gardening

Gardening must-haves by Brightwoodliving

By Prince Of Petworth

It’s my favorite time of the year: time to play in the dirt! Here’s a list of some of my favorite gardening tools and resources.

1. Weeder and mini raker. This weeder really helps me get weeds out by the root, and the mini rake is great for getting rid of dead leaves in between plants. I got these last year at the Smith & Hawken store http://www.smithandhawken.com/index.jsp in Georgetown.

2. Plants at the Takoma Farmer’s Market. http://www.takomaparkmarket.com/ This market has a fabulous selection of locally-grown vegetable, herb and flower plants. Plus, you can get some great advice and tips directly from the growers. There’s always a parking spot, but if you get there late you might have a long walk – bring a friend to help you carry all your plants.

3. Gardening Velcro tape. I lost count of how many rolls of this tape I bought last year at Strosniders, http://www.strosniders.com but I won’t have to buy any this year because it’s reusable. Great for tying up tomatoes. Continues after the jump (more…)

Any Supporters of Tire Planters?

By Prince Of Petworth

I’ve always wondered if there were fans of these tires that have been converted into planters. I’m gonna give them a thumbs up when they have nice flowers in them. Do you like ’em?

Dear PoP – Old City Green To Reopen For Spring Planting

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

Driving around, I came across Old City Green at the intersection of N and 9th Street, a few blocks north of the convention center. They are an uncovered, fenced lot that sold Christmas trees back in Nov and Dec. I stopped by today to check on what they got going on, and hoped to buy some supplies/plants, but they are not yet open. They will open to customers on 3/28, but will be welcome landscape professionals this weekend. Appeared that they’ll be selling plants (seemed to have a good selection already), garden supplies (soil, wood chips/mulch, etc) and likely other stuff, and seemed to be working on setting up there space well. Very friendly people working the lot.”

Cool. I checked them out last weekend. They will be open to the public on 3/28 but just for the weekend. Starting April, 11th they’ll be open 7 days a week! And the folks were super nice. More info here.

Join An Urban Gardening Group Even If You Don’t Have a Yard!

By Prince Of Petworth

Well, this is one of the cooler emails I’ve received in a while. I might have to offer up my backyard.

From an email:

One of the biggest challenges facing urban gardeners is access to land. It’s hard to garden in an apartment, but most of the community gardens in the city have years-long waitlists. So what’s a would-be gardener to do?

Sharing Backyards was created to address that need! The website encourages urban gardening by connecting people who have space to garden and are willing to share with people who would like to have a gardening space. Whether you’re an apartment dweller in search of some good earth or a property-owner with land to share, this site’s for you.

The DC chapter of Sharing Backyards is brand new, and we hope you all will take a minute to visit the website. Go to http://dc.sharingbackyards.com to add your listing to the city map and help us get the project off the ground.

Dear PoP – What Is This?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Got this at the Bloomingdale Farmer’s market last weekend — it was surprisingly DELICIOUS roasted — but don’t know what it is; it seems like a cauliflower/broccoli hybrid, but I am curious about the name. We dubbed it “The Thing That Came From the Deep” but maybe a PoP knows its real name?”

Hmm, I thought it might be a bread fruit. But then of course I remembered my days of field botany at Miami University and knew it must be a Broccoli Romanesque.

Actually the reader found out it was Broccoli Romanesque, I just like to brag about my training in field botany…

Has anyone tried a Broccoli Romanesque before?

Catch The Award winning film “THE GARDEN”, Wednesday

By Prince Of Petworth

This is a fundraiser for the 7th Street Garden I profiled last week.

Wednesday, November 19th
a 7th Street Garden fundraiser to prep the new garden site!

THE GARDEN
A Film by Scott Hamilton Kennedy
with special preview of The Garden Cyclers movie trailer

At the Goethe Theater (812 7th Street, NW). Doors 6pm. Film Starts 6:30pm.

Enjoy seasonal foods and drinks

Tickets $20 each (though more is appreciated)

Available at the door OR online at America the Beautiful Fund’s web site. **If buying online you must write in the Comment box that you are purchasing tickets for The Garden movie.**

View the trailers:
http://www.thegardenmovie.com/trailer
http://womensgardencycles.wordpress.com/

THE GARDEN
BEST DOCUMENTARY, AFI SILVERDOCS FILM FESTIVAL
BEST DOCUMENTARY, CAMDEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

This award-winning documentary chronicles the complex and emotional story of the destruction of Los Angeles’ South Central Farm. Created from the ashes of the L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farm was the largest urban farm in the United States until its destruction in 2006. “The Garden” follows the farmers as they organize and launch an impassioned public battle to save the farm. The film documents the farmers’ struggle against the city’s backroom deals, and exposes the underlying issues of money, power, poverty and racial discord. The film explores the fault lines in American society, raising crucial and challenging questions about liberty, equality, and justice for the poorest and most vulnerable among us.

Local 16 Is Committed To Green

By Prince Of Petworth

 

I’ve always liked Local 16 located on U Street just west of 16th Street. I believe they have one of the best roof decks in the city and this only adds to the allure. The sign says they are happy to share their herb garden. Nice. It also says they use “vegetables from a biodynamic farm whenever possible.” So I guess I’m wondering what exactly makes a restaurant green? Is using vegetables from a biodynamic farm as well as herbs from an herb garden enough to proclaim oneself green? I do think it’s cool that they share the herbs with their neighbors, I’m just curious about the new trend of folks calling themselves “green”.

Busboys & Poets is wind powered:

And they have rocks in their urinals:

What is the true definition of a green establishment?

7th Street Garden Gets New Home

By Prince Of Petworth

This is one of the many reasons why I enjoy having no destination on my weekend walkabouts. I literally stumbled on this super cool organization building a new community garden. It has restored some of my faith in society after hearing about all the recent crime lately.

It is located on the grounds of the Gage Eckington Elementary school at 2025 3rd Street, NW.


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As you can see from the title of the post, this organization is moving from 7th Street where they currently have a garden. I was able to speak with their director, Liz, who told me that they just signed the lease for this new plot a week ago. They are moving from 7th Street because Bread for the City will be expanding their building. There is a lot of good info on their Web site:

“The 7th Street Garden directly promotes food security, human and environmental health and strong communities by:
– The Green Tomorrows Program: A horticulture job training for low-income D.C. residents that can be applied to gardening, fresh food entrepreneurship, and urban sustainability fields.
– Garden Education Program: Teaching hands-on classes in urban food production, gardening, nutrition, pollination and food origin to adults and children.
– Marketing affordable produce through farmer’s markets.
– Nourishing disadvantaged D.C. residents through provision of shares of fresh produce.
– Collaborating with community organizations and hunger advocates addressing District residents’ needs.
– Holding events and activities in the garden for Shaw community members.”

Naturally, they’ll be getting a new name to represent their new location. If you’d like to volunteer be sure to check out their Web site. Lots more photos after the jump. (more…)

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