|
|
|
|
the City Grower
Official Newsletter of the City Growers program
|
|
In response to increasing interest in local food and gardening, Grow Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy have joined forces to offer the following programs:
- City Growers assists in starting food gardens in the City of Pittsburgh.
- Allegheny Grows is a program in partnership with Allegheny County Office of Economic Development that starts community food gardens in Allegheny County.
- The Community Garden Exchange offers educational opportunities, resource sharing, and networking events for all community food gardeners in the Pittsburgh region.
|
Inside this Issue:  |
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy 
Grow Pittsburgh is proud to have the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) as one of its dedicated partners of the City Growers program. We would especially like to thank Andrea Yutzy and Arthur DeMeo from the Community Gardens and Greenspace Program. Their combined knowledge of making gardens flourish in difficult places has been instrumental to the success of our City Growers community food gardens.
Andrea Yutzy
My name is Andrea Yutzy and I am a member of the Community Gardens and Greenspace Program Field Staff. I am fortunate enough to occasionally work alongside Grow Pittsburgh staff to facilitate and install many community vegetable gardens in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. My degrees in Applied Sociology (concentration in Environmental Conservation) and Justice, Peace, and Conflict Studies from Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, VA) help shape my passion for creating community spaces used for growing food, introducing neighbors, and healthy
activity.
I originally moved to Pittsburgh almost 2 years ago to participate in a year-long voluntary service program called PULSE (Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience). Through that program and my work with WPC, I've had the opportunity to explore much of the city, and I'm excited to be a part of work happening to make Pittsburgh a great place to live.
Arthur DeMeo
Brooklyn native Arthur DeMeo is the Director of Community Greenspace Services at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Arthur directs a field staff of six in their endeavors to green the region with nearly 140 community flower gardens, 400 street planters in Downtown Pittsburgh, and 700 hanging baskets. He is excited to support the efforts of communities to develop vegetable gardens through the partnership between Grow Pittsburgh and WPC.
A special thank you also goes to Judy Wagner WPC Senior Director of the Community Gardens and Greenspace Program for her work with City Growers!
|
Seed Swap: Report Back
On Wednesday, March 21, City Growers hosted it's first Community Garden Exchange event of 2012. It was a blast! Folks connected over seeds and homemade food, and learned a ton about saving seed in Leah Smith's (PASA) workshop. The City Growers team was really pleased to see several Southsiders connect about the upcoming South Side Community Garden at Bandi Schaum Field. Best of all, there's lots of seed left over, so please contact us if you need seed for your community garden
project.
Stay tuned for upcoming Community Garden Exchange events, including a Skill Share Series and the Community Farm and Garden Tour, all happening this summer! |
High Tunnels: Coming to Your Backyard
You've seen them at nurseries and farms, but have you ever thought of having your own? Those plastic-covered structures called high tunnels or hoophouses are now used by farmers to grow crops but are also a great addition to a backyard garden. Let me describe a growing year for two high tunnels here in Pittsburgh in the yards of myself and my friend Bill.
In January on a sunny day, our unheated high tunnels are thirty degrees warmer than outside: we walk into a room at fifty to sixty degrees with green plants. In the fall, we planted spinach, mustards, bok choys and mizunas which stop growing in November but stay alive. They freeze solid at night, but by mid morning they have defrosted. We pick lower leaves to add to salads and stir-fries. By February they start to grow again as we direct-seed some new greens. In March the overwintered greens are sprouting delicious flower stalks and self-seeding claytonia is growing well. We transplant in more varieties of Chinese greens and lettuce into beds in March
and eat these plants three to four weeks later in April and our seeded crops into May.
Meanwhile, the center aisle has been busy since March with flats of seedlings. We start seeds inside on heat mats and under grow lights. But the high tunnel is a great place to grow seedlings, with even better light. Cold-sensitive plants come in on frosty nights. Since we can protect plants with covers, even tomatoes and peppers can be planted into the unheated high tunnel beds three to four weeks before our normal Frost Free date. By May, the tunnel is crowded with heat-loving plants like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and basil. They grow better as the tunnels keeps the evening and night temperatures higher. And with no overhead watering
or rain, there is less problem with disease. The last two years we picked tomatoes into November with no blight. In August and September we start adding the fall crops under the tomatoes. Some of these crops are consumed completely in the fall and some are still sitting as we walk in on a cold winter day.
