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Maria Shriver to Plant California Victory Garden

CasaSugar — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:00:31 -0700

Taking a cue from Michelle Obama, Maria Shriver, first lady of California, is spearheading a victory garden for California. Edible garden beds will be planted in May in Capitol Park in Sacramento.

“I’m so excited to be joining California Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura, the California Department of General Services, the California School Garden Network, Alice Waters, and many others to bring an edible garden to the state capitol, Shriver said in a statement."This new garden will bring awareness to children, students, and visitors about the important role of food, where it comes from, nutritional value, how it is grown and harvested, and ultimately how it reaches the tables of those who need it most."

The Capitol Park plot, where the garden will be planted, was originally a flower bed, and will be easily converted into the edible garden. The design will focus on water conservation. It is likely that the food from the garden will go to an area food bank, similar to the use of produce from San Francisco's edible garden. Baltimore's City Hall is also planting a victory garden this Spring. Are any city or state buildings near your home planning a victory garden?

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How-To: Start Your Own Victory Garden

CasaSugar — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:00:41 -0700

Today, US First Lady Michelle Obama, along with elementary school students, took part in the ground breaking of the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn. This is the first kitchen garden on the White House lawn since First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a victory garden during World War II. Victory gardens are vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens that were planted at home residences during World War I and II to increase families' food supplies during the days of rationing and boost morale. From the Iraq war to the financial crisis, there are plenty of reasons to start a victory garden right now so, if you're up for the task, check out my tips for starting your own.
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Cool Idea: San Francisco's Urban Farm

CasaSugar — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:00:57 -0700

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to spend all day weeding garden beds, helping fix irrigation lines, and water seedlings in a 10,000-square-foot garden. But I wasn't on a rural organic farm, I was in front of City Hall in San Francisco.

Just last week, over 150 volunteers rolled up a huge swath of sod in front of City Hall, and over a few days, established this 10,000-square-foot edible garden. All of the organic garden beds are planted in rice straw wattles, which are essentially long tubes of rice straw. The project, called the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden, is open to the public from July 13 to Sept. 21. Stocked with beautiful, edible vegetables and native, drought-resistant Bay Area plants, the garden provides visitors with an up-close look at gardening, as well as inspiration for creating their own garden.

To find out more about the Victory Garden, read more.

When I wasn't planting seedlings or watering plants yesterday, I answered visitors' questions. A group of camp kids asked me if any of the plants had fruit yet, so I directed them to some yellow crookneck squash and green, tiny tomatoes. An older man asked me about how the rice wattles worked. Another woman told me that she could identify the corn plants, though nothing else, so I took her on a quick identification tour of the entire garden. Everyone whom I met was enthusiastic about the project, and said that it was relaxing to spend time in nature in the middle of the city, and also exciting to think about how much the plants were going to grow in the next two months.

The Slow Food Nation Victory Garden was designed and built in a collaborative effort by a number of local organizations, including the Garden for the Environment’s Victory Gardens 08+ Program, CMG Landscape Architecture, and City Slicker Farms. Seeds were donated from Seeds of Change, as well as individual donors from around the US, and support was also provided by several corporate sponsors, including Sunset magazine and New Resources bank.

Are you in the San Francisco Bay Area and interested in volunteering, too? Contact SF Victory Gardens to find out how you can help!

Cool Idea: Free Tomato Seeds From Campbell's

CasaSugar — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:15:18 -0700

Ready to start your victory garden? Then consider adding some tomatoes to the mix. For the first time ever, the Campbell Soup Company is offering you the opportunity to grow the specially cultivated seeds used to grow tomatoes for its tomato soup.

This offer is part of the company's goal to grow more than one billion tomatoes across the country and to support American agriculture. As part of this effort, Campbell's is also teaming up with the National FFA Organization and Urban Farming Incorporated, each of which will use the special seeds to help create five community gardens in urban communities.

To find out how to get free seeds, read more.

Through June 21 (or while supplies last), every household that purchases any variety of Campbell’s condensed soup and enters the code on the can at Help Grow Your Soup can request a free packet of Campbell’s tomato seeds to plant in their own backyards and windowsills. With each request, Campbell's will donate the seeds being used to plant community gardens and achieve the one-billion-tomato goal.

