#3 of the Pest Series: The Harlequin Bug

Harlequin Bug

 

Photo Credit: Texas A & M University, Extension Entomology

 

The harlequin bug is a pest that targets the crucifer family which includes crops such as collard greens, broccoli, kohlrabi, and cauliflower.  It will also move onto other crops like asparagus, squash, corn, tomato, and corn. The harlequin bug is identified by its eye catching red and black color pattern. It does damages by sucking at the sap of plants which in turn makes them wilt and eventually die. While the harlequin bug is resistent to many insecticides, manual destruction of the bugs and their eggs is fairly effective.

 

#2 of the Pest Series: Japanese Beetle

Japanese Beetle

 

Photo Courtesy of Clemson University

 

The Japanese beetle is a serious pest to over 300 plants and crops including raspberries, corn, peas, peppers, tomatoes, corn, and strawberries.  This beetle can be recognized by its oval shape, metallic green coloring, and copper wings.  It spends it’s larval state feeding on the roots of grass and can do significant damage to lawns as a result. During this time in it’s life it is fairly susceptible to various nematodes and a commercially sold powder which spreads a bacterium called milky spore.  During their adult life they are most readily controlled by kaolin sprays made from a type of clay that when sprayed directly onto the crops irritates the mouths of the beetle and deter them from snacking. Similarly, soap and water mixtures applied directly onto the plants can stop damage. Finally, natural predators like the meadowlark and cardinal, are helpful at controlling populations, though are rare in urban settings.

 

#1 of the Pest Series: The Cabbage Looper

Just in time for the end of the growing season, I’ve decided to do a mini-series on some common garden pests to Delaware. Now you have all winter to study these little creatures and lovingly plot their demise.*

 *For those of you who think this is harsh- When I first began working at DCH I too struggled with this line thinking. My sister said it well when she remarked on the disarming vulnerability of so many of our little soft bodied friends. Kill a slug? It seemed to me akin to waging war on a puppy. Then I began gardening…

 

Cabbage Looper

  

Photo Credit: Texas A & M University, Extension Entomology

 

The cabbage looper feeds on the foliage of various crops and can wreak significant havoc on their production.  The most popular host plants are cabbage and similar plants like collards, broccoli, and cauliflower.  Other host plants include beets, cabbage, potato, spinach, tomato, lettuce, and cucumber.  The cabbage looper is identified by its light green coloring and the two white stripes that run down its legs. Late instars grow to over 1’1/2” in length and at this stage do the most damage. The adult cabbage looper is grayish brown and has silvery figure eight patterns in the middle of its wings. It has about an inch and a half wing span.  The adult cabbage looper can lay nearly 350 eggs over a ten day period and seek out the underside cabbage. After three to six days the eggs hatch and begin to feed on the underside of the leaf.

While “naturally” occurring insecticides like rotenone, pyrethrum, diatomaceous earth blend, and sabadilla can be used, they are still fairly toxic to mammals and extremely toxic to fish and other insects so we suggest using alternative control methods like sprinkling flour or salt on the worms, using more resistant types of crops, or putting on row covers before moths can come lay eggs on your plants. If you are more adventurous you can also release predator insects such as the trichogramma wasp or the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis into your gardens.

 

A tree grows in… Wilmington

It’s official- the Fall has arrived. It wasn’t the calendar that told me;  it was the fact that last weekend I ate a spoonful of homemade apple pie. My first of the season. You would think that my spirits would have soared, yet, with this delicious bite there also came a wash of homesickness for New England.  Now, I know we aren’t that far from the Green Mountains or the Connecticut River. We get changing foliage down here. Decorative gourds and hay rides abound. Delaware folks ring in autumn with pumpkin carving and the donning of overused hoodie sweatshirts just like the best of the northerners, so why doesn’t it feel quite the same?

For one, we are living in a city (most unlike my former home in Massachusetts). I’m not surrounded by mountains that look like Bob Ross just had a go at them.  I don’t come into contact with nearly enough sugar maples (sorry DCH- I know they aren’t all that exciting, but I do love them!), and I haven’t been to an orchard since I’ve moved to Philadelphia.  So what is a misplaced New Englander left to do?

Photo by John Giblo

As I pondered this question this past weekend, I visualized Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire not in their orange fired glory, but saw them in the middle of January. Bitterly cold, isolated, wet, dramatic, and harrowing. I reminded myself that I love living in a city because I don’t need to drive 40 minutes to go to the movies, buy groceries, or see another person under the age of 50. There are many aspects to living in a southern (comparatively) urban center that are incredibly fantastic… but I still want more country.

