Organic Gardening

I do not consider myself a die hard organic gardener. For example, I don't always buy organic produce in the store. Most flowers are not seriously affected by pests or disease, and the few that are (like roses) are difficult to grow commercially in this climate anyway. The end result is that I raise all the flowers for Good Scents, and the few vegetables I grow for myself organically. Mainly this is because I just don't like handling inorganic fertilizers and pesticides.

I'm on the board for Project Grow and in May 2010 I attended part of the County Farm garden kickoff. One of the gardeners asked if Project Grow could put something on their website about what pesticides are organic and which are not. Here are some ideas that were suggested at the meeting:

Most things that are organic will say 'organic' on the label. Things that are not organic will say nothing. For example, 'Pyola' an insecticide that containing pyrethrins plus canola oil to help it adhere to leaves says it is organic. The popular insecticide Sevin (or it's knockoff Eight) make no claims whatever.

Organic products are natural. Insecticides are based on plant products. Fertilizers are based on animal products like blood and manure. Some fertilizers are based on fossilized material like greensand. Inorganic fertilizers tend to say things like "active ingredient".

The most common soil amendment used locally is compost (The City of Ann Arbor sells compost by the bushel and yard) and others include animal manures and peat moss.

There are fine lines separating many of these things. Recently, the word 'Organic' was defined by the USDA and growers must now adhere to guidelines and follow rules and inspections before using it. Food guru Michael Pollan thinks local is more meaningful now than organic. For example, many small farmers cannot afford to spend the time and money involved in receiving organic certification but companies like Dean Foods can easily afford these things. A couple people mentioned that the frequent use of ChemLawn and other pesticides locally may mean that Ann Arbor compost is not as organic as we would like to believe.

While all these things are true, anything grown organically in Ann Arbor compost or antibiotic laden manures will contain fewer pesticide residues than inorganic produce. In addition, anything grown organically will not further contribute to pesticides and chemical fertilizer use.

Thanks again to the gardener at County Farm who brought this up!

Dawn Farm Garden via Google Earth

I have looked at the Dawn Farm garden where I grow most of my flowers on Google Earth before but never took the time to see how to save the image and post it. I finally did so and here it is! The image shows 136 100sf beds. The picture was taken in May so there basically isn't any color. There are daffodils blooming in the picture, but in mid-May they are all white anyway so none of them show up.

To the North and East you can see a couple white boxes which are the bee hives maintained by Laura K.

Posting More, I Hope

I read one time that Joan Didion used to answer all her mail but not necessarily promptly. She'd begin these letters with "During my absence from the country for the past several months". I don't have any such excuse, but I hardly did any posts all summer for a several reasons. First, it was hot and wet so it seemed I was constantly behind at the farm. Secondly, I was still recovering from my concussion, so I needed more rest. Lastly, after finishing cleaning everything around the beginning of November, I've been trying to catch up with the rest of my life since then. I'm basically back to normal speed now (it took until probably September from a January accident) and will hopefully post a fair amount of stuff over the rest of the winter.

2011 Seeds

Here are the seeds I ordered for 2011. All of them are from GeoSeed. I will also be growing, zinnias and statics but I still have those seeds from this year.

It is hard to believe, but I will be starting some of the lisianthus in about a week!

