Hooray for CSAs

The way of the CSA...

Local Farmer Open House

Saturday March 17th

 (St. Patrick's Day)

11am-4pm

Urban Ecology Center

Riverside Park

1500 E. Park Place

Milwaukee, WI 53211

If you were thinking of joining a CSA or wanted to learn more about Milwaukee's Farmers Markets, then this meet up is a must. While I am going to see if I can find the best CSA deal for the money, this is a great time for you to start learning where good locally grown food comes from. But beware parking is tight so you might have a little walk to get to this event.

What is a CSA?... Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a system in which you the consumer receive food directly from the farmers. This is a little diffrent than farmers' market, CSA supporters actually share in part of the farmers' risk. That is, they pay in advance for a portion of the farmer's total crop. Crops that do well will be abundant in the share, crops that do less well will be less abundant.


What else is there going on at this event? Down stairs are a few vendors selling food items. While there may not be fresh veggies (remember it is still winter), last year I came back home with honey, fresh bacon, pickled veggies, and eggs.  There was also nuts, milk, all kinds of meat (although they ran before I could buy any)

There are also some workshops that might up your alley.

1. Intro to CSAs – 11:30 a.m. or 2:45 p.m.
2. Cooking from your CSA box – 12:15 pm or 2 p.m.
3. How Pesticides & Food Choice Affect Our Health & Water Quality – 1 p.m 

Stay tune for more CSA adventures, as I wait for all kinds of delectable dinners from Stephs Snack Shack

Local Farmer Open House
CSA 2012 Farm List.pdf
CSA Comparison.pdf
CSA Reference 

Starting Seeds: Cubes

It's Soil, in 3D...

In one of my previous blogs is mentioned the soil cube. Normally don't buy 'new innovate garden tools' as they are more marketing then quality. After some research, I bought one. I still think it is a great item for starting seeds and will still use it, but maybe not a convenient as soil pellets. Here is what I learned.

The Marketing:

• Save Money! The soil cube system is less expensive.  It serves as both a container and the soil for starting and growing seedlings, eliminating the need for plastic pots and trays for transplanted seedlings
• Seedlings grown in soil cubes form stronger root systems than those grown in containers due to increased oxygen to the roots and the soil cube's natural tendency to"air-prune" roots. This creates a substantial advantage when seedlings are transplanted into the field, because plants establish themselves more quickly and, because of lessened root disruption, they are less prone to transplant shock.

Actual Pros:

• Plants don't have transplant shock
• Plants (after being transplanted) grow faster, have less issue
• No root issues, like root balling.
• less seed starting issues when they sprout
• very cheep to do a lot of seed starting

Actual Cons:

• little more work get soil ready to plant seeds
• little more messy to make cubes
• harder to keep moist (might do better with self water system...)
• if you water too much the cube become a puddle of mud

Summary:
Will I use this again? Yes.
It might be a little more dirtier and little more hime to make the cubes. The plants do so much better in the long term. Tomato plants last year did better then direct sow or seed tray methods. My only real worry is watering the cubes. Too little water and the seeds won't grow. Too much water and the cube falls apart. Then again, it might be good for beginner gardeners to teach how much water seeds need.

Future improvements: self watering would be great.



soil cube

Episode 600 interview with soil cube creator clayton jacobs

Starting Seeds: Trying Something New

Just guy with another project and another experiment...

I happen to have a southern facing window and thought I would try to get some seeds started. For now it is just lettuce, tomatoes, and cabbage. I am excited to see if the Self Watering Trays will work, as I am horrible at remembering to water my plants. I will post more updates and pictures to see works the best.

Here are following items I will be trying for starting seeds:

1. Soil Cube
2. Self Watering Tray
3. Grow Soil Pellets
4. Traditional Seed Trays

I am adding some as additional light to prevent legging/spindling. Plants need 14hrs of sun to get started (16hrs to flower and fruit). In Milwaukee we get 12hr in February and March, so I am going to add a little grow light on a timer that will add 2hrs of light. For more photos of this project click here

I always recommend you review common mistakes before you plan your seed starting approach.

TSP Gardening Advice

Learning from the mistakes of other...

Thinking about getting head of the garden game by starting seeds? Then this podcast might be for you. I would skip the 1st five minutes of advertising and the last 5min of personal rant. But great content about starting seeds and common issues.

TSP EPISODE-831- SEED STARTING PRIMER FOR 2012

• Understanding how seeds germinate in the wild
• Starting seeds: Cubes vs. Pots vs. Paper vs. peat
• Why starting indoors is a good idea
• Light and not all light is equal
• Building a simple grow light
• Mist watering and watering from the bottom
• Creating constant temperatures
• Culling and “pricking out”
• Starting seeds in pots that are generally considered “direct sow”
• Seeds that should almost always be direct sowed
• Hardening off seeds
• Potting up the why and how
• Holding back in ground planting until you are sure
• Mulch is your friend

Starting Seeds: Scheduling

A garden man with a plan

I know it just snowed just last week, but know is the time to plan what you are going to be growing. Your local hardware and garden stores know it is time, and they already have seeds ready to sell. Maybe you just need to plan what and where you are planting. maybe it it time to get some seeds started. Maybe you are going to start buying supplies for that green house.

First some basic (Zone 5):

Average Last Freeze: May 30th

Average First Freeze: Oct 1st

Schedule for seed starting/planting (Zone 5):

Starting Seeds:

Remember that if you are starting seeds you need to think about extra light, extra heat, extra water. Those poor little seeds need constant attention to get started.

Planting Seeds/Plants:

I would keep an eye on the weather. A frost or night temps at 32F could kill your plant or stunt its growth where you won't get any fruit that year.  You might what to look at a cold frame or hot box. I am going wait till May 20th for my hot box, and June 10th for regular planting.

References:

www.veggieharvest.com

www.squidoo.com

testing Rocket Mass Heater

Rocket Mass Heater: Heat for your winter garden.

I back in August  tested a small version of a rocket heater using about $20 of fireplace bricks and a metal vent pipe. you can read more about how it works here. My test works, but clearly i need to do some more math with my air intake ratio, to make this work better.

Why make it better. maybe you've heard of my winter strawberry challenge.

Rocket stoves offer some advantages over cast iron stoves:

• 1/10 the wood needed
• cleaner air going out (less smoke)
• less costly to built

USDA Zones update

The USDA Plant Hardiness Map has changed for the first time in 20 years. Here's their press release about it.

unfortunately my area is still Zone 5