Help Us Spread the Word to Raise Funds for Schools and Non-Profits

We support many community garden programs with donations of seed, but this season, I'm also really proud of the new way we've come up with to put hard cash in the hands of schools, nonprofits and community gardening groups. For some reason it took me a long time to figure out how to create this fundraising program, but now that it is in effect and successful, I can't understand why didn't think of it years ago! 

Here's how it works: Any nonprofit, school or charitable organization can simply contact us, providing short paragraph about their mission and goals and ask for a nonprofit fundraising code. We give them the code which they give to all their members and supporters – who then enter it at checkout when they buy seeds on our website. At the end of the season, we send each group a check for 25% of all the sales generated by users of their specific code.

It's simple and easy for both the organizations who want to raise cash without having to do too much, and for us to administer on the backend. I think the program is a definitely win-win – obviously, it helps generate our business for Renee's Garden, and just as importantly, it provides a way to get real cash in the hands of many groups who are struggling these days.

I'd like to request request that readers of this blog pass the word around – this is an easy program to promote! Because gardening from seed is such a wonderful activity for all ages; sustainable, meaningful, pleasurable and just plain fun, it's a great way to encourage people to get started in their gardens and effortlessly support their favorite charity at no cost to themselves. And, I freely admit that I am really looking forward to the pleasure I will get writing those checks to the various groups at the end of the seed year!

Thanks,
Renee
PS: If you think an organization or school you are involved with would like to participate, click here.
PPS: Here a sample of groups that have signed up to get codes already:
Penn State Master Gardeneers, Pittsburgh, PA
Harker School Bio-Gardening Club, San Jose, CA
Iowa Arboretum, Madrid, Iowa
Long Creek Herbs- Melinda Smith Kids Garden Project, Blue Eye, MO
Chenango County 4-H, Norwich, NY
American Horticultural Society, Alexandria, VA
Oregon Garden Foundation, Silverton, OR
Baton Rouge Unit of the Herb Society, Baton Rouge, LA

Instructions for a Gopher/Mole/Vole Proof Raised Bed

- by Linday Del Carlo, Renee's Garden Trial Garden Mgr.

1. Choose the site where you want your raised bed to be located. The site should have at lease 6 hours of sunlight. Measure the area where the bed will be and mark it with stakes. The bed can be as long as you want, but make sure not to make it too wide. The bed width shouldn’t be more than 4 feet. It should be just wide enough to reach into the middle without difficulty. You never want to have to step into the bed. The bed that we are making here is going to be 7 ft.x 4 ft.

2. Next, buy the materials for the bed. We are using:
-6x6 redwood/cedar/rot resistant lumber
-24 inch long x 5/8 inch wide steel stakes to hold the bed into place
- Galvanized steel 1/2 inch hardware cloth to line the bottom of the bed. You can buy hardware cloth in 3 ft. wide rolls. Do not use “chicken or gopher wire” – it will not work.
-Heavy duty staples to fasten the hardware cloth to the sides of the bed.
Tools needed: a shovel, drill, mallet, hammer, and wire cutters.

3.  Set the lumber on level ground matching up the corners to make the border of the bed.   Then drill the holes all the way through the lumber to set the steel stakes through into the ground.  The stakes will secure the lumber to the ground.  With the mallet, pound the stakes through the wood and into the ground until the top of the post is flush with the wood. 

4.  Now that the lumber is in place, remove soil to a depth of at least 18 inches so we can line the bed with galvanized hardware cloth.  The hardware cloth needs to be set deep enough to be able to dig in the bed without damaging it.  The hardware cloth will prevent critters from entering the bed and eating the plants.

5.  You will need to cut 2 lengths of hardware cloth so that they can be joined in the center to form one large sheet that will stretch from the bottom of the bed up to the sides.  The length of the hardware cloth needs to include enough for the length  and depth of the bed. Overlap the 2 pieces by a few inches in the center ,  then  sew the strips together to make a secure seam (use thin, flexible wire to do this and make a tight seam).  Then lay the hardware cloth into the bottom of the bed and form it to the bottom and sides.  

