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Montgomery Victory Gardens Weekly Update - March 19, 2010

In this update:

* "Growing Local Food" - Wednesday, March 24
* '"Resolving the Food Fight" - Tuesday, March 23
* Is Your Garden Ready for Digging?
* Vegetable Planting Calendar for Central Maryland
* Getting Your Kids Into the Garden
* Garden/Construction Giveaway at Red Wiggler Farm



"Growing Local Food" - Wednesday, March 24

For forty-seven years, the West Montgomery County Citizens Association has worked to protect the environment, perpetuate animal and bird habitats, and control Green Wedgegrowth while conserving forests, watersheds and open land in the "Green Wedge," that part of the county to the west of the I-270 corridor and below the Agricultural Reserve. And now, they are talking about how to use this land to grow food.

Please join WMCCA on Wednesday, March 24 at 8pm for their program "Growing Local Food," at the Potomac  Library, 10101 Glenolden Drive,  Potomac, Md.  This important event will feature Ann Harvey Yonkers, founder and co-director of the FRESHFARM Markets in Washington, D.C., an award winning nonprofit that operates 10 farmers' markets in the Chesapeake Bay region, and co-owner of  Pot Pie Farm near St. Michaels, Maryland.  Yonkers is nationally recognized by Women Chefs and Restaurateurs as a "Woman Who Inspires" and was recently named a WETA "Home Town Hero" for FRESHFARM Markets service to the DC community. 

In addition to a short film about the FRESHFARM Market movement, she will be joined by a panel that includes Caroline Taylor, Executive Director of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance, Laura Ledgard who operates the Good Life Farm CSA in Darnestown, and yours truly, Gordon Clark, Project Director of Montgomery Victory Gardens!

An important event not to be missed, "Growing Local Food" is free to the public. Please join us! Click her for directions to the Potomac Library.



"Resolving the Food Fight" - March 23 in Takoma Park

On Tuesday evening, March 23 the Young Activist Club of Piney Branch Elementary School is hosting a community forum to discuss school food issues, with a particular focus on the use of polystyrene lunch trays. The event will be held in the All-Purpose Room of Piney Branch Elementary, 7510 Maple Ave. in Takoma Park, from 7 - 8:30pm

The young activists are delighted to let you know that State Senator Jamie Raskin and County Councilmember Valerie Ervin have agreed to speak and address the YAC's proposal to replace the trays with a pilot dishwasher project at PBES. There might even be performance of their new hit song, "Goodnight Styrene!"

For more information on the Young Activist Club and their Pilot Dishwasher Project, visit their website here.



Is Your Garden Ready for Digging?

If you're like me (and I know I am!), you've been thinking the same thought for the past few weeks: when can I start planting things in my garden?

The prolonged presence of snow this winter gave us unusually wet conditions, andDigging in garden digging when the garden is still too wet can ruin the soil structure for the season. To tell if your garden is ready, there is a simple test recommended by Denise Sharp, former Director of the MD Home and Garden Information Center, former State Master Gardener Coordinator and current owner and operator of Sharp's at Waterford Farm in Brookeville:

"Spade up a shovel full of soil and grab a handful of the soil down about 2 or 3" from the surface.  Squeeze the soil in your fist.  If the soil makes a ball, sticking and clumping together, it's too wet to dig.That's not to say, you cannot bring in your soil amendments; but to actually till, it may not be such a good idea when the soil forms a ball. The season will be late this year. Patience may be necessary."

Although the past several days of beautiful warm dry weather certainly seem sufficient, soil drys at different rates in different areas - so just do the simple test. And if you need to wait an extra few days for your soil to dry out, well, as Denise says, patience may be necessary!



Vegetable Planting Calendar for Central Maryland

So if your garden is ready, what should you be planting first, and what next? How soon can you put in peas, or tomatoes?

planting seedsWell wonder no longer! We're delighted to announce that Jon Traunfeld, the current Director of the MD Home and Garden Information Center and State Master Gardener Coordinator, has just completed an update of the Vegetable Planting Calendar for Central Maryland (which includes us), posted on their "Grow It Eat It" site.

Click here to see the updated calendar.

Remember - charts like these should always been seen as guidelines, and conditions will vary somewhat from area to area within the county, and from year to year depending on the weather. But for a good general guide to what you should be planting and when in Montgomery County, check out the GIEI's new planting calendar!



Getting Your Kids Into the Garden

There may be no greater joy or better memory in a child's life than time spent in a vegetable garden. But how do you get them to start?

Here are two new resources to help. The first is from Kid's Gardening of the NationalKid in Garden Gardening Association. More than just a primer on how to create a food garden for your kids, this is about  "taking advantage of 'gardening moments' with your kids every week in your own yard ... and in the garage, and at the windowsill, and in the basement ... seizing the big projects and little opportunities for gardening with kids that can fit seamlessly into your life. This primer will help you learn to recognize those opportunities and turn your kids' questions into fun discoveries."

To read "Growing Food for Others" and "The Parent's Primer, click here.

And for more great tips on getting your kids into the garden, click here to read "Little Green Thumbs" from The Sustainable Table. 



Garden/Construction Giveaway at Red Wiggler Farm!

Our friends at Red Wiggler Farm in Clarksburg are doing some spring cleaning, and getting red of some stuff you may want for your garden.

The top catch could be the multiple 100 and 200 ft strips of drip tape (used for watering), but they also have bags of peat moss, perlite and potash, decorative rocks, wooden picture frames, clay and plastic pots, seedling starters, an IBM typewriter (how did that get in the garden?), and much more.

If you are interested in these items and would like to pickup before April 3 , please contact [email protected]. Red Wiggler is open Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm but can accommodate anyone who is picking up these items, as long as you contact them ahead of time.


That's it for this week, friends! Don't forget to send us your ideas for stories or about local food events we can promote by emailing us at [email protected].


Yours in getting the garden going (but only if the soil is ready, or course!),

Gordon Clark,
Project Director
Montgomery Victory Gardens