Category — Jan’s Thoughts

Two upcoming events at the Pittsfield Grange will have kids and grown-ups cooking and making together.

“Cook dinner with your kids” happens on Sunday, February 5, 2012 from 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM. Adults and kids 7 and older will cook an entree together! The child participant could be a child, grandchild, nephew, or neighbor; adults and children will learn to cook a balanced one-dish meal from mostly-local ingredients. All ingredients and equipment supplied. Participants can enjoy their meal at the Grange or take it home for dinner later in the evening.

On the menu is Salsa Skillet Dinner. Both meat and vegetarian options will be available.

The event hosts note that this entree would be great as part of Super Bowl buffet, if that is part of your evening plans! Bring a container if you plan to take your share home instead of eating at the Grange.

This workshop is free for Grange members and their kids. For non-members, prices are $15 for one adult and one child; $20 for one adult and 2 – 3 children. Please, no more than 3 children per adult. E-mail about kids under 7. RSVP as soon as possible here.

The second event is an opportunity on February 8 for parents and children to hear about the new Junior Makers program offered at the Pittsfield Grange. The Maker Movement is gaining momentum across the country, with people learning hand skills like woodworking, metalworking, sewing, and building electronics. The Junior Makers program is a starting point for young people and parents to learn basic skills together. This meeting will explain how the program is set up, when meetings will be, what children and parents will learn at meetings. Come with any questions you have.

The evening starts with an optional potluck supper at 6:30. The program itself begins at 7:15. No RSVP needed. This event is free.

Both events take place at the Pittsfield Grange at 3337 Ann Arbor-Saline Rd., Ann Arbor.

In Michigan, the conversation about gardening in winter is usually focuses on seed catalogs, plans for spring, or houseplants. A warm January day like yesterday, however, with the bright sunshine and the pleasant temperatures makes us feel as though we could be gardening.

What can gardening can be done successfully when the warm weather bug strikes?

There are actually a few gardening tasks that are great for a warm day when you want to be outside.

Weeding
You can get ahead of the weeds of spring by pulling up weeds visible in the garden beds now. Use a garden fork or a trowel to loosen the weed. Weeds can be put in home compost, if yours gets hot enough to kill seeds, or a yard bag for curbside pickup.

It’s good to keep in mind that many weeds have longer growing seasons than the plants cultivated in the garden on purpose. Some green up earlier in the spring and others seem to live on into fall or winter. We had a couple amazingly green uninvited plants in the vegetable beds who appeared to be growing fine even in winter.

Keep in mind, however, that weeds are thieves. Even if weeds aren’t particularly large or unsightly, they are enjoying a free lunch in your garden bed and eating up nutrients that could otherwise be feeding your vegetables, herbs or flowers.

One important caution should be observed when mucking around in the garden in winter or early spring. You want to take care not to work the soil when weeding. You don’t want to compact the soil or otherwise disturb the soil structure.

Likewise, stay on pathways and avoid stepping on garden beds altogether.

Cleaning up and Pruning
Why not enjoy the fine weather with a walk around the yard or garden while you gather up fallen branches and twigs. Here’s another task that you can get a head-start on and make less onerous in spring.

It’s also a good time to consider pruning fruit trees and woody shrubs. Since I’m no expert, let me direct your attention to an article from the MSU Extension like Proper pruning means healthier, more productive fruit trees. There are many articles about pruning available online and in books. Good tools and a good guide will help with this task.

Observing
Winter is also a great time to observe your yard or gardens carefully. You might note any stems or stalks you left to overwinter and decide if you like the way they look in the snow landscape. You can also see the planes and surfaces of your garden and consider where you might want to add height or interest with a plant or a trellis.

You can also pay attention to the “warm spots” in your yard by observing in which areas the snow melts first. The advice I’ve heard is that those warm spots are the best places to plant bulbs because they will get an earlier start than if planted in the places in the landscape that stay snowy longer. Make a note or mark the spots so you remember where you want to plant new bulbs.

All in all, it’s really not that long until real spring will come to Michigan. In just two months, some gardeners I know will be planting peas. A little work now– when the weather– permits will make next year’s garden healthier and more productive.

Do you garden in the zone?

By which I mean, do you pay attention to the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map when planning your garden or making purchases at a nursery or garden center?

Among the helpful guidelines created to help gardeners know what to grow is the concept of the gardening zone. You may have been aware that our area has until recently been labeled as Zone 5.