That is where urban orchards come in. Last week a co-worker and I “attended” a webinar on urban orchards. Ashley Atkinson,  the Program Director of  The Greening of Detroit spoke about her work establishing thriving orchards throughout the city of Detroit. There were so many incredible projects highlighted including the development of a five acre mixed use public park containing a large orchard. Very inspirational. Of course, there are many challenges to utilizing public landscapes in this way. Care of the trees, knowledge of growing fruits, longterm commitment- all of these things can become substantial obstacles. Yet, I’m becoming increasingly sold on the power of community. If the people want it, it can be done.

 We at the 12th and Brandywine Urban Farm are pretty entrentched in this thinking. The people wanted apples and so we  are taking our very first step towards fruit production. This fall, with the assistance of the 2009 H.E.L.P. campers we will be planting 9 semi-dwarf apple trees. Peter Lindtner, a coalition member and former gardener at Hagley will be teaching us about espalier,  specialized pruning that maximizes yield while creating a work of art. I’m excited to be bringing a little New England into Wilmington and the day we plant them, I will definitely be sporting my most threadbare hoodie in honor of Massachusetts.

 

Born to faint…

Those of you who have been in contact with me recently most definitely have been subjected to my rambles about the wonders of fainting goats. They are what you would expect from their common name- goats that “faint” when startled. That is, when they experience a stressful or suprising situation their muscles inconveniently contract so that they tumble over, stiff-legged. In some cases they actually fall onto their backs with their legs straight into the air as though they are praising the heavens with their little hooves. Wikipedia tells me that this characteristic is caused by a hereditary genetic disorder called myotonia congenita, so it actually is kind of a sad reality. Still, there is something very disarming about little goats toppling over at the slightest commotion.

I’m intrigued by these goats not only because of their comical physical displays but also because they are what is called a heritage breed of livestock. The folks at Sutainable Table , a New York non-profit based around food education explains heritage breeds as “traditional livestock breeds that were raised by farmers in the past, before the drastic reduction of breed variety caused by the rise of industrial agriculture.”

I had never really thought of the importance of preserving our livestock breeds before falling in love with fainting goats, but as I’ve read more on the decline in livestock variety I can’t help but see parallels to our vegetable food systems. The great majority of our grocery store produce comes from large-scale farms that grow one cultivar of tomato, one cultivar of corn, one cultivar of bell pepper and so on. We have lost a great deal of diversity over the years in exchange for hybridized, disease resistant, kind of bland tasting (my opinion), products. Our taste buds aren’t the only things suffering at the hands of this streamlining either. From an environmental standpoint it seems a little foolish to “put all our eggs in one basket,” so to speak. By significantly limiting the cultivars of crops we are growing, we are also making our food production more vulnerable. It feels like only a matter of time before pests and bacteria begin to adapt to the “resistent” genetically modified crops. When this happens I can only imagine they will have a field day decimating the  acres and acres of identical tomato, pepper, and corn cultivars.

It isn’t all gloom and doom, though.  I think one of the greatest benefits of urban agriculture is that you get to grow your own crops wherever you live, allowing you to experiment with many, many types of vegetable cultivars. This year alone Ann and I started seedlings of over 10 cultivars of tomatoes, many of which were heirlooms. Choosing different cultivars adds a sense of adventure to gardening. Will you find your new favorite eggplant? Will a Green Zebra tomato really have stripes like the catalog promised? Can I really harvest a TWO pound potato? (We did).

I like this kind of thoughtful interaction with my food. It makes me think that I should now go out and buy a fainting goat.

 

How to build a hoop house

Back in the spring DCH ran a workshop on how to construct your own hoop house. It was so successful that I thought I would do a post giving  you a play by play of hoop house making. Perhaps some of you possess pioneering spirits and would like to give it a go for yourselves.

Before I get ahead of myself, I guess I’ll take a moment to explain what a hoop house is. Essentially, they are portable structures that you can use in your garden to extend your growing season or to keep insects and small furry critters off your plants. They usually consist of a light frame and are covered with a porous material which lets in sun and rain all the while keeping your plants protected.

So how do you make these?

Here is a list of materials you will need. Keep in mind that  specific amounts may vary depending on the dimensions of the hoop house you would like but this will give you a general idea:

 

¾ “ PVC Pipe (24 ft. length)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

½” PVC Pipe (5 ft. length, 3 each)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

¾” 90° elbow (4 each)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

¾” x ½” Reduce Tee (6 each)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden Clips (14 each)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Floating Row Cover Fabric

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twine (10 Ft each)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PVC Cement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Landscape Staples (4 each)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

1. Cut ¾” pipe to fit perimeter of bed allowing for lengths of connectors

 

2. Assemble pipe and connectors for frame securing joints with PVC cement

 

3. Tie twine around center frame connectors for stability

 

4. Bend ½” pipe and connect to reduction tee’s to make hoops, again securing joints with PVC cement

5. Cover with floating row cover fabric and attach to frame with garden clips gathering excess fabric at ends with binder clips

 

 6. Secure hoop house to raised bed with landscape staples taking care not to puncture fabric

 

DONE!