    Once the hardware cloth is in place, fasten it to the lumber with heavy duty staples every 3 inches.  This will prevent hardware cloth from moving and creating gaps for critters to enter. If the hardware cloth is  still too shallow to reach up the sides because your bed is deep, cut  extra strips that overlap at least several inches and "sew" up a seam with thin flexible wire so gophers can't slip between the pieces.

6. Now the hardware cloth is fastened, and the bed is ready to be refilled with the soil that had been previously taken out.   When refilling the bed with soil, also take this opportunity to amend it with compost at the same time.  

7. The new bed is ready to plant.  The lumber that we used is thick enough to last for many years without decomposing.  It is protected underneath with hardware cloth which will prevent gophers/moles/voles from getting in.  We have added compost to enrich the soil for the plants.  While it is true that an occasional invader will jump into the bed from outside, it is easy to trap them when inside, as they have no way to escape!

Early Birds Don't Always Get the Worm

January seems the perfect time to start thinking about gardening. After all, the holidays are over, and planning next spring's bounty is a great way to boost your spirits. Nothing can pick you up more than envisioning all the fabulous plants you will be growing and enjoying next season. By now the printed seed catalogs have arrived and the garden media is talking up the next garden season as well.

It's a perfect time to start putting together your seed order. For vegetable gardeners, it's really a good idea to start that process by thinking about what you really like to eat on an everyday basis for your main garden and consider a few new fun things to try out.

On the fun side, for example, if you've never grown edamame (edible soybean), hibiscus for herbal tea, Padron tapas peppers, Trombetta climbing summer squash or Wyatt’s Wonder super-giant pumpkins, this will be a good year to try them.

That said, I want to encourage everyone to wait before translating that planting urge into reality until the weather outdoors is truly ready. Traditionally, gardeners are often told to start tomatoes, peppers and eggplant seeds indoors “6 to 8 weeks before the last frost.” I do not think this is good advice. It just doesn't tell you much if you live where there is no hard frost, like Southern California. Even in much colder climates, it's hard to know when the last frost will be, given all the weather variability these last few years.

What I have found works much better is to think about when the night temperatures in your garden regularly reach the 50- 55°F (10-13°C) range and then count back 4-6 weeks from that to start these warm weather-loving seeds. In much of the country, that means you don't need to start warm season seeds indoors until mid-March. In the cold winter areas, the right time can be the middle of April.

In everywhere but the most tropical parts of the country, we start the seeds for long season heat-loving plants like tomatoes, eggplant and peppers early indoors to give them a needed head start because they take so long to mature. Then we transplant robust seedlings into the garden and they never look back.

But other large-seeded summer vegetables like corn, beans, squash, cucumbers and gourds are best sown directly in the garden once weather has warmed into the 50 to 55°F (10-13°C.). They will thrive best when they are sown directly in the soil because they have tender tap roots. Transplanting purchased or indoor grown seedlings for these plants into the garden inevitably shocks and sets them back. If you sow them directly from seed they will grow like little dynamos and surpass any transplants easily.

Likewise, fast-growing summer flowers like sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, marigolds also do much better if you sow them directly into the garden when the weather is warm and settled as described above. They will never be as vigorous or grow as quickly if you start them in pots or seed starting trays too early. I think it's a shame that so many retailers actually start offering warm season veggie plants like tomatoes when it still shivering cold outside. This trend seems to have gotten worse over the last few years. Resist the urge to buy these plants out of season and better yet, plan to start your own from seed at the right time. Your plants will reward you with great abundance and you'll have the real satisfaction and pleasure that comes from nurturing them from tiny seeds into full bearing plants. I never get tired of of this joy.