On Wednesday, however, the US Department of Agriculture revealed a new climate zone guide that takes into account the northern warming trends and reconfigures the zone from the 1990 map. The 2012 guide is based on date gathered over the 30 year period from 1975 until 2005.

You can find the new interactive map here. Viewers can enter their zip codes for more personalized information or view their state in a closer up view.

The map merely reflects the data that has been gathered. Whether these warming trends represent climate change or variations in weather is not a controversy that a map settles. Hardiness zone maps help gardeners determine what plants will grow best in their zone.

In short, some plants do grow well here in Michigan, while others do not. Zones are a short-cut for explaining the weather science behind why apple trees thrive in our state, but orange groves do not. When making garden plans or purchases, it makes the most sense to plant varieties and plants that stand a chance of thriving in your zone.

Have you witnessed these shifts in your own garden? Have warmer temperatures have made it possible to grow plants that were iffy for our area?

Ah, January in Michigan! During this month, we experience winter at its finest. Cold, snow, ice, rain, fog– we see it all. January is also the gardening season when seed catalogs and seed displays pop up as fast as weeds in the springtime. One week the store aisles are full of holiday clearance, and the next week towers full of little packets promising all sorts of garden wonders appear to inspire and tempt us.

My first spin around the rotating floor display stand showed that there were even more variations on packing and labels this year. Even the big labels are offering more in categories like heirloom and organics. There’s truly something for everyone.

What do the terms mean when we are discussing seeds? Here’s a review of some definitions to consider when making seed purchases.

Annual– an annual lives or grows for only one season. Annual flowers give one season of color to a garden. Most vegetables are annuals too, growing and being harvested in one season. Some annual plants will reseed themselves; with other annuals, seed saving is a possibility. For most annuals, count on one season.

Perennial– are plants that live at least two seasons. Perennials grow and bloom over the spring and summer, and die back in the fall or winter. In the spring, they return again from their root stock rather than from reseeding. Fruit trees are perennials, as are asparagus and rhubarb. Plants may be perennial in some regions but not others, due to varying weather conditions.

Organic seed — To label seed as organic in the US, suppliers must meet standards set by the government. The growers of organic seeds have to avoid synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. They must also avoid the use of genetic modification techniques.

Hybrid — A hybrid is a variety that results from crossing two different inbred parents that differ in one or more characteristics. Hybrids are made to improve the characteristics of the resulting plants, such as higher yield, better color, greater uniformity, or disease resistance to name a few. Seeds of hybrid plants, if saved and planted, would not necessary result in plants resembling the parent.

Non-GMO — Seeds that have not been genetically modified.

Heirloom — Heirloom varieties can be defined as variety that has been nurtured, selected, and handed down for many generations. These varieties are known for their flavors, rather than uniformity or ease of shipping. Some sources say the variety must be 100 years old, some claim 50, and others use 1945, the end of WWII, as the starting point. The definition of this word is also debated.

Open-Pollinated — These seeds are created by self-pollination or by the repeated crossing to the same parental type. The seed of the fruits produced by open-pollinated plants can be saved and planted the next year, with the resulting plants being true to the parental type. (With the exception of plants in the cucurbit family, I would add.)

I’ve previously mentioned two of our favorite seed companies, Baker Seeds and Seeds of Change. Both companies focus on offering heirloom varieties that are open-pollinated and non-GMO seeds.

If you are planning your garden right now, what companies do you rely on for seeds? How important are terms like organic, heirloom or open-pollinated when it comes to making seed purchases?

From the White House to neighborhoods, home gardening is on the rise. This helpful graphic comes from the Mother Nature Network. The infographic presents information from a study by the National Gardening Association, which has a great website with many resources for gardeners and a whole area devoted to gardening with kids.

It’s encouraging to see the increase in home gardens, just in the two years cited in the study. What’s really notable is the collective economic impact of gardening. I’m not much for keeping track of how much money we save gardening, especially compared with those serious types who weigh and record all of their home produce, but I know with our way of gardening, we “earn” much more in produce than we spend in garden costs.

The graphic does not include what to me is one of the other most interesting questions of the research– the why question. Why do people participate in food gardening? The top reasons were (by %):

To grow better tasting food ……..58
To save money on food bills ……..54
To grow better quality food ……..51
To grow food I know is safe ……..48
To feel more productive …………40
To spend more time outdoors ……..35
To get back to basics …………..25
To have food to share with others…23
To live more locally ……………22
To have a family activity………..21
To teach my kids about gardening …30

You can read the study cited here.

What are your motivations for growing your own food? Will you expand your gardens this year?