Kids Day

This afternoon was another Kids Day at the WFG Grafton demonstration garden. We had six 4-6 year olds participating, and everyone, both kids and parents, learned a thing or two about how food grows!

From the kids' perspective, I think by far the most exciting activity was pulling WEEDS! We actually had to form a line halfway through the weeding event, so that when I said, "I found another weed!" the whole group wouldn't come barrelling over at once, yelling, "Where?!!" and in exuberant eagerness, unknowingly trample each other and all the vegetable beds en route to that single weed.

Besides weeding the garden, we learned the basic requirements for plant growth above and below ground, we mulched and tied tomatoes (see Tomatoes!!!), and we harvested lettuce, green beans, turnips, cherry tomatoes, kale, cilantro and one cucumber. We also planted a mango seed to see if it will grow a mango tree!

The parents and I discussed methods of making compost, how to trim basil plants to keep them productive, and we were all fascinated by our discussion on how potatoes grow, why we hill/mulch them, and why the potato plants are currently growing tomato-like fruits on the them.

One of my favorite moments from today's Kids Day was right at the end, when we were heading inside for snacks. One of the little girls saw something she had missed, turned to look up at me, and with wonder in her eyes and utter amazement in her voice, whispered, "Is this a cabbage?" There's nothing that makes my job more worthwhile than a child discovering that those round green things we see in the grocery store actually, and amazingly, grow straight from the center of a giant, green plant with humongous, waxy leaves. It was absolutely precious!

Campus Kitchen at Marquette

Wisconsin Families Garden (WFG) is pleased to announce its support for Campus Kitchen at Marquette University with donations of fresh produce from the WFG demonstration gardens. The nationwide organization The Campus Kitchens Project has locations at 25 schools throughout America (including two in Wisconsin) and operates according to the following mission statement:

"To use service as a tool to:

•Strengthen Bodies by using existing resources to meet hunger and nutritional needs in our community;

•Empower Minds by providing leadership and service learning opportunities to students, and educational benefits to adults, seniors, children, and families in need; and

•Build Communities by fostering a new generation of community-minded adults through resourceful and mutually beneficial partnerships among students, social service agencies, businesses and schools."


Here in Milwaukee, The Campus Kitchens Project at Marquette University (CKMU) serves over 2,000 meals per month to area residents in need. Also, three times per year CKMU offers Culinary Job Training for under-employed and unemployed men and women in the Milwaukee area.

CKMU is staffed by a dedicated, friendly group of student and community volunteers and is coordinated by Amanda Parrell. If you would like to volunteer or make some other type of donation, please contact Amanda Parrell at 414-288-0342.

Tomatoes!!!

The first tomatoes of 2010 are ripe and ready!!! Many home gardeners have been curious about our Stake And String method of supporting tomato plants. Below you can see pictures of the process. Thanks to Blue Moon Farm for teaching me this method of staking tomatoes. Whether you use the Stake And String method, tomato cages, or some other method of supporting tomato plants in your garden, it really is a good idea to keep tomato plants off the ground, because you will have healthier plants, cleaner fruits, and higher yields.

Step 1: Plant the tomatoes in a straight row. We plant our tomatoes at 18" apart. This works well for the Stake And String method. If you use tomato cages, I recommend allowing more space between the plants, as there will be less upward-only growth and more outward bushiness of the plants.

Step 2: After a few weeks when the tomato plants are 8-12" tall, pound stakes into the ground every 6 ft (every four plants). For determinate tomato varieties, 5' metal t-posts or even wooden posts will work just fine; for indeterminate varieties that may grow very tall and have high yields of heavy fruits, we use 6' metal t-posts. Take special care with the posts on the ends of the rows. They will only have inward forces acting upon them, so they should be angled outwards. Or, an extra post at the end of the row, pounded in at a 45 degree outward angle, will ensure that the soon-to-be heavy tomato plants don't outweigh their support system. This is a row of tomatoes from the WFG Milwaukee garden.



Step 3: Every week as the tomatoes grow taller, tie a heavy-duty string from post to post, supporting each side of the row, like we did below in the WFG Grafton garden. If you have a long row, the same piece of string can be used down and back on the entire row; it should be wrapped firmly at a uniform height around each post as you go. The strings should be tight but not constrictive to the plants' growth. Remember, as the plants get taller, their growing stems and branches also get thicker and will need room to expand within the strings. Generally, once a week is good enough for tying tomatoes. Each week the next string up will be 6-10" higher than the last. After securing the strings on both sides of the plants, gently tuck any outlying tomato branches under the strings, which will encourage upward growth of the plants.



Step 4: Harvesting tomatoes is a breeze with the Stake And String method. As you can see from this row of tomatoes in the WFG Grafton garden, all fruits are elevated off the ground. The tomato fruits and plants do not get muddy when it rains and the precious tomatoes that you have labored and tended to all season will be less prone to diseases and splitting. Essentially, by staking tomatoes, you can expect better yields and gorgeous, healthy fruits!

Beets & Potatoes

This weekend, little hands in Grafton direct seeded more cilantro and transplanted a variety of summer squashes and cucumbers. The tomatoes are now properly trellised, the rabbit-eaten lettuces and kales have all grown back, and the potato plants are showcasing elegant flowers. The weeds are growing nicely too, but I think we eliminated most of them. My suggestion to pull out the bolted radishes and arugula so the cilantro will have more room to grow was vetoed, however.... because they have exceptionally pretty flowers. It's true, they do. Silly me.



On an equally fun note, today as I was direct seeding greens in the rabbit-proof area of the Mequon garden, I came upon the first mature beet of the season. How exciting!



Then, since storms are in the forecast for tonight and the entire rest of the week, I decided now was the time, before everything gets all wet and mucky, to get out my digging fork and poke around investigatively in the potato patch. Good thing I did, because I found beautiful Yukon Golds.