One of my favorite eco-oriented designers, Danny Seo, is helping to kick off the Spring planting spree. “There is a huge trend right now of people seeking to grow their own food in their own gardens, because it’s cost-effective, environmentally friendly and ultimately produces delicious, fresh-tasting ingredients,” said Seo. “What’s exciting about using Campbell’s seeds is that people will be able to grow a very special tomato that goes into America’s favorite tomato soup - and get those seeds for free!”

Are you a Campbell's soup fan? Will you be trying the company's tomato seeds?

This Just In: Eat the View Petitions For White House Edible Garden

CasaSugar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:30:28 -0700

Edible estates are a growing trend at homes around the country as food costs rise, along with food-safety concerns and environmental awareness, but there are some who think we shouldn't be confined to our own lawns. Eat the View is a nonprofit campaign to plant healthy, edible landscapes in high-impact, high-visibility places, and is petitioning for a vegetable garden on the lawn of most visible home in the country, the White House. I myself recently volunteered at one of these high-visibility gardens, San Francisco's Slow Food Nation Victory Garden, which sits in front of City Hall. The premise behind Eat the View's campaign is that as "America's House," the White House should set a positive example for the country and the world. The fresh, healthy, and environmentally-friendly produce grown in the garden would go to the White House kitchen as well as local food pantries. There is currently already a staff of 13 gardeners and groundskeepers, who maintain everything from the Rose Garden to the presidential putting green. And, it would not be the first time the White House had a green thumb: in the 1940s, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt grew a victory garden of her own. To see a video about the subject, read more.

Do you have your own vegetable, fruit, or herb garden? What do you think about this petition?

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This Just In: Eat the View Wins Over On Day One

CasaSugar — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:30:35 -0800

You may remember back in August, I told you about a campaign and petition to plant healthy, edible landscapes in high-impact, high-visibility places, including the White House - much like San Francisco's Slow Food Nation Victory Garden - called Eat the View. Well, as it turns out, after the polling the public on their preference of 81 ideas for our future pres., Eat the View was named the winner by On Day One, a platform for gathering ideas about what Obama should do on his first day in office. This isn't to say that Obama will be taking any orders from On Day One, but the people have spoken, and it's clear that many would like to see some veggies growing at 1600 Pennsylvania. What do you think about this campaign? Do you have your own vegetable, fruit, or herb garden? Would you like to see more gardens in public spaces?
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Cool Idea: Gardening With Rice Wattles

CasaSugar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:30:54 -0700

Last week, when I volunteered at the SF Victory Garden, I was intrigued by the rice straw wattles that were used to form the garden beds. Rice straw wattles are essentially rice straw, an agricultural bi-product that is enclosed in a netted tube. Both lightweight and malleable, rice straw wattles are often used for erosion control in landscaping, but also work well for garden beds.

I definitely think rice straw wattles are a good option for first-time gardeners who aren't that handy with woodworking tools. By simply connecting a few wattles together, you can create a garden space in a fraction of the time it would take to build a garden box. They also would work well in a space, such as a rooftop garden, where weight is a consideration. I also love the organic, circular shapes that are easily created with wattles.

If you're interested in trying these for your garden, check out Earth Savers' wattles.

Cool Idea: Color-Coordinating Your Plants

CasaSugar — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:30:31 -0700

When I volunteered at the SF Victory Garden, I was inspired by this small garden bed, which provided a fun twist on an edible garden. Using scarlet runner beans and rhubarb chard in the bed, the gardeners matched the colors of the two vegetables; the red of the chard stalks matches the red of the blooming bean flowers. While color-coordinating flowers is nothing new, using vegetables as ornament is a very neat idea. The matching colors are eye-catching and pretty, but the fact that these plants are also edible makes them doubly appealing.

For some ideas on coordinating veggie colors, read more.

Try:

yellow chard and yellow crookneck squash
red cabbage and Russian kale
strawberries and rhubarb
cauliflower and bok choy
eggplant and purple top white globe turnips