RE: Teaching organic gardening

H* A*

John: 

Can we set up a way for you P-patch guys to be bi-coastal? Your organic
program seems to be close to ideal!

Happy gardening,
Adam Honigman

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Jon Rowley [SMTP:rowley@nwlink.com]
> Sent:	Wednesday, November 29, 2000 10:27 PM
> To:	jverin@pennhort.org; community_garden@mallorn.com
> Subject:	[cg] Teaching organic gardening
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Verin" <jverin@pennhort.org>
> To: "listserv cg" <community_garden@mallorn.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2000 2:34 PM
> Subject: [cg] teaching organic gardening
> 
> > Howdy, folks!
> >
> >  We have many "NPK" gardeners who aren't growing soil, rotating crops,
> who
> > resort to Sevin to kill bugs, etc. I'm interested in knowing who among
> you
> > are specifically teaching organic gardening workshops. I assume most/all
> of
> > you promote and encourage organic, yet what I what to know about is your
> > actual organic curriculum or fact sheets. Also, any tales from the field
> on
> > what worked, what didn't in terms of people getting it/employing it
> (i.e.
> > letting go of the NPK fertilizer route).
> >
> > Happy gardening,
> >
> > John E. Verin
> > City Wide Coordinator - Philadelphia Green
> > The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
> > 100 North 20th Street, 5th floor
> > Philadelphia, PA  19103-1495
> > Phone: 215-988-8885; Fax 215-988-8810
> > http://www.libertynet.org/phs
> >
> John,
> Your post was forwarded by several members of the Seattle P-Patch
> community.
> As Co-Site Coordinator of the Interbay P-Patch Community Garden where we
> have a successful community soil building program and where we conduct a
> number of soil building and organic gardening workshops over the course of
> the year, I offer my .02 worth of suggestions, observations  and comments
> as
> response:
> 1.Suggest establishing clear goals and objectives for garden. If you
> mandate
> an organic garden, you eliminate the inevitable problems  between
> gardeners
> that use chems and those who don't.
> 
> 2. Create a written agreement between garden and gardeners when plots are
> issued.  Gardeners agree to  use organic gardening practices and whatever
> other conditions you decide are appropriate in your garden.
> 
> 3. Set the garden up as a year around garden with the garden year ending
> on
> Oct 31 and beginning with soil building/replenishing on Nov. 1.
> 
> 4.  Soil Building.  We have a multi-faceted Soil Building Paradigm with
> this
> prelude, "Decomposing organic matter is the underlying tenet of organic
> gardening. At Interbay everything we do emanates from community
> soil-building activities. Healthy lush gardens make for happy gardeners
> and
> pride in community.
> 5. Every Saturday morning 52 weeks a year we have "Compost Socials" (the
> idea is to make composting fun). One of the garden slogans is "Mulch
> everywhere, always." We even have Celebrity Compost; a celebrity turns a
> bin
> we install a bin board with their name on it. Wendell Berry was the most
> recent of 22 celebrity compost turners. This kind of thing gives compost
> and
> composting status in the garden and beyond.
> 6. Schedule food and fun along with work. We serve soup and bread 52
> Saturdays a year at noon. Gardeners sign up for making soup ahead of time;
> an Italian bakery donates the bread.
> 7. Here is a list of classes and workshops at Interbay over this past
> season:
>  *Barn Owls
> *Growing Peas and Potatoes
> * Building Natural Immunity in a Garden
> * The ABCs of Hot Composting
> *Attracting Beneficial Insects
> *Growing Dynamite Tomatoes
> *Growing a Weedless Garden
> * Mulching with Grass Clippings
> * Growing Beans, Corn & Squash
> *"Beneficial Gardening"
> * Growing Great  Garlic
> * Using a Refractometer to Measure Plant and Soil Success
> * Growing Winter Greens
> * Native Plants
> * Preparing a Winter Garden:  The "Interbay Mulch"
> *Preparing a Winter Garden: Cover crops
> *Making and Using Leaf Mold
> 
> 8.  Above all, plant lots of laughter; make the  garden fun; a place
> people
> want to come to and be in.
> 
> Hope these ideas helped.
> Humusly,
> Jon Rowley
> Interbay P-Patch
> Seattle
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> community_garden maillist  -  community_garden@mallorn.com
> https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden

_______________________________________________
community_garden maillist  -  community_garden@mallorn.com
https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden