A freeze is hiting Phoenix area the next three nights!

I hope your winter weather these next few days is not too tough on you or your plants. I just made a pot of soup with greens and herbs from the garden.


All outdoor plants will need to be covered the next three nights in the Phoenix Metro area. With lows forecasted in the 20’s, this will definitely harm landscape plants as well as your gardens. It will be windy too so be sure to secure the frost cover with something so it doesn’t blow away. I used large river rocks, pots without plants and even binder clips!

If you can bring potted plants onto a covered porch or patio, next to the house, that will help protect them. Protect the citrus trees with old-style Christmas lights (a little heat) and then a cover. Works for the other plants as well.
Remember, the frost cloth needs to drape all the way to the ground to be most effective. And put them on just before sundown to keep the heat from the sun that is in the soil.

 You can leave the frost cloth on for a few days without much risk, but no more than that!

Here's a few good articles on protecting plants from frost:
http://ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/t-tips/cultural/frost.htm
http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/az1002.pdf

Wishing you and your plants well!

The Garden Goddess
http://www.down2earthgardens.com/

Learn Permaculture from an International Author - Toby Hemenway

This is too exciting to keep to myself.  When I took the Permaculture Design course three years ago it completely changed the way I look at everything, for my gardens to the way I lived my life.

Now Phoenix is fortunate to have an international author, teacher and expert on Permaculture bring a 5 month weekend course here!

SPRING 2011 PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE WITH TOBY HEMENWAY –
 ONLY ONE WEEK TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT!


Reserve your spot now for the Spring 2011 Permaculture Design Certification Course (PDC) with Toby Hemenway, internationally recognized Permaculture instructor and author of the best-selling Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. After January 19, the early bird discount of $150.00 will no longer be available, so click here to apply!


Students who complete the PDC become certified by the Permaculture Institute USA, the U.S. branch of the International Permaculture Institute!

“Sustainability continues to grow in popularity throughout the world. It will continue to be a burgeoning industry with great career potential as resources and energy become ever more scarce and expensive.” Environmental Jobs: Green Jobs in Sustainable Development.

Who takes this course?

Homeowners, farmers, and gardeners large and small learn to increase the value and productivity of their property, and to create home and land environments that better support their own needs as well as nature’s…in a much less costly way.

Teachers learn to integrate permaculture design into their curriculum in ways that have been proven to raise student performance.

Real estate and development companies are able to better address the public's growing concern for the environment and to reduce resource use and impacts.

Planners and public officials find holistic solutions to land-use and resource issues, and will identify and solve bottlenecks and impediments to implementing their programs.

Design professionals can add new qualifications to their resumes and offer improved services to their clients. Their designs tend to use fewer resources, work more efficiently, and are easier to maintain.

Entrepreneurs as well as job-seekers will find that a prime emphasis of this course is on earning a livelihood using the skills acquired in the course, reducing the need to spend, and developing holistic business and planning skills.

Wherever your interest in sustainability lies, be it the home garden, a home business, or for career enhancement, this course will be a transformative educational experience for you. You can be part of creating a sustainable future!

Click here to learn more about the course, curriculum, instructors, and how to apply. Do it now, before the $150.00 early bird discount period expires!


Please let me know if you would like to learn more about my experience.  I am happy to share it with you!

The Garden Goddess
Doreen Pollack
http://www.down2earthgardens.com/

5 Tips for Growing Leafy Greens

1. Most greens prefer a loose, fertile soil. You can achieve this by adding compost to the soil and making sure all the large clumps of soil are broken up.

2. Be sure to plant the seed at the appropriate depth. Most leafy greens are small seeds and get planted at about 1/8 inch. If planted too deeply they may not germinate.

3. Leafy greens are cool weather plants. In the southwest you can plant them starting in October and through the winter. Once the temperatures start to rise above 75 degrees, they will ‘bolt’ and go to seed.

4. Extend the harvest season by planting the seeds over several weeks (succession planting). Once the first planting germinates (pokes through the soil), plant some more!

5. Harvest greens by taking the young leaves from the outside on the plant, leaving the younger inner leaves. The plant will continue to grow from the inside. If you have several plants growing on the garden of each kind of plant you can have fresh greens all season long!

The beets and broccoli rabe featured here in the pictures were planted by seed on October 17, 2010.  I have been eating the broccoli rabe already as I thin them out.  The beets are next!

Happy eating from your garden!
The Garden Goddess
http://www.down2earthgardens.com/









Community Gardening is on the Rise in Phoenix

Community Gardening has  become a new-hip thing to do in Phoenix and surrounding cities. There are many reason for this ranging from people wanting to beautify vacant lots, neighbors getting together to do something outdoors, feeding the hungry, sending food grown to a foodbank and more.

 The problem is people are not sure how to navigate the process of starting a community garden. Creating a community garden is much more then knowing how to grow plants.  It is mainly about how to organize a group of people, secure the land and then figure out how to kept it going.  The growing part is easy after that!

There are several ways to get started on the journey.  The American Community Garden Association has many helpful tools on their website - http://www.communitygarden.org/  Here you can find step-by-step instruction as well as sample forms for leasing the land and renting out plots.  There is even a list serve where other members share their personal experiences and ask and answer questions.

On perhaps you prefer a more personal approach and want to be able to talk this through with an experienced person - well that is me!  On Thursday, November 18th I will be leading a 90 minute class entitled: So You Want to Start a Community Garden?  I will be sharing my personal experience as a garden manager, the results of my research and what I have learned as I have met with and helped other community gardens.  It is being hosted at the Maricopa County Extension Office and presented through the Phoenix Permaculture Guild.  You can see more about it here.

Then next April, there will be a conference for community and school gardens on April 1+2, 2011 here in Tempe, AZ.  Growing Communities, One Garden at a Time is the American Community Gardening Associations, Southwest Regional conference.  I am honored to be leading that effort.

I would like to know more about your ideas and questions about community gardens.  Do you participate in one now?  If so where and what is the name of the garden?  What is your experience?  Please drop me a line or leave a comment here!