If you are interested in hearing more about DCH’s various workshops- from making a hoop house, sharpening your garden tools, constructing a beautiful winter wreath, or crafting your very own rain barrel, please contact Sarah Bruce Deacle, Assistant Director of Programs at 302. 658. 6262 x117 or by email: sbdeacle@dehort.org

 

 

Peas in prison

I will never get sick of the seemingly magic transformation a garden goes through in July. What you put into the ground as tiny specks with the mere promise of growth prove their honesty in such dramatic ways.

This was made obvious to me this morning at the garden in the Delores Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution, more simply called Baylor. I was curious to see the changes that have occured in the past five weeks I have been away from Baylor, busy coordinating DCH’s Horticultural and Environmental Leadership Program (H.E.L.P.) for13 awesome  teens. Normally I am at Baylor every Wednesday morning with Ann and several women from the Wilmington Garden Club so I have missed out on some exciting developments.  If you aren’t aware DCH, in conjunction with the Garden Club, has helped grow a garden program at Baylor, lending their support to the inmates enrolled in the Baylor Culinary Arts Program by assisting in the planning, planting, and harvesting of a large vegetable and flower garden. Ann teaches, the women of the Garden Club bring their many skills and humor, and I usually weed. Having been away for July, I was excited to see what state the garden was in. I must say it looks absolutely exquisite. It is filledwith tomatoes (think a 2 pounder harvested just yesterday), sweet potatoes, peppers, beans, lettuces, butterflies, hummingbirds… the list goes on and on.

 

 

It is amazing at what you can discover nestled among the concrete walls of a prison,surrounded by the usual high fences and barbed wire. Baylor’s garden is a treat; it is the perfect wedding of form and function. Not only does the produce go towards the creation of new and delicious recipes, but it is also a space to come be together in. We get to spend time outside,  having fun, laughing, and learning. It is a highlight of my week and I have loved getting to know so many unique and talented women over the simple planting of many tiny specks.

 

 

Stay cool!

 

 

 

Camp FRESH Farmstand… OPEN!

Some of you may remember my previous post on Camp FRESH, the summer program run by one of our partnering organizations, Christiania Care. Well, their summer farmstand is now open for business. Come support some local youth. They’ve got lettuces, tomatoes, even watermelon! Stop by 12th and Brandywine streets (in the 11th Street Bridge neighborhood) for some local produce. 

Hours of operation are  MONDAY’s and THURSDAY’s from 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm. I wish you good eating.

 

GRAND OPENINGS and (failed) Twitter adventures.

You may have noticed that I’ve given DCH a new Twitter account. (If you haven’t seen, check out the side bar at right).  I’ve learned a few things from this endeavor. The first is that I’m a terrible “twitterer.” (Also, apparently, a horrible salesperson. Who will want to follow us now?) I’m lucky if I send out one tweet a day. I’m being schooled by folks who, I swear,  update every 2 minutes. It’s uncanny. I blame my poor track record on the fact that I am not tied to my desk, being lucky enough to get out and about in the community for much of my day. (Does that make you jealous deskbound tweeters? I thought so.) I should remember that it isn’t a competition and I do enjoy (most of) the things my fellow twitterers have to share even if our own posts are a bit lackluster. Still, I’ll have to work on it.

The real point to this tangent is that if you have been following DCH’s Twitter updates you would know that TOMORROW, July 2nd from 12pm-4pm, 12th and Brandywine is having their grand opening. The youth from Camp FRESH will be highlighting some homemade sidedishes, selling veggies, and there will be plenty of free BBQ and merriment. So, if you have some time, even if just for your lunch break, come see what the garden has to offer. Here is a sneak peak…

 

I hope to see you all tomorrow, and expect a Thursday morning tweet as a reminder!

 

The logistics of an urban farm.

At first glance this might seem like a desperate post; is there nothing more notable happening at DCH? However, while some might find it unsavory at best, for others  it is completely exciting news. For those of us with bladders the size of a puppy’s (the author of this post, for one) this is BIG. There is now a PORTA-POTTY at 12th and Brandywine! She’s beautiful. Really, everything you would ever want in a portable toilet receptacle. Since I was charged with finding an appropriate one, I ended up learning a lot about these little outhouses. For example, some porta-potties actually have vanities in them. Can you believe it? Vanities! Since we are a simple little garden operation, I admit that we went with your more “streamline” design. Still, it’s functional and now I can rest easy.

You may notice that it is quite a conspicuous new addition, but give it time. Soon we will be putting in privacy panelling and will cover it up with trellised nasturtiums .