Written by Carren Jao for YourDailyThread.com
Forage Home Grower Robert shares his tips for a healthy urban garden from now til spring with Carren Jao.
If the secret to an unforgettable meal is fresh ingredients, then Silver Lake resto Forage is on the right track. Upping the ante, the eatery gets its produce not just from local farmers’ markets, but straight from people’s backyards.
Forage’s “hyperlocal” Home Growers Circle helps passionate gardeners certify their plots as approved food sources for the restaurant. “The people at Forage are so appreciative of good food,” says Home Grower Robert of Silver Lake. “I bring in my freshly harvested vegetables and they serve them almost immediately.” Frequent contributors often get a shout-out by having a dish named after them on the ever-changing menu.
Dreaming of a dish with your name on it by May? Try growing veggies on your own plot or patio first with Robert’s winter to spring gardening tips:
- Location, location, location – Placement is everything. Look for a spot that allows for variable sunlight. Robert’s garden is shaded by overhanging trees in winter (for sun-sensitive leafy vegetables). In summer, he’ll trim the tree to grow sunlight-loving heirloom tomatoes.
- Miracle-Gone – Don’t be fooled by its name—Robert advises gardeners to avoid Miracle-Gro. “It just kills the regular good things in the ground.” Instead, he uses organic soil and organic chicken manure as an additive. Talk to the folks at your local nursery to get some help; Robert frequently trades tips with the people at Sunset Nursery himself.
- Lettuce celebrate – Think you have no time to plant? Robert cultivates Red Butter Lettuce and Red Oak Leaf Lettuce in about six weeks. The best time is winter. “It’s so easy. People can even grow them in window boxes,” says Robert.
- Cultivation meditation – Once your leafy veggies are growing, harvest some of the outer leaves every week while preserving the core (leaves that grow in the middle). “It’s kind of Zen, but I spend time with each plant and ask, ‘What can you give me today?’”
- Spring into action – For spring, look into growing two easy-to-grow, foolproof veggies—tomatoes and beans. They are perfect partners, Robert shares. Beans are one of the few plants to deposit nitrogen in the soil while tomatoes love nitrogen.
- Fight the fear of failing – Don’t worry about doing things just right. Read a lot, experiment and don’t be critical of your progress. Share stories with other gardeners and learn from their trials and errors.
Carren Jao is a design and culture writer with a love for history and sustainability. She wonders what to do with the chard in her CSA box and dreams of growing her own basil, mint and cilantro in a window one day. You can find her at carrenjao.blogspot.com and on Twitter.
