April is the...Longest Newsletter

April 2011 has been unseasonably cold and maybe does qualify as the cruelest month this year.  Our April 2011 newsletter is certainly one of our longest, but many things are happening right now related to gardening and Project Grow, and we wanted to include all the details on as many things as possible.  So, please take your time, follow the links and enjoy!   

Pre-Order for the Plant Sale!

Every year, some gardeners at our plant sale find that their favorite choices have already sold out by the time they can make it to the sale. To remedy this problem, this year we are allowing gardeners to order plants from our plant sale ahead of time and pick up the plants Saturday May 14^th or Sunday May 15^th between the hours of 10am to 1pm at 3364 Oakwood in Ann Arbor.  To read all about the plants offered, click on the online list. 
For all the details on how to pre-order, please click here.  Time is running out on these pre-orders though, because we are asking gardeners to please get their orders in by May 1st! 

2011 Registration Update

Gardeners continue to register for 2011 using the new online registration system.  We keep finding occasional glitches, but things are basically working as expected.  If you have problems with the online application process, we'd like to hear about it so the problem can be corrected.  Just describing what happened in a phone call to (734) 996-3169 is helpful.   

At the time of publication, the following gardens were full: Brooks, Buhr Park, Chapel Hill, Clague, County Farm, Hillside, Hunt Park, Northside, West Park and Wines.  Space is still available at Airport, Catholic Social Services, Dicken, Greenview, Lakewood, Matthaei and Mitchell.  There is also still space at the two Discovery Gardens for at County Farm and Leslie Science Center. 

After all the gardens are opened, and the Board and staff are less busy, we will send everyone an e-mail asking for suggestions on how the entire process could work better.  We can't fix problems we don't know about or implement new ideas we have not heard.  So, if  while registering, you found yourself saying, "Well, why didn't it say so" or "Why can't they do it this way instead", you are the kind of person we really want to hear from! 

To register for this year, all you need to do is click here!

2011 Classes 

Chicken Chat with Chicken Champion, Peter Thomason

Saturday April 30th 9am-12 Noon

Have you considered keeping backyard chickens but were concerned you just didn't have enough information to do it responsibly? Peter Thomason has championed local efforts to legalize urban livestock and promote sustainable urban living. Each spring he  graciously opens his home and mini farm to us to provide a close-up, hands-on primer in keeping city chickens. Class fee $20.

Registration for classes with fees is required and can be done from our website.  

We will also be holding some food preservation classes, once our gardens start producing things to preserve (probably August), so continue to check the website later in the summer for classes on canning, lacto-fermentation and other fun food preservation projects!  

Garden Pictures Still Wanted

We've now added some great pictures from Hillside to our website, in addition to the ones we already had from  Northside and Matthaei.  If you'd like pictures from your garden site added to this illustrious gallery, just send them to Kirk@GoodScentsGardens.com and we will post them as soon as we can! 

Rhubarb (and Rhubarb Crisp)

by Kirk Jones

Practically everything I know about rhubarb I learned from my Project Grow gardening neighbor at County Farm, Jane. Jane didn't teach me all that much, but it was enough that I'm still growing and eating rhubarb from divisions of the rhubarb plant I put in at County Farm back in the mid-90s. Here is what I know:

1. You eat the stems of the leaves from rhubarb and it must be cooked. The leaves of rhubarb are toxic.
2. Jane told me not to cut the stems, but to harvest them by grasping the stem and giving it a good yank. I don't know why you shouldn't cut the stems, or if it really matters, but I have always done it Jane's way, and it works just fine.
3. Rhubarb sends up flowering stems which you should remove and discard using the same grasp and yank method. Rhubarb is usually considered a spring crop, but according to Jane, if you prevent the rhubarb from flowering, you can continue the harvest all summer long.

I told Jane I didn't know what to do with rhubarb anyway, since I had only ever heard of rhubarb pie and was intimidated by making crusts. Jane said to forget crusts and pies. She faxed a recipe for rhubarb crisp to my old employer. (I only remember this because I still use this fax page for the recipe). Here it is:

(For the recipe and the full article, click here!)

Michigan Gardener E-News 

The Michigan Gardener has now started an electronic version of their newsletter.  If you'd like to receive it, you can click here and sign up in the top left corner of their web page.  

People With Dirty Hands

The Project Grow Seed to Table crew show off their dirty hands after transplanting seedlings.  Left to right: Inge Ferguson, Monica Milla, Kirk Jones, Mary Gallagher, Rachel Shevrin,  and Marcella Trautmann.  

New Gardener Shindig!

Project Grow will be hosting a get together shindig for new gardeners on April 23, 2011 from 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM at the Leslie Science Center's Nature House

You don't need to be a new Project Grow gardener to attend, of course, but the focus of the event will be on introducing new gardeners to community gardening and organic community gardening in particular.

Come for lunch and enjoy a free introduction to organic gardening class taught by Project Grow gardening expert, Royer Held. Meet your site coordinator and your fellow gardeners. Learn all you'll need to know to enjoy being a member of Project Grow to it's fullest!

Seed Starting Instructions 

Project Grow has added a table of seed starting times to the Growing Tips/Seed Saving and Starting section of our website.  Check it out!