Achillea millefolium F2 summer pastels mix

Ageratum Blue Sensation P

Alchemilla mollis Robustica

Antirrhinum Opus Series Plumblossom

Antirrhinum Opus Series Appleblossom

Antirrhinum Opus Series Early Bronze

Aquilegia vulgaris Barlow Series Mix

Asclepias curassavica Silky series CS

Aster Serenade Blue

Aster Serenade White

Aster Serenade Red

Aster Seastar mix

Bupleurum rotundifolium Garabaldi

Buddleia davidii Butterfly hybrids mixed

Campanula glomerata Alba

Campanula glomerata Superba

Canpanula latifolia macrantha

Campanula persicifolia Telham Beauty

Campanula persicifolia White

Carnation Floristan Mix

Centaurea americana Aloha Blanca

Chrysanthemum coccineum Robinson's Giant Series

Chrysanthemum parthenium Gold Moon Improved

Chrysanthemum parthenium Virgo

Cosmos Sensation series Purity

Delphinium belladonna Oriental Blue

Delphinium consolida Exquisite Series

Delphinium consolida regalis Cloud series Blue

Delphinium consolida regalis Cloud Series Snow

Delphinium cultorum Aurora F1 Series

Delphinium cultorum Magic Fountains mix

Delphinium cultorum Magic Fountains Dark blue white bee

Dianthus barbatus Neon Series Purple

Dianthus barbatus Neon Series Rose Magic

Dianthus barbatus white

Erigeron Azure Fairy

Erigeron Pink Jewel

Eucalyptus Silver dollar tree

Godetia Grace shell pink

Godetia Grace Salmon

Godetia Grace white

Gypsophilia elegans White Elephant

Helenium autumnale Helena Series

Helianthus Pro Cut Orange

Helianthus Pro Cut Lemon

Helianthus Pro Cut Yellow Lite

Helianthus Sunbeam

Helianthus Sunrich Gold

Helianthus Sunrich Orange

Heliopsis Summer Sun

Heuchera sanguinea Firefly

Lathryus odoratus Royal Family

Leucanthemum May Queen

Lisianthus Arena Series Red

Lisianthus Arena Series Rose

Lisianthus Cinderella Series Blue

Lisianthus Cinderella Series Ivory

Lisianthus Cinderella Series Lime

Lisianthus Cinderella Series Pink

Lisianthus Cinderella Series Yellow

Lisianthus Twinkle Series Deep Blue

Lisianthus Twinkle Series Blue Blush

Lisianthus Vulcan Series Putple Picotee

Lisianthus Echo Series Champagne

Marigold Gold Coin series Double Eagle (Orange)

Millet Puple Majesty

Molucella laevis

Parsley triple curled

Perilla frutescens Green Leaved

Primula Rosanna Sesries Mix

Rudbeckia hirta Cherokee Sunset

Rudbeckia hirta Cappuccino

Rudbeckia hirta Goldilocks

Rudbeckia triloba

Dianthus barbatus scarlet

Cut Flower Talk

I'm going to give a talk / workshop on cut flowers at the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living next Wednesday May 26th from 1-3pm. The event is free and the Center for Independent Living is at 3941 Research Park Drive. Despite the usual late May slump, I will bring whatever cut flowers I can find. Please come!

Project Grow's 2010 Heirloom Vegetable Sale

Project Grow will is holding their heirloom vegetable sale on May 15th, 16th and 22nd in front of People's Food Co-op on 4th Avenue in Ann Arbor. This is a great place to get a single plant of strange heirloom tomatoes - there are 50 different kinds. All the proceeds go to Project Grow and the expenses are pretty low because all the manpower is provided free from volunteers and the plants are all grown from seed. I know all this because I'm one of the unpaid volunteers.

The sale offers tomatoes, peppers and basils but it is an especially good place to get tomatoes. Click here for a complete listing of what will be offered, hours etc.

Wisteria 2010

I read somewhere that the biggest limitation for gardeners is time (as opoposed to money or climate I suppose). I guess this can mean hours per day or years per lifetime, and sometimes one seems more meaningful to me than another. Ed Rasmussen, the guy who runs The Fragrant Path, summed up my attitude toward all this when he said, referring to growing shrubs and trees from seed, "if not planted, they will not grow". The point being that if you plant the shrub that takes forever to flower now, in no time at all it will be flowering away every year.

A couple years ago I printed a picture of the Japanese wisteria I planted from Carroll Gardens which took several years to produce a few flowers. Last year it produced even fewer but this year is is literally covered in blooms, so many I can't begin to count them. Here are a couple pictures:

This pergola Joe and I built in front of the house contains 5 sections, and the wisteria is now most of the way through section 2.