful weather and first of the year direct seeding!

necessary wounds

On this unseasonably frigid morning, a small group of us gathered at the garden to prune the fruit trees. Pruning should be done when the trees are dormant, and sap is still far from the distal tips of budless branches.

I had worried that the third week of March might be past the optimal pruning date. As I my feet slowly numbed while I stood in the snow that collected last night under the trees, I understood that we probably could have waited a week or two longer.

Removing branches from a tree opens up its canopy, allowing in sunlight and oxygen and preventing injuries to the tree from the rubbing of entangled limbs. Clearing away water sprouts (or suckers) and small, non-producing branches also directs the tree's growth into the larger branches. Pruned trees often produce more fruit than their untended counterparts.

Although I understand this on an intellectual level, I always find it difficult to close the lopper blades that first time, or to saw through the base of a branch that has grown too much for its small space in the espalier. The task gets easier the more I do it.

1138 pounds

In the daily tasks that occur over a six month growing season, one may not be able to discern larger trends. It may be possible to develop theories that are based on hunches or anxieties, but not information.

For example, I worried through much of the 2013 season that the garden's yield had diminished--our tomatoes in particular. We knew that the season had started slowly, and some of our crops did not produce as we expected. It is only now, after I entered the data from our log into the rickety spreadsheet that I use for harvest analysis, that I understand that the garden's performance is in line with the annual averages. I also discovered some pleasant surprises.

Ginkgo grew and donated 1,138 pounds of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers in 2013. The season's peak occurred on September 14, when we harvested 154 pounds, 70 of which was fruit.

This year's yield was well within a standard deviation (233 lb) of the six-year average of 1202 lb. The yield is slightly better than that of 2012 (1083 lb), but far short of 2009's bumper crop (1617 lb), which was an obvious outlier.

Weekly and YTD yield comparisons, 2008-2013

This year's harvest was shorter this year--only around 20 weeks, instead of the usual 25 or 26 weeks. This was partly by design: instead of trying to eke out a few more weeks of 10-20 pound harvests, we decided to use the last few weeks of available City water to irrigate our cover crops.

Weekly comparisons, 2008-2013

We did notice that our tomato crops died back earlier this year; however, it was only after comparing the annual yields did it become apparent that the peak for this season was later than usual. Our tomato harvest was compressed this year. The 2013 yield of 314 pounds was near the six-year average of 326 (excluding the outlier year of 2012, which had 539 pounds).

The following table shows comparisons by crop. Crops are highlighted in green if new for that year; in blue if the yield was significantly larger than normal; and in red if significantly smaller than normal.

Yields by crop, 2008-2013

Vegetable crops of note for 2013 include:

• artichokes, which we finally succeeded in growing (even if only 2.5 lb)
• cabbage (26 lb)
• kale--a whopping 117 lb. (I did predict early on that 2013 would be an annus borecolus; but I had no idea.)
• peas (17.5 lb)

Disappointments included:

• lettuce (5.5 lb)
• peppers (7.9 lb)
• radish (7.3 lb)
• spinach (0.3 lb)

Vegetable Crop Composition Comparison, 2008-2013

After a long run of small harvests, 2013 was a banner year for tree fruit, with 174 lb of apples and 152 lb of pears. Although we only obtained 12.5 lb of plums, we were heartened to see that our trees appear to be recovering from the aphid ailments that have plagued them.

Fruit Crop Comparison, 2008-2013

It was a good year for chives (12.1 lb); as we have been maintaining the herb beds indifferently, though, the yield from our other herb plants was relatively low.

Herb Crop Comparison, 2008-2013

We Like-us a Ficus

If you've been to Ginkgo or have followed the blog, you know how excited we are about our fig trees.  Folks constantly tell us, "I've never seen a fresh fig" or ask, "How do they survive the Chicago winter?" Of all the fruits and vegetables that we grow, the figs are undoubtedly the most bizarre (sorry gooseberries).  I'm careful in picking the superlative because all of our produce is interesting–carrots have a deep (pun intended) history; the cruciferous plants (kale, broccoli, cabbage, radish, turnips, etc.), all relatives of the same original plant, can call to each other from bed to bed to catch up on family news; the Mammoth Sunflowers produce extraordinary growth; the tomatoes... THE TOMATOES! But the figs are just bizarre.

Each year we dig a large trench in the ground, swaddle the trees, and tip them into the holes. We cover the holes with plywood, then mound soil and straw on top to insulate the trees for the winter.  In the spring we resurrect them and stand in astonishment by how much they grow.

This year one of our trees, is already underground, but the other, dubbed Persephone, is too large to bury.  We have been looking for solutions and have considered wrapping the tree above ground. The other plan, and our likely choice, is to divide the tree.

Our trees are from divisions. A gentleman, Mario, gave us these divisions and they have rooted and grown tremendously at Ginkgo. Essentially, we would cut Persephone in half, giving each half plenty of root structure. One half would go into a pot of soil and eventually be given to a friend.  The other half would be buried for the winter.

This surgery is common, but we would be taking a chance and we don't have much experience with the procedure. I had come to believe that these trees really enjoy growing and that they will forgive us for errant cuts.

This is what we did last Saturday, and we hope you can come out this Saturday to help with Persephone.

Lids for the compost bins being constructed by an awesome team of volunteers

less for the flowers, than for what the flowers convey

Chicago Cares, a longtime partner in Ginkgo's mission to grow both food and community, surprised us again with a gift of gardening equipment, including hand tools, tomato stakes, and hoes. The flagship (or perhaps prairie dinghy) of this bounty was a new Ames wheelbarrow, which replaced the barrow that we used until the handles broke. I don't think that anything will break on our new wheelbarrow for a long time.

Ginkgo thanks Chicago Cares for its generous investment in community gardening.

Christmas in September

Some assembly was required. Behind Ivy and Lauren is part of the older wheelbarrow, which we'll find a use for. Few objects leave the garden once they enter it, other than fruits and vegetables.

Five minutes later, this was full of rotting hay for mulching.

i love a parade (September through October)

The parade continues:

September 7 - Cabbage, chard, and surprising lemon cucumbers, though plentiful, are dwarfed by amount of tomatoes and tree fruit that we bring.

September 14 - The peak harvest of this season. For the first time, I have to make two trips to the pantry--one just for apples and pears.

September 21 - A huge day, but we can tell that we're on the other side of the peak. We are happy to bring a small basket of plums. Our trees survived a spring attack of aphids, thanks to the John and Ivy's assiduous applications of Dr. Bronner's soap.

September 28 - Another phenomenal harvest. Thanks to the many volunteers that helped, we managed to pull 63 pounds of pears. I had to go to a backup cart at the pantry.

October 5 - The last hurrah of the sweet peppers. We're starting to pull up plants, seeding their beds with cover crop for the winter.

October 12 -Throughout all of the colorful weeks of late summer, the kale and collards continue to produce.

October 19 - Suddenly, it seems, the end of the season arrives. We harvest the remaining tomatoes and hot peppers before composting the plants. The smaller fig tree's fruit ripens all at once. We're down to our greens, which may not produce enough to justify a delivery next week.

The first freeze of the year is predicted to occur this week. The City is set to shut off our tap water supply at any time.

We'll probably still be out at the garden for a few more weekends, until our knuckles start to bleed from the wind and cold. We still need to bury the fig trees and prepare the garden for winter.