Florida Natives Survive Minnesota

When Granddad B sent seeds from his garden in FL to ours in MN there were some skeptics. But the acorn squash is growing! and the melons are growing!

And the marigolds . . .

Thanks, Granddad. Save some tomato seeds for us.

Pixie in a sleeping bag?

Check out this crazy looking pepper. On first glance, I thought it looked like a witch's nose. My husband saw a pixie in a sleeping bag. What do you think it looks like?

Harvest Still Life

A few teams of volunteers had already harvested yesterday and this morning, but a couple of us needed a break over lunch today so we walked down to the garden.

Most of the produce had been picked but we found a few veggies ready to go. Actually it ended up being a full bag weighing over 20 pounds because Susan really wanted to pick a cabbage.

From the veggies we found Susan composed a beautiful harvest still life pictured above.

Pollinating by paintbrush?

According the the National Agroforestry Center over 100 crop species in North America require a visit from a pollinating insect. Many of these crops are the kinds you would find in a kitchen garden. When the crops don't get the visits they need, what you will see are a plethora of blossoms that never turn into fruit (or veg). We are seeing this in our garden, especially with our pumpkin and squash crops.

In an article written by individuals leading up the Forgotten Pollinators Campaign, I read that "there are fewer beehives today in the U.S. than at any time in the past 50 years." I also read that there are over 40,000 species of bees in the world. Pretty amazing, and sad at the same time. It reminds you how the smallest change in our eco-system can have a major impact.

Tamara, one of our squash crop gardeners was talking to her dad - a long-time farmer - about the lack of squash, and he recommended helping the pollination process along by gently twiddling a small paint brush around inside the head of each flower.


For squash, you start with the male blossom (a flower with no swelling or bump where the stem attaches to the plant) - gently touch the center of each flower with the brush. Then move to the female blossoms (the flowers are attached to the end of a small ovule that will grow into a full sized fruit) and dab the paint brush inside the flower. Voila pollination is complete!

Another option - if you are not into painting - that will help draw the bees to your garden is to plant white clover.

Kale and Hearty

We delivered 33 pounds of produce to the food shelf last week, and another 12 to Lewis House.  The garden is giving now!  Our old friend kale is coming back, along with all the tomatoes and onions and peppers.  I've become a real fan of kale, sauteed with garlic and olive oil, or in soup. 

Blackeyed Peas

When Grandmom Stone found out we're going to plant blackeyed peas in the experimental garden next year, she was pretty pleased. During WWII, she helped her grandfather grow blackeyed peas in their Victory Garden. When the peas were ripe, she helped her grandmother snap them and can them to send to her father was overseas. Her advice to us is to toughen up our thumbs - snapping peas is hard work!

The British Contingent

My British Mother-in-Law was just here for a visit and was eager to see the garden. My husband and I took her over to the garden one Sunday and like all garden-lovers she was full of compliments, curiousity and culling fingers - weeds beware!

As she yanked weeds she told us that the White House garden was often mentioned on their newsprograms. As you can imagine, gardening is a popular activity in England. The English are well known for their lush, rolling countryside. They also have "allotments" - small parcels of land that individuals can rent from the government to grow food crops. The concept of allotments are popular throughout Europe and Scandanavia. To learn more about allotments follow this link: http://www.allotment.org.uk/articles/Allotment-History.php