My tunnel is 8 by 13 feet, a simple PVC frame, scrap wood end walls and Big Box plastic held down with sandbags, with an initial cost of less than $50. Bill bent his own metal frame, used wiggle wire fasteners and has two automatic vents to build a 12 by 18 foot tunnel for $500. Both structures can require daily attention to avoid overheating. But the tunnels are more convenient to get into and far more temperature- stable than the cold frames and low tunnels we also use: just open the door, walk in and harvest, without holding a lid on your head! We are now looking into ways to use solar to add additional heat to the tunnels in winter so that we can get more growth in February, and more time for sunbathing. Where's my lawn chair?
Bellevue High Tunnel
Several volunteers braved snow and muddy conditions on February 25 to build the high tunnel at the Rosalinda Sauro Sirianni Garden and then, during the much nicer weather on March 15, AmeriCorps members helped put the finishing touches on the framing (and also, install fencing, clear brush, and prep the garden area for planting). The structure is now ready to plastic over and start growing organic tomatoes and peppers for the North Hills Community Outreach food pantries.
|
Visit the May Market for Organic Seedlings!
Just in time for Mother's Day, the 76th annual May Market at Phipps offers a huge selection of plants for your garden, including the public garden's Top 10 Sustainable Plants, organic herbs and vegetable seedlings, botanical specimens grown in the Conservatory greenhouses, and more.
 Grow Pittsburgh will be selling a wide array of organic seedlings at the market, including the following: - Hot peppers
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Kale
- Paste Tomatoes
- Unusual tomato varieties
- ...and more!
DATE: Friday March 11th Saturday March 12th
TIMES: Friday: 9:30 a.m.-7
p.m.; Saturday 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
|
| Other Events of Interest
South Side Community Garden Volunteer Days
Dates: Saturday May 5th and May 12th
Time: 9:00am-2:00pm (both days)
Location: South Side Community Garden at Bandi Schaum Field
More info: Help convert an old baseball field into a productive community garden. We need lots of hands to move and spread mulch and to clean up the site. Sign up to volunteer; large groups are welcome! Contact: Jessica McNally jes...@growpittsburgh.org
Western Pennsylvania Gardening & Landscaping Symposium
Date: April 14th
Time: 8:30am-5:30pm
Location: Shady Side Academy in the Hillman Center for Performing Arts
Arbor Day Celebrations
Dates: April 7th-28th
Time: Various
Location: Carnegie Library Locations
More info: Presented in collaboration with Tree Pittsburgh, this month-long Arbor Day celebration includes activities that create an enriching opportunity for children to learn about trees and the natural world. Due to limited space advance registration is required. Contact a library branch for more information.
Backyard Coops: Urban Chicken Farming
More info: Interested in keeping backyard chickens? Join representatives from the Uniontown Poultry Authority and a few of their feathered friends to learn about the ins and outs of chicken coops, feed, local laws and guidelines. All programs are FREE. Visit www.carnegielibrary.org or call 412-622-3114 for more information.
Penn State Master Gardeners of Allegheny County: Backyard Gardening Lecture Series
Dates: Saturday April 21st
Time: 9:30am-2:45pm
Location: Trax Farm and Market, 528 Trax Road, Finleyville, PA 15332
More info: Topics include: Best Plants for a Carefree Garden, Edible Landscaping, Organic Pest Control, and Pond Basics.Pre-registration is recommended. Fee is $15. Checks made to Penn State Extension may be sent to: Penn State Extension Allegheny County, 400 N. Lexington Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. For more info, call: 412-473-2540.
|
 | | Students from Westinghouse High School clear out the beds at Miss Mary's Garden at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA. |
|
| We're Getting a New Website!
We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Wall to Wall Studios designing a new Grow Pittsburgh website. Our goal? To create a site with heightened organization, easy accessibility, increased information, and fun photos and events. We hope to unveil the new site in early summer. Keep checking back for more information on the launch!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
