2016 Growing Season Breaking Early!

Did you know that Edible Eden sources most of our beautiful organic veggie seedlings from one of our best farming mentors Jack Gurley of Calvert's Gift farm? Jack has been making a living growing organic produce for the past 20 years or so and if someone knows the answers to all those endless farming questions...it's him. He has also been mentoring young farmers through Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture for the past several years and Edible Eden founder Josh Rosenstein had the amazing opportunity to participate in that program back in 2012. Jack has been watching the weather and the paying attention to the nuances of the seasons in this area for many years so- when he says this season is starting early...we believe him.

What that means is that while usually we wait until at least May 15th to plant warm season crops outside, this season we can start by May 1st. It also means many of our early season crops should grow faster and get tired sooner so keep your eyes on your lettuces! On the down side, it means we'll most likely have less time to enjoy our tender spring greens before they will need to make way for the warm season crops like tomatoes and cucumbers.

One new thing we are trying out this year is planting spinach seedlings instead of direct seeding. Jack made us trays of densely planted and beautifully germinated spinach seedlings and we have been planting them out all over the place. This allows us to space the little spinach plants more uniformly and get more succulent, healthy spinach leaves from smaller spaces. It also allows us to get a two week jump on the season as the seedlings are already a couple weeks old when we plant them.

Make sure to notice your spinach this year and let's see if this new way of planting does well!

Read the rest of the April edition of the Gardener's Monthly Almanac here

Gardening Tips: Show Your Planter Boxes Some Love and Drain Them

As many gardening gurus, books and videos will tell you- there are lots of tips and tricks to growing food successfully. Choosing the right spot, planting the right crop for the right conditions at the right time, sun, water and nutrients are all important.

Maybe more then any other mistake however, Edible Eden is seemingly always fixing people's gardens and containers that have been built without adequate drainage. 
Whether we are talking about a raised bed built with heavy duty tarp material underneath it, planter boxes with no holes in the bottom, or decorative clay containers that have not been drilled through- people everywhere try to grow in containers that don't have enough drainage.

This is not rocket science folks- if the water cannot get out the bottom of whatever you are trying to grow in...the plant will not thrive. Plant roots need to be able to take up nutrients and water from the soil, but that same water becomes a killer if it can't move through the soil and drain away. Without drainage holes, that water sits in the container creating anaerobic conditions and rotting the plants' roots. Very few plants can survive such conditions and even if they don't die they will be stunted and weak.

Recently we re-did seven hefty deck boxes that had been built solidly with a complete lack of drainage holes. This means we had to remove anything planted there, take out all the soil, drill holes, lay in gravel and then replace all the soil. This is a big job and can get expensive if you are hiring someone else to do it! It's so much easier to make sure your containers and beds have appropriate drainage before filling them with soil and plants.

If you are planning a new garden or getting ready to plant some containers make sure to contact Edible Eden for an initial consultation so we can make sure it's done right the first time!

Hearty Winter Supper with Steamed Greens

There's not much to eat in the garden in February, but coldframe spinach is still looking good and all the weeks of frost have really brought out those sugars. I like to brave the snow to harvest it and then steam it up and serve with a hearty wheat bulgar pilaf, a couple of fried eggs, and a simple sausage onion fry-up. Choose a jar of whatever you pickled last season and add some zing as well as live-culture goodness.  

Stirrings of Spring

By Farmer Josh

With the snow coming down outside, huddled in front of the heater, you wouldn't think that spring was on its way. But while we are shoveling our sidewalks and staying home from work and school, nature is beginning to take the deep inhale that precedes the exhale of spring madness.

The light is growing. Starting at the winter solstice in December we have been gradually getting just a little bit more sunlight each day, and under the snow, under the frozen ground, the plants can feel it. It's time to tap maple trees because the sap is running. Likewise it's time to begin pruning some types of dormant fruit trees and grape vines in anticipation of their waking up. Vegetable farmers in our area are starting their first seeds beneath lights in basements and living rooms. The alliums: those straight early soldiers are beginning their long trek to April (when they finally get to go outside). For those with high tunnels, the first succession of tomatoes are sending up spunky cotyledons, rearing up their heads to the lights.

Here at Edible Eden we are also feeling the stirrings of the coming season. Josh Russakis joined the team as PR and Marketing strategist and now things that seemed to be forever on the “one day” pile, are actually happening. Check out our new online and social media presence: follow us on Twitter, see some sweet garden and produce shots on Instagram, and check out our blog to find some great farm-to-table recipes, gardening tips and produce porn.

We are also excited to be working with the St Paul Lower school on their school garden program. While the sleet and snow pile up outside we are working to design an amazing educational garden emphasizing experiential education opportunities across a spectrum of subject matters.