Renee’s Garden Holiday Party - A Wealth of Wreaths

The office staff of Renee’s Garden recently spent a cozy afternoon together making holiday wreaths at our 2010 holiday party. Our horticulturalist, Beth Benjamin, hosted us at Camp Joy Gardens in Boulder Creek, CA, where she is a founder and current board member. We enjoyed homemade soup in the kitchen, exchanged gifts and then spent the afternoon creating our wreaths from a multicolor array of dried flowers and herbs that Beth selected from the harvest at Camp Joy. It was a nice break for all of us and fun to see the creativity that each person brought to their wreath designs.

Before we sat down to lunch, Beth took us on a tour of the farm. Renee's Garden has a special connection to Camp Joy – they grow the seed for our delicious Camp Joy Cherry Tomatoes! As we toured the gardens it was easy to envision the bounty produced in the height of the harvest. Even in the middle of December there were crops of greens in the ground, persimmons hanging on the trees and honey being processed in the barn. The goats were happy to see us and gobbled up the Kohlrabi greens offered as treats.

Camp Joy is a non-profit organic farm that sustains itself thru a CSA and sales of its products to local stores and the community. They are particularly known for the beautiful dried flower wreaths made from flowers grown and dried throughout the summer. In existence for 40 years, Camp Joy has apprenticed many successful farmers and taught generations of kids about the wonders of gardening. Their website is http://www.campjoygardens.org/

The main farmhouse showcases the bounty of the garden and we all admired the craftsmanship of the wreaths displayed on the wall. It was a damp day outside, but inside the wood fired stove pumped out warmth all afternoon. At the end of the day we were all pleased with our handiwork and a fine holiday get together.

Sowing Renee's Scatter Gardens

- by Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager

Here in our trial garden in central California, the fall rains have begun. Our climate (UDSA zone 8) is mild and, although we have had hard frost, the ground does not freeze in the winter.  Many flowers that had gone to seed from last season have now started to germinate once again. This is a good indication that it is a great time to sow spring blooming flowers, as the acidity of the rain water helps the seeds to germinate. The plants will grow through the winter and burst into bloom in the spring. It is a great time to sow a canister of Renee’s Scatter Garden seeds.  NOTE: In cold winter climate areas, you can sow seeds in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked.

We have prepared our planting bed. The soil was first weeded and then turned with a digging fork. All of the big clumps were broken up, and the soil raked flat.

 

 Before opening the canister, shake it thoroughly to evenly mix the seeds with the rice hulls. Then open up the can, peel back the aluminum seal, and pour some of the mixture into your hand and start to scatter it.

Make sure to shake out the seed mixture thinly and evenly. Scatter the seeds giving them enough space so that they do not germinate in crowded clumps. This will only stunt the growth of the plants. The rice hulls are easy to see and a good indicator of how far apart the seed has been sown.

 

 



After scattering the seed mixture, use a rigid rake to work the seeds down into the soil to a depth of 1/4 inch. Then, water the seeds in thoroughly and evenly with a fine mist sprayer. Keep the seeds evenly moist while they are germinating.



Next spring, you will enjoy a lovely carpet of colorful flowers.

Annual Wildflowers

 


Endles Bouquet Cut Flowers

Pollinator Flowers

California Orange Poppies

 

Cover Crop Blend





 

Jack's Carrots

Carrots are always one of the most fun vegetables for kids to grow themselves. Here's proof of that from Cheri, our Renee's Garden Accounting Manager, who describes how her young son Jack grew his own this season:

Last year my 5 year old son Jack fell in love with the purple carrots (and many of the other vegetables) that were tested in the Renee’s Garden trial gardens. So, this summer he decided to grow his own carrots--not only the purple ones he loves so much, but also the yellow and orange carrots from Renee’s Sunshine Mix and even the adorable little Round Romeo carrots. Unfortunately we planted the Mini Jack pumpkins (he had to plant those of course!) too close to the carrots and we lost the Round Romeos under the pumpkin plants. However, Jack had great success with the other three varieties and they have made him into a confirmed vegetable lover.

The process started in early June with Jack and his 2 year old sister, Jenni, preparing the raised bed in our front yard. They weeded the bed and then raked in the new soil. Jack then carefully scattered the carrot seeds in rows. I then thinned out the carrot seedlings a couple times during the summer: Jack wanted nothing to do with “throwing away” his yummy carrot plants! After checking them constantly and excitedly throughout the summer, Jack finally began the best part: harvesting his carrots in late August (unusually cool weather and a lack of warm sunshine lengthened the growing period).

Jack has since pulled and enjoyed a couple of full-grown carrots every few days. The longer they’re in the ground, the bigger and sweeter they’ve become. He has harvested some truly amazing carrots. One was nearly as tall as he was from the tips of the greens to the bottom of the carrot! He had another that looked as if it was tie-died purple and orange.

Jack has had so much fun sharing his crop with the neighbor kids (who have watched the progress all summer) and showing the carrots off to his friends at school. While he says all the carrots are “super yummy”, his favorites are the purple ones. He loves to show the other kids how good they are because none of them had never seen a purple carrot before. Once Jack has harvested the last of the carrots, he’s going to start all over again and plant a fall crop of the same varieties. This time the pumpkin plants won’t interfere with the Round Romeos!

Announcing the 2010 Renee’s Garden Photo Contest Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the 7th Annual Renee's Garden Photo Contest. Thanks to everyone who sent in photos for our contest - we had so many beautiful entries it was very difficult to choose just a few winners.  We enjoyed seeing them all. To see more of our favorite photo entries (and download them as desktop wallpapers), view our Flickr photo gallery. To view last year's winners, click here.

1st Place Winner:  “Chianti Rose Tomatoes”

Susy Morris,
Malvern, OH  

 "I've been enjoying growing things in the garden from your seeds for the first time this year." Susy's gardening blog, Chiot’s Run,  documents her life, cooking, travels, photography, and cats.

2nd Place Winner:   “Sunflower"
Becka Silva, Oroville, CA

"All of my sunflower seeds are from Renee's garden. I am starting a small farming business and the sunflower was my inspiration for the name, Girasole Farm. Girasole is the Italian word for sunflower. Most all of my summer garden was was started with Renee's seeds. Everything from zucchini, carrots, corn (YUM), butternut squash, cucumbers, watermelon and cantaloupes. I grew some gourds last year which were featured on a local house/garden show."

 

Honorable Mention: “Lounging Tri-Color Zucchini”

Amy Bond,
Chico, CA

“These two Tricolor Zucchini enjoyed some quality time by the lake before cooling off in a refreshing salad. When picked young, these zucchini have a soft yet crunchy texture and delicate taste that makes them the perfect addition atop your summer salad."

 Honorable Mention: “April in Paris" Sweet Pea
Jan Fetler,
Elk Grove, CA

“I am a gardener and a small-flock chicken farmer--both activities work well together.  Chickens will eat garden waste and their manure feeds the garden. Grown in a raised bed with a strong trellis, my sweet peas reached 6 feet and were covered with sweet fragrance.”

Jan's chickens devouring a sunflower. Jan's chicken website: The Poultry Project

Honorable Mention: “Blue Borage"
Shelley Cornell, Florida  

“I don't think I had one seed that didn't germinate and not only that, when the Florida heat virtually melted this beauty, there was a ton more to take its place from self seeding.  The beautiful pink and blue flowers that opened up on a plant covered in blue flowers. The other pic is of a bee on the Blue Borage, which is exactly why I wanted to grow it - I wanted to attract pollinators.”

Kid’s Garden Photo Contest Winner

“Sugar Snap Peas”

Thomas and Amy Pelkey,

Harrisburg, Oregon

“The boys each planted their own Renee's "Super Sugar Snap" which is their favorite "green" vegetable along with broccoli.  Thank you for the excellent Sugar Snap! It will be in our garden again this late summer/fall as well as an order for seeds next year.“