In other news we have begun working with Kitchen Table Consultants on our financial plan. KTC is a cool and innovative consultancy that works with small farmers and food entrepreneurs on their financial plans and business models.

Did you know that Edible Eden offers a whole series of wellness programs and workshops from fruit tree care to food preservation? If you'd like to see urban homestead style workshops at your senior center, community center, faith community, or place of work: feel free to put us in touch with your wellness director.

We'll also be offering some workshops around town this spring. Catch us on March 13 at Valley View farms for a free session on growing fruit trees and berries and don't miss the Grow Center program on April 9-10 through the Baltimore City Planning Department.

Edible Eden is growing into its mission and purpose, which is to support people in the Baltimore area in eating more sustainably raised, ultra local, healthy, organic, food. We believe that through doing this we can build soil tilth, support biodiversity, and help our customers live healthier, more sustainable, more delicious lives.

If you are ready to get started on your food journey in 2016: drop us a line to set up your initial consultation.

Read the rest of the March edition of the Gardener's Monthly Almanac here

Time to Prune the Grapes!

Now is a great time to prune your grape vines. While most fruit trees and vines need some pruning, in order to get healthy, abundant grapes: you actually have to remove between 70% and 90% of the plant every year!

Grapes fruit on one year old wood: which means, say a main trunk sprouts a vine in spring, that vine grows all summer and fall, and that winter it turns grey and smooth. The following year it sends out shoots which bear clusters of grapes. By the next year, it looks shaggy and has dark peeling bark on it and no longer bears fruit. So in pruning: keep that in mind and seek to “think like a grapevine”.

There are many methods and styles of pruning grapes which are more or less appropriate to different varieties, trellising styles and climates. In the MidAtlantic, we have three basic types of grapes we can grow.

• The Labrusca varieties are descended from an American grape and tend to produce fruit further along their vines, so they are ideally pruned in the Kniffen or Cane pruned style.

• Vinifera, decended from French grapes, and Muscadines, a southern variety, bear closer to their trunk and hence are better suited to the Spur pruning style.

If you are struggling with your vines, consider giving us a call. Edible Eden will beat any vine back into submission, no matter how grisly!

Fall Greens Container Garden

Different kinds of fall greens are good to grow together in a single container. Different varieties of kale along with tat soi, arugula, mizuna and mustard greens grow at similar paces in similar conditions and are easy to seed.

Taken together they create a container that is both aesthetic as well as delicious. Start planting in late August and early September for ongoing yields throughout the fall. Scatter mixed seeds into potting soil and clover with a very thin layer of soil. Water gently and keep moist as the seeds germinate. Clear-cut baby greens for a crisp fall salad and wait for regrowth or wait until the plants get a little bigger and harvest select leaves.

My favorites would be:

• Toscano Kale

• Red Russian kale

• Siberian kale

• Mizuna

• Tat soi

• Red Giant mustard

• Golden frills mustard

Light Spring Brunch

Maximize those fresh spring flavored with the first asparagus tips, eggs from the coop and a chunk of your favorite feta

Winter Salad

Colorful winter salad with red meat radish and Asian pear

Fun with the neighbor kids!

Last Sunday, we had planned for a “preserving the harvest” workshop as one of Edible Eden's free series of sustainability workshops. I had krauting, lactofermenting and pickling projects planned and materials laid out. Teri and I were sitting in the living room making peace with the fact that no one was coming to the workshop and debating marketing strategies sullenly, when we heard an approaching tumult. Then... a neighbor family burst upon the scene with four girls between the ages of 8 and zero! Teri and I shifted gears and redefined the workshop on the fly...preserving the harvest you say, why no, how about... Farm Camp Extravaganza???

So we smelled fresh herbs and guessed their names, picked and ate cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, met the worms, and saw how figs and blueberries grow. Then we took apart the potato stack and harvested twenty lbs of papa sancho heirloom potatos. The girls dove for the potatos with shrieks of excitement and we remembered our own inspiration and excitement at discovering how food grows.

Then we came inside to the pickling table and actually made a half gallon of lactofermented dills, a quart of dilly beans, three jars of sliced jalepeno and carrot, two jars of whole pickled fish peppers and got started on a gallon of kraut... Elisheva, who is 3, carefully put all the hot peppers into the jars.

It was really uplifting to be around children who were genuinely enthusiastic about things that we care about and served as a solid reminder that no matter what you plan for...hashem invariably gives you what you need!

September weeknight dinner:

-Roasted Papa Sancho heirloom potatoes with fresh rosemary (garden),

-fresh lettuce and arugula salad (garden) with parmesan, avocado and honeycrisp,

-Sauteed baby onions (garden) and mushrooms